somethings eating my beans

[Woodpecker]

something is eating huge holes in most of my bean plants i dont see any bugs what could it be. this problem happened last year too. i was thinking of the vinger solution to spray them is that good or bad? tyia

[Dorothea]

i am having the same problem and i think it's little grasshopppers,,,,but not sure

[Tricky Grama]

Garlic pepper tea won't hurt them & may take care of the problem. If you see it's grasshoppers, dust w/flour. Vinegar might kill the plants.

Patty

[suburbanite]

Ok, I must still be sleep deprived because I first read this title as 'something is eating my brains'.



In my case it is beetles the size and shape of ladybugs but green with black spots instead of orange with black spots. Eating my beans, I mean.

Um...maybe I need more sleep...

[giraffe_baby]

It is probably Aphids.. get either lady bugs, praying matis, or spray with pepper/water/vinegar solution.. ORRRRRRR if your not objective to it.. some sort of powdered control
The same thing happend to us ( we used powder, after the pepper stuff didnt work here) and we have picked beans every day this week!

[Janis Sauncy]

In my case.....slugs. I put a fence around my straw-bale garden to keep the chickens and goats (when I turn them out to eat brush) out but it also keeps my ducks (Muscovies) out. Plus, last year, the Muscovies ate my squash plants so I decided I needed to keep them out, too, although I'm not sure they would do much damage to the stuff planted in the straw bales, up off the ground.

The slugs were going after my tomatoes, too, but I put oyster shells around them and that seems to be helping. They (the slugs) were also going after my cabbage and broccoli and I put oyster shells around them, too, but it's too soon yet to know if I put the shells thick enough of not.

When I get home from work, I head down there with the salt (or send one of my kids......which I hate to do because they tend to think they have to drown the slugs in the salt).

I used to use beer but I don't drink anymore so don't have that on hand and hate to buy it just for the purpose of slugs.

Janis

[Zebraman]

Hey Guys; Aphids do not eat holes in anything.Their mouth parts are like little hypodermic needles and they suck juice out of plants.-

[MELOC]

here are two culprits. i have the bean leaf beetles. i squished about a dozen today. it sounds like suburbanite has the mexican bean beetle.

http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/veg/be...ean_beetle.htm

http://ipm.ncsu.edu/AG295/html/bean_leaf_beetle.htm and http://ohioline.osu.edu/icm-fact/fc-23.html

[Lilandra]

have you tried baby powder? the talc sticks to the leaves and makes them unattractive to bugs - plus the smell repels. You'll need to reapply after rain and heavy dew but so far its working like a charm on our runner beans and kolarabis. Its non-toxic to people and butterflies(the swallow tail butterflies don't mind the smell) I don't recommend eating food dusted with baby powder - wash first but it comes right off :-)

[Paquebot]

It's probably the bean leaf beetle. Smart creatures in that they do all of their damage from under the leaf rather than showing themselves. When one searches for them, their defense is to drop to the ground. They are normally a greenish yellow with black stripes but may also be red with black stripes. Dusting affected plants and those nearby with rotenone powder takes care of them. When their damage is early and on cotyledon leaves, they may only eat a small hole. But as the leaves enlarge, so do the size of the holes. It then gives the appearance of something having eaten a huge hole out of them.

Martin

[Woodpecker]

thanks for all the replys i cant wait to try some of the suggestions