Any ideas what is eating my cos?

I've been growing lettuces in troughs on my patio for years.  Usually they only get eaten by caterpillars, and it's way too early in the southern growing season for those, but last night my lovely little cos lettuce had a very hard time!



I've checked under each leaf and there is nothing obvious.  The other two lettuces in the same trough (an oakleaf and a red oakleaf) are completely unaccosted.

I realise I'm not in the USA, but I'd be grateful for any ideas of what is attacking my lovely little plant!  I was so looking forward to home-grown salads in 2-3 weeks!

Thanks

That looks a lot like slug damage. Have you seen and slug trails on the patio?

OhioGardener wrote:That looks a lot like slug damage. Have you seen and slug trails on the patio?

None that I can see!  And isn't it a bit weird that it's only eating one of the three plants in that trough?

Give that man a pumpkin sticker!  Once hubby was asleep last night I snuck out with a torch and found not one but two slugs!!!  One, quite thin, actually on the lettuce, and then I was so incensed that I searched the mulch and found another, quite fat.  Really glad it didn't get up to my tender cos leaves!  Very satisfying dispatching them with salt    My garden is not an all-you-can-eat buffet for the local wildlife!

The lettuce looks pretty much as it did yesterday morning, so I've decided to leave the mulch in place for now, but any signs of more activity and I'll be replacing it.  I've never (to my knowledge) had slug/snail problems with my lettuce troughs, so I figure I imported them on the mulch, which was from moderately long grass after a very wet period.

BTW, is there a reason (apart from the ick factor) why everyone says to use gloves when picking them off plants?  I'd already pulled the first one off the lettuce before realising it was with my bare hands.  It doesn't bother me to touch them -- I do it all the time later in the season with caterpillars -- but just thought I'd check.

Thanks, OG

KiwiSFGnewbie wrote:BTW, is there a reason (apart from the ick factor) why everyone says to use gloves when picking them off plants?  I'd already pulled the first one off the lettuce before realising it was with my bare hands.  It doesn't bother me to touch them -- I do it all the time later in the season with caterpillars -- but just thought I'd check.

I didn't know that everyone said that.  I've never worn gloves, mostly because they are somewhere else whenever I need them.

Thanks, OG

Happy to help! 

Cool, thanks again

You have some nice green growth in the middle of that lettuce, should be delicious!  We are looking forward to hearing about your garden up here in the northern hemisphere!

KiwiSFGnewbie wrote:Give that man a pumpkin sticker!  Once hubby was asleep last night I snuck out with a torch and found not one but two slugs!!!  

  Thank you so much for this query/response!  My seedling tray of lettuces was experiencing something all too similar - with no signs of insects; I'm going to have to do some nighttime investigation.  At least now I have a direction!

ScorpioRising, it's amazing how much of a growth spurt it put on once those beasties were gone.  It just stayed the same for about 24 hours, then for the following 2 mornings I hardly recognised it.  Clearly it was putting a lot of effort into battling the munchers!!

Good luck Frost -- it's incredibly satisfying finding them and picking them off!!!