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Help, something is eating my brassicas and I don't know what it is. They are covered in little brown beetles about 1/4 cm long.  The leaves look pretty mangled, particularly the new young leaves at the centre which have gone mushy brown.   Also, the leaves are white around the edges and there are holes all over. 

I thought at first it was flea beetle but I thought these were supposed to jump in the air when disturbed.  These beetles seem to play dead and drop off, rather than jump, when I touch them.  They do move pretty quickly though.

I tried derris but this seemed to make no difference.  Yesterday I also tried spraying garlic tea.  Haven't managed to get back yet to see if that has worked. 

Any ideas very gratefully received. I am on the point of spraying with something nasty but would prefer the organic option in anyone has any suggestions. 

try hoeing & watering ass much ass you can.

Blast off with a hard spray of water before you try anything nasty. Usually works.

I remember the time my sister, who's anything but organic, had caterpillars on her cabbage. The sprayed with everything she could get hold of, and they were still being eaten. It got to the point where she'd got hold of some illegal DDT and was going to use that, when I intervened. I looked them over, and found as obvious case of slug damage, with trails of slime all over the place. The caterpillars had been dead for weeks by that time. Make sure you're not overlooking the obvious!

hi, I've got exactly the same problem on my purple sprouting broccoli seedlings in a polytunnel; little stocky brown beetle things that are munching through them at a rate of knots; I can see the plants disappearing before my eyes! They don't seem to fly, drop down into the soil and hide, and are quite tough when you squash them. Any suggestions as to what these charming individuals are and, more importantly, how I can kill them, would be much appreciated...

Hi,
It sounds like one of the brassica weevils (Cabbage Seed Weevil or similar) which we are trying to get more information about.

Any chance you could respond to my post earlier today regarding Brassica Weevils. We would be very, very grateful for any details you can give us.

Kind Regards,
Maureen

We're not talking about rape seed beetles, are we??

Yes Tim,

And also various others of the same ilk with slightly different names but the same diabolical traits.

Maureen

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Quote from: Admin aka Dan on August 01, 2005, 17:56:55
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Wait for it Clanger!

Oh, that beetle! Posted photos of it last year. Decimated my calabrese.

My sprouts look like lace and my purple sprouting is going the same way, please help...... ??? :-[

Have a good look for caterpillars and then put your conscience to one side  :-X.  If no caterpillars then probably slugs - I use beer traps and feed any I find to the birds or the frog.