On Fri, 09 Mar 2012 07:28:18 -0500, Pat Kiewicz
wrote:

an Musicant said:
:
:
: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.
:
:Good plan; go out at night with a flashlight and a sprayer with soap
:solution. I'd be willing to place a (small) bet that its earwigs, since you
:reported seeing some.

My money's on the earwigs too, I needed some confirmation that they can
do this kind of damage. The lack of slug trails on the stems and leaves
has me thinking that it's not likely slugs. I think maybe the diazinon I
sprinked on the ground next to the stems is so old (5-7 years?) that
it's lost effectiveness.

I went out about 1.5 hours after dark with a flashlight, saw nothing,
again at 4AM or so, nothing. This morning the plants look pretty much
like yesterday, so maybe the collars and the extra sprinking of diazinon
has abated the invasion.

Thanks for the feedback!

Dan



Email: dmusicant at pacbell dot net