On Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:47:15 -0800, Billy
wrote:

:In article ,
: Dan Musicant wrote:
:
: This has happened before. Maybe if I go out at night with a flashlight I
: will catch the culprits, but right now I can only speculate. I usually
: buy a 6 pack of Early Girl and plant about 3 weeks into March, sometimes
: earlier sometimes later depending on the weather.
:
: This year they only had 4" potted plants, so I bought 6 of those and
: planted them 6 days ago in soil in which I'd worked in a lot of my
: homemade compost. There were certainly lots of earwigs and sow bugs in
: that compost, and plenty of earth worms. There are certainly slugs in
: there too.
:
: I was so busy yesterday I didn't get a chance to check out the plants,
: but this morning to my dismay I see that 1/2 to 3/4 of the foliage has
: been eaten from the plants! I'd put snail and slug pellets around the
: plants and sprayed some water to activate them. I also sprinkled some
: diazinon I've had for a number of years. I think it's unavailable now. I
: only use it on seedlings when plants are vulnerable. The diazinon is so
: old it may have lost its effectiveness, it wouldn't surprise me.
:
: I made collars today out of thin sheet metal, and put more pellets and
: diazinon granules around the bases of the seedlings, also I sprayed them
: with Safer Soap. What is likely eating the plants and what can I do to
: prevent further damage? I was hoping to see bigger plants by now, not
: smaller!
:
: Dan
:
:
: Email: dmusicant at pacbell dot net
:
:It sounds like you think it's snails, or slugs, if so, you need ferric
hosphate (usually called iron phosphate) which is used as a food
:supplement for humans, but is extremely toxic to gastropods (snails, and
:slugs).

I really don't know what's been eating them. I did see a slimy trail
near one of the plants, which suggests a slug. I don't think it was a
snail because I don't see them often in the area anymore. Could be
slugs, though, but I only saw that one trail. Can earwigs or sow bugs
defoliate a very young tomato plant?

I did put snail and slug pellets around he plants, as I stated above.
What I did didn't prevent the damage, however. I put more on today, as
well as the collars, and in addition sprayed Safer Soap, don't know
what's the best approach, so I'm using a shot gun approach. Wish I know
what's doing this.

Dan


Email: dmusicant at sonic dot net