Hi Heidi,

I just had to say that. :-)

I've had the same thing happen with my bean and purple hull peas, but it seems like that is all the lil critters have a taste for. They haven't touched anything else and it makes sense to me that they won't. Tomato leaves probably aren't nearly as good as bean leaves.

My x-h used sevin dust, but I asked the lady at the co-op and she sold me this other stuff that I can't remember the name of. She said it got rid of the tiny ones. She said sprinkle it on the ground around them.

I don't like to use the stuff, but for this year, I am. I hope I can figure out another way to thwart them by next year. For now it seems to be working and the affected plants have new leaves and are growing.

Any ideas from anyone with more experience.

Katie

Have you checked for Colorado Bean Beetle? It seems a little early for them, but the damage you describe is typical of that pest. The CBB larva hang out on the underside of the leaves and eat the tissue between the veins. They're orange with little protuberances, kind of humpbacked, maybe 1/4 inch long at their biggest. The adults are rounded, cream color with black longitudinal stripes. If this is your pest, there are organic treatments that wipe them out. A strain of bacteria call Bt is available that especially attacke CBB larvae. I've seen it for sale at garden centers -- it comes as a liquid concentrate. There's also another organic product available via mailorder from Gardens Alive that knocks out CBB and a bunch of other bad guys. A link to the webpage about it is below.

If it is CBB, they won't bother your tomatoes as far as I know; CBB is pretty host-specific.

Marty

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardens Alive Bulls-Eye

Yikes. The damage sounds just like what I'm getting. It's pretty much confined to one flower bed (my veggies seem fine so far)and most severe on my marigolds which usually do just fine. It's a shady spot and I water a lot because I have transplanted new things in there. The leaves get so eaten up they look exactly like you said--like lace! M

Don't know why, but I got my geographical bugs mixed up -- it's Mexican Bean Beetle, not Colorado. The rest of the info's accurate, though.

Marty, obviously needing less work and more naps :)

I haven't seen any yet.Our boys could sit fascinated for hours by bugs :) So I am gonna have them check all the plants in the morning.I went out this morning like I always do and checked the first row of tomatoes and one of our brandywine tomatoes about a foot high with a cage around it was a mere nub about an inch tall.We were thinking a cutworm but wouldn't the rest of the plant be laying next to it?A little worm surely couldn't eat an entire plant like that ? The only thing doing okay right now are the melons and peppers.How is everyone elses garden doing? Temps here are supposed to be low soon .

I was thinking flea beetles? You don't see them, but they make lace out of leaves almost overnight.

Sevin or Bt would be a good first line of defense. Both are ok for your veggies - just wash the produce off before eating. I can't put these harmless things in the same category as insecticides...

Watch out for squash vine borers! Now is the time that they will be laying their eggs on your squash stems and the larvae will bore into the stem and kill it, at the base of the plant. The stem gets mushy, but by the time you see that, it's too late. Use Bt to kill the larvae before they can do this damage.

Check out "Fresh from the Garden" on DIY Network (host Joe Lamp'l) - he did a show just on beans and goes over the common diseases and pests for the South in detail.

-Regina

Here is a link that might be useful: Fresh From the Garden - the Beans episode