whats eating my cabbages n broccoli?

[greasemonkey67]

I have been down on plot this aft n something is eating my cabbage n broccoli leaves,they are netted over to protect them from birds etc,slug pettets all around,yet on close inspection there seems to be small black beetles/flys all over the leaf. There about the size of a pin head and dont seem to fly around. I took over this plot from someone else,and im not sure what they had planted in his area before. Can anyone help with what they are n what i can do to save my crop?

[peanut]

Sounds like Flea Beetle to me... Flea beetles on brassicas and allied plants / Royal Horticultural Society

[WendyC]

Just what I was going to say. Just annoying rather than overly destructive. Inner leaves should ok on cabbages and I guess you're not eating broccoli leaves.

[Paulottie]

Flea beetle can kill young plants. They can render a crop useless. They are a PITA.

one old trick is to paint card with glue, spraymount, anything tacky and lay them by the plants- brush you hand over the plant.... beetles jump on.

Derris dust best.....might be called something else now? due to a ban... Pyrethrum powder similar I think

[Two_Sheds]

Flea beetle doesn't eat the leaves, it just peppers them with holes (like shot holes)

pigeons will eat leaves through the netting if it is draped on top of the plants, and there are so many slugs & snails around this year that your pellets won't get them all


A photo of the damage would be helpful