Something ate the tops of my bean and pea seedlings

[Purrfluff]

After several days of heavy rain I was able to get back into my garden today. Most things came through the rainstorm admirably.... except the peas and beans.

Something, and I don't know what, has chomped off the top half or three quarters of my pea and bean seedings. Some of them were getting large enough to start training but not anymore (with one exception).

I would have thought cutworms except they hit at the soil line and usually leave the rest of the plant on the ground. With the exception of the cabbage moths nothing has touched my other plants.

And these seedlings have been growing nicely up until that rain. The peas and beans were totally untouched up until now. I'd blame rabbits but why would they be so selective when there are tons of leafy greens for them to eat? And we've had rabbits around for years and for whatever reason they have never touched the garden.

During the rain something came along and devoured my peas and beans. The plants that were munched are all planted directly into the ground. The one (very small) row that wasn't touched is the only one that is in a raised bed.

So what the hell came after my poor plants?

On the chance that it was slugs I just put a ton of sluggo around what's left of the peas and beans. I had put sluggo around some (but not all) of my other plants prior to the rain. But not the peas and beans.

There are still a couple of leaves on the plants that were munched. Will they recover? Should I rip them out and put in new seed? It seems like it's probably too late for that now but better a small chance than a sure death of the munched plants.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Chuck]

Sounds like slugs or snails. If you have any leaves left keep the plants. It's getting a little late in the year to start planting legume seeds again. You can probably plant green pea seeds though.

 

[zigs]

I'd agree with Chuck, slugs love the growing points.

The beans will start again, but the first frosts will take them out.

 

[Purrfluff]

I think you guys are right and it is probably slugs. Thank you.

Before the drenching rains it had been very dry this summer. Presumably the rain brought the slugs out. And that dryness would explain why they weren't there before. Though I didn't see any slug trails.

What puzzles me is the eating pattern. Why would they eat the tops of the plants? Wouldn't it be easier for them to eat stuff closer to the ground? Is the top part somehow more tender and tasty?

It's also possible the damage happened over a period of days and not all at once. When it was raining to beat the band I didn't go out into the garden to check on the plants. Which I should have, apparently.

Will Sluggo keep them away? I have diatomaceous earth but when it gets wet it gets useless (I think).

I am coming to truly hate slugs and cabbage worms.

A couple of the plants are untouched. I'd say it was the fencing I put up to train them but some of the larger ones getting trained got eaten. I wish I understood if there was a pattern I could understand.

 

[zigs]

The growing points are a delicacy, you can eat young pea shoots.

 

[Purrfluff]

That would make sense then. I'm still surprised they didn't go after some of the very young lettuce.

I did a rather bad job of sowing and there is a row of kale and lettuce that is growing very slowly (plants are less than two inches tall). I would have thought they would go after that as well. I mention this primarily because I would rather the slugs had eaten the lettuce and kale seedlings.

Other than sluggo is there anything I can do to protect what is left of the peas and beans during rain? I could use toilet paper and paper towel cores but the rain will quickly break those down.

I am sowing new rows of peas in a couple of raised beds that just opened up. But realistically it's probably too late to get a crop off of those. But I have the seeds and might as well use them.

 

[Purrfluff]

I've put out a bunch of sluggo. I don't think I'll know if it's effective until after the next rain hits. Autumn here is usually pretty wet so the slugs might have a field day.

Sluggo is iron phosphate. I did some reading and there is another type of bait that uses iron chelate. Has anyone used this? I can't really use the old, super toxic baits because I don't want to poison the dog or a passing cat.

I sowed new peas but the ones they are replacing had a month's growth. Fortunately I have a few peas that I planted in pots as backup. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the beans.

 

[Chuck]

I've put out a bunch of sluggo. I don't think I'll know if it's effective until after the next rain hits. Autumn here is usually pretty wet so the slugs might have a field day.

Sluggo is iron phosphate. I did some reading and there is another type of bait that uses iron chelate. Has anyone used this? I can't really use the old, super toxic baits because I don't want to poison the dog or a passing cat.

I sowed new peas but the ones they are replacing had a month's growth. Fortunately I have a few peas that I planted in pots as backup. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the beans.

English peas/snowpeas can take a frost. Green beans can't

 

[Purrfluff]

I did put just plant some leftover fava bean seeds I have. They might survive the winter.

I did put in one row of green bean seeds just to see if they might make it. I ran out of bean/pea inoculant though.

 

[Purrfluff]

There has been another attack on new pea seedlings. This time the damage does not look like slugs. There are square and rectangular cuts. Like someone went after them with a knife or scissors.

Considering the nature of the damage and the fact that I saw a bird hopping around in that bed I am pretty sure birds went after them.

At least this time only the peas were damaged. The bean shoots were untouched. Actually, everything else was untouched. Only the peas were attacked. I'm not sure how to prevent this or whether it's even worth bothering to do considering that it's just too late in the season to expect overwintering survival.

 

[Stink Bug]

I have problems with earwigs nipping the tops off certain seedlings. Tomatoes being one of their favorites.
Clean cut just a stem left.
Never attacked peas of beans though.
Mainly smaller stemmed seedlings.

 

[Purrfluff]

I haven't seen any earwigs around but then again, I haven't been looking for them. How quickly can earwigs cause damage? Would they cause wounds that are circular or straight?

I'm beginning to wonder if God doesn't want me to grow peas this autumn.

On a brighter note the few pea plants that survived the slug damage have flowered and started to produce fruit. As have a few of the beans. I never thought I'd get so stoked over seeing some peas.