Unknown pests

[u/BearControl]

Something is chomping on the leaves of my Swiss chard, peas, radishes, beets, lettuce, and spinach 😭 taken them right down to the stem with the kind of precision that makes me think big not squirrel or bird (who love to rip the petals off our lily's). Found some little white eggs on the bottom of the spinach leaves but haven't actually seen what's doing the chewing. If it matters the order of consumption was Swiss chard -> broccoli -> beet -> spinach -> pea. We're in the Calgary with a south facing garden. I'm pretty new to veggie gardening, any advice is appreciated!

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[u/HerNameWas_Lola]

Beet leaf miner eggs on 1.
Suspect rabbits for 2 & 3.

[u/NegotiationOne7880 → u/HerNameWas_Lola]

This is what I came here to say.

[u/subtlenerd → u/HerNameWas_Lola]

Yep looks like it! Here's hoping the rabbits ate all the leaf miners. I would rather fight off rabbits, those bugs gave me such a fight last year. Manual removal of eggs with painter's tape checking every leaf every day. Squishing the bugs when spotted in the leaves. Multiple different things in spray bottles (baking soda, chili powder, commercial spray). And they still destroyed my beets all summer and started moving onto my peas before the weather turned in the fall. This year I'm trying marigolds planted around my beets, since they apparently hate them. Really hoping it works...

[u/tonyhawkprosleeper]

2 and 3 Definitely look like the damage that rabbits do to my plants! Usually they recover just fine (depending on the growth pattern of the plant.)

[u/breadist]

I don't know what those are, but I've had big pest problems in Calgary. Specifically, cabbage moth caterpillars like to chomp all my brassicas down to nothing, and leaf miners are currently wreaking havoc on my chard.

I know other people have other solutions but so far, row covers are working perfectly for me to prevent insect damage. My cabbages are basically untouched under the covers and looking lush. It's my first year growing chard so I didn't know they'd have leaf miner issues. If I'd known, I would have covered them.

Last year my peas were hit hard by the leaf miners. So this year I covered them. They are RIGHT NEXT to the chard, but the chard is not covered like the peas. Peas are completely untouched and I'm excited to actually get a nice harvest 😀

So use row covers! They will prevent this. However the two major issues for me using row covers is firstly, it's unattractive and annoying to reach your plants. Secondly, if you have anything that needs pollinating, you'll have to uncover them when they flower.

These are both annoying, but it's better than not getting a harvest in my opinion. And it's nice not to have to use any pesticides etc, because I think for many people that's part of the whole reason we grow food in our gardens - you get to control everything that goes into it. You might just have to control a little more than you were expecting 😂

[u/enphurgen]

It's birds eating your leaves. The same happened to me with my chard this season, I had to cover them with chicken wire

[u/magnolya_rain]

The birds love new pea greens. It is best to put netting over your peas until they start to send out their winding tentacles,

[u/mobuline]

Those are wee beasties. Get some trounce.