I have the same problem in Zone 5, NY. I thought it was flea beatles, but they didn't touch anything else. Let me know what you find out.

Me, too. I see leaf damage, but I can't find any bugs. I do see earwigs - they were inside romaine and under the cucumbers I harvested. I might have slugs in the nearby hostas - but do they crawl all the way up eggplant stalks?

This is the first year I have grown eggplant, so I don't know what to expect. My peppers and tomatoes look fine and healthy - the occasional hole in a leaf, but nothing dramatic.

I don't have any suggestions, but maybe the link below will help some.

Here is a link that might be useful: Eggplant Pests

Me too! I've actually got a small fruit starting and I saw some chew holes on it. I've been mulching with grass clippings - the earwigs love it under there. I've done the beer traps in the past. Sort of a hassle, but I'm gonna have to start that again. I cut the bottoms off several 20-oz. plastic cups and pour some of DH's Bud in each. The earwigs go in there at night and can't get out. Ha!

So far the only vegetable plants in my garden that have any insect damage are my eggplants. The culprit...the japanese beetle. I'm not even talking about swarms of them. One beetle can do quite a lot of damage to the foliage - some of the leaves on my plants look like lace!

My husband set a japanese beetle trap up on the other side of my yard - as a result they are general staying away from my veggies. I do go out twice a day and handpick what beetles I may find. Could be a possibility for your problem.

Are you all looking close enough at your plant's leaves? Flea beetles are tiny!

Flea Beetle & Damage
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Japanese Beetle on Eggplant
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Thanks everyone, and glad to know I'm not the only one.

Violet, great photos, thanks, that is very close to what I am seeing. And yesterday I did find a flea beetle, tiny as you say. Only one, though (only have three plants). They're notorious, eh? So, what to use? My garden is organic, nothing toxic. I have heard neem oil is not too helpful. I think I'll ask one of the farmers when I go to the local farmer's market here on Saturday. If I get a good hint I'll pass it on.

Thanks again everyone.

Those pictures look like my eggplant leaves too, except for the brown areas around the holes. And I don't see the insects either. I've given up on going organic, this is war!

In a fit of fury last year, I sprayed Bug-B-Gone on my broccoli that was being swarmed by flea beetles (think locusts, think Biblical plague). It kept them off for maybe one or two days, and then they were back.

This year I dusted with rotenone, and it seemed to help. But then it rained, washed off the rotenone, and the flea beetles were back. By the time I got home from work, they'd skeletonized and killed a small Broccoli Minaret plant.

It takes weeks to coax a seed into being a young, healthy broccoli plant, and the flea beetles can reduce it down to nothing in the matter of a couple hours. Locusts are nothing in comparison.

my eggplant looks the same, i saw those tiny black bugs on the leaves and i sprayed bug stop on it and they all died, i haven't seen any more flea beetles, but the holes continue... sneaky aren't they, i did although find them on my pea vines. they didn't seem to have done any damage, no holes or anything, maybe i just got there in time, who knows. sarah
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Well, I talked to two organic farmers who said neem oil might help, but what both suggested was simply feeding the plants to encourage new growth and hoping they will be strong enough to withstand the infestation. One said they often cover their planting rows after setting out seedlings early in the season when the beetles are most active, then remove the covers as plants get larger. It's too late for that now and too warm as well. We'll see.

Everything else is growing great, a little snail damage but they're easier to control. Biggest pest here is gophers. We pretty much have to grow everything in boxed raised beds with a small grid chicken wire "floor" 18 inches down. Put up two owl boxes in the neighborhood earlier this year, but no one has moved in yet. Maybe next year we'll have some resident predators more efficient than the local cats.

Well, I talked to two organic farmers who said

Their advice was very good. Neem oil is a terrific preventative and decent curative for insect damage. Row covers are also a viable option. The main reason I think the advice you got was superb is the advice to feed them for optimal growth so the plant outgrows the damage and yield isn't affected. It takes someone with years of hands on experience to offer that kind of rock solid advice.

For any plant problems you have in the future I would recomend those 2 organic farmers, they know what they are talking about and their knowledge of local conditions will be unsurpassed.

i Live in zone 10 b California and I have the same problem to know if it earwigs get out and get a flashlight at like 12 or so and you will see them they are disgusting things to get rid of them you need to make a trap since there beneficial bugs to have in the garden because they eat aphids and break down decomposing matter you want to have some so I would not try to use a insecticide as it is not only bad for the environment and may lead to cancer you would be spraying it on the food that you would eat so I would get a mason jar and put some tuna juice from a can the add some neutral oil cause it’s the cheapest place the mason jar like two inches deep into the ground and wight like four days and you should see some results