Strawberry leaves

[Luke]

hello, i'm new to gardening. Can someone tell me if the holes on these strawberry leaves are from bugs? Should i cut the leaves off?

 

[CrazyConure]

Looks like either slugs/snails, or maybe caterpillars. Don't cut the leaves off. They'll be fine. Do you know if the damage happened in the day or night?

 

[Luke]

Appreciate it. Unfortunately not sure if day or night. Assuming then that they are not a threat to the fruit.

 

[CrazyConure]

Do you think you can put a bowl filled a quarter way with beer at night? If you check in the morning and see slugs or snails, you'll know your problem.

 

[CrazyConure]

No, the bites won't effect the fruits. You just have to make sure the problem doesn't get too out of hand that they will completely defoliant the plant. Then, it will effect fruit growth. A couple of bites won't hurt anything.

Also, it looks like this damage wasn't too recent. I can see that from the yellow lining around the damage. Hopefully, this was just a one time thing.

 

[Luke]

Awesome. I'll try the beer tonight. There is one more leaf in the garden that was pretty chewed up, but other than that they seem mostly untouched.

 

[CrazyConure]

Make sure the lid of the jar is in line with the soil. The snails will have an easier time crawling in. The reason why beer traps snails is that snails can only smell sweet, sour, and yeasty--and beer is all 3! The snails will crawl in for a drink, and drown. If they won't drown, the alcohol kills them.

This method will help control them, but I think it's better for a diagnosis purposes.

Let me know if you catch some!

 

[Luke]

I believe i caught a lot.... Picture attached. Do I keep setting beer out until they're gone??

 

[CrazyConure]

That's beautiful! I'm amazed. I think we found out what's been eating your strawberry leaves.

You have a couple of options. You can keep using beer if you'd like. It helps control their population. You can also buy slug and snail pellets which will kill them when they eat it, or you can find prevention methods.

Are your plants in the ground, raised beds, or in containers? This will help me give you solutions that will be more suitable to you.

 

[Luke]

That's beautiful! I'm amazed. I think we found out what's been eating your strawberry leaves.

You have a couple of options. You can keep using beer if you'd like. It helps control their population. You can also buy slug and snail pellets which will kill them when they eat it, or you can find prevention methods.

Are your plants in the ground, raised beds, or in containers? This will help me give you solutions that will be more suitable to you.

Raised bed. Might try the beer a couple more nights. Thank you for your help!

It was also crawling with ants....lots of ants.

 

[SirJoe]

I believe i caught a lot.... Picture attached. Do I keep setting beer out until they're gone??

It looks like you mostly caught wood louse, those aren't the ones that are eating your strawberries leaves. They help decompose old wood.