I have pea seedlings in a raised bed and up until yesterday all was well. I had put netting over whole bed and secured it with drawing pins along the edges of the bed on Sunday. Tonight when I went over lottie I noticed that they had all been nibbled by what I don't know. I put the netting on because of mice and birds and I believed that this would stop them. Could there be another pest that I don't know about, an insect because the netting wasn't fine? I have put pop bottles over each seedling with the tops off to act as a cloche in the hope that whatever did this won't be able to do it again. Will the nibbled leaves have an effect on the growth of the seedlings?
Any ideas?
??? :( ???
There is something that does this as I had it a couple of years ago. I seem to remember that it was some form of mite. If I remember correctly the plants can recover and I think there was something like Derris (?) powder that you can put on them.
Sorry to sound so vague - I am sure someone else will be along soon who is cleverer than me.
My first direct sowings got got, but yours are more advanced than mine were. All my pea seeds were soaked before sowing then the following week something had had a good feed on the pea seed itself, leaving behind just the outer shell of the pea seed.
One had a slug nestling inside so I'm guessing those were my culprits - but I hadn't gotten to the point of leaves ::) Hope we've gotten to that point with our latest sowings this week when we go down....
Quote from: Justy on April 23, 2009, 21:36:20
There is something that does this as I had it a couple of years ago. I seem to remember that it was some form of mite. If I remember correctly the plants can recover and I think there was something like Derris (?) powder that you can put on them.
Sorry to sound so vague - I am sure someone else will be along soon who is cleverer than me.
Nasty stuff that derris.
If it's just the edges of the leaves that have been chewed, it's just pea weevil. They dont do the crop any harm, also do the same to broad beans.
Quote from: SPUDLY on April 24, 2009, 06:02:01
If it's just the edges of the leaves that have been chewed, it's just pea weevil. They dont do the crop any harm, also do the same to broad beans.
Pea and bean weevil. My broad beans look as if someone had gone round the edge of all the leaves with a hole punch.
Thats it - weevil not mite! :D
I didn't actually use the derris stuff because I try not to use anything chemically and most of the peas recovered anyway.