Question
QUESTION: Hi Elyse,

I live in S. New Hampshire. Something is eating the leaves on my young yellow & green beans. (About 6" with 2-4 leaves). I see a few slugs and pick them off but the carnage continues. Otherwise i see nothing else on the bean plants, so i can't tell what's eating them. Is it the slugs?   Do you know what might be eating the leaves and what i can do to control it? I prefer non-toxic methods.   Thank you for taking my question,   Phil

ANSWER: Phil:
That is a common problem. It could be slugs, birds, wasps, cutworms, etc. You might try a hot pepper spray. I was going to do that myself this year, but never got around to it. The plants usually manage to survive, once they get a few leaves they seem to be OK.

Next year, cultivate the ground thoroughly before you plant the beans, looking for slugs and cutworm larvae. Then you can cover the plot with Remay or similar material to prevent other pests. It won't do much good now if the pests are in the soil.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you Elyse,

I'm not sure what you mean by 'cultivate' the ground.

While some of the beans are able to get a few leaves on them and continue to grow, many of them are stripped bare of their 2 - 4 leaves and their is no longer any growth so i've pulled them out.

Thanks again. Very helpful.

Answer
Phil:
By cultivate I mean turn it up or rake it up so you can bring overwintering insects to the surface. If you do this before a frost it will kill any eggs, and you can kill slugs and larvae that you find.

I would go ahead and replant where you pulled out the destroyed plants, unless you over-seeded to begin with, which is another good insurance method.

elyse