Suggestions on what could be doing this to my plants!

Almost all of the plants in this one small bed are being chewed up something terrible (I will post pictures). I have killed a few japanese beetles, but from what I know of them this doesn't look like their kind of damage. I have also seen these little tiny red & blue striped guys that someone IDed for me as a kind of leafhopper, but they are soooo tiny . . . I can't imagine them doing work of this magnitude. Unfortunately I have been unable to catch anything in the act. I'm thinking caterpillars and/or slugs? I did find a skinny bright green hopper looking kind of thing on my carpathian bellflower, which I killed, and a greyish-brown caterpillar curled up in a petunia blossom, which I also killed, but for heaven's sake. I'm getting very frustrated because everything just looks so ragged and sad. I hesitate to spray anything because I don't want to hurt the bees, but I'm getting desperate. Any ideas? I feel like it would help if I could figure out what I'm fighting. My MIL is having similar issues in her yard this year; could it be that our cool rainy spring & June produced a heavier than normal bug population?

Here's a marguerite daisy with holes in the petals.

Edited to apologize for the sideways and out-of-focus photos. Stupid camera.

This message was edited Jul 14, 2009 3:21 PM

Here is what is supposed to be verbena.

Salvia

vinca

Oh, this poor, poor petunia . . .

Monarda 'Cambridge Scarlet' . . . it's blooming fine but the leaves, especially nearer the bottom (but really all the way up) are just riddled, and some eaten away completely.

Hollyhock

And one last petunia. (Those are black-eyed susan leaves in the background . . . also chewed up.)

Wish I could help you but I have same problem, I cannot find the culprit but it may be a very small snail but they are usually visible or a a tiny caterpillar about the size of an inchworm.

Someone with more knowledge will know

Because of the variety of plants affected, there may be more than one culprit involved. Such damage can be caused by beetles, caterpillars, slugs,or even birds (in the case of the daisy). If you see nothing on them during the daytime, you might try examining them at night or well before dawn in the early morning, using a flashlight with some red cellophane or plastic wrap around the lens (most insects are insensitive to red light, and will not take alarm).

The daisies really had me stumped because they are in pots up on a plant stand. I have found several caterpillars, earwigs, and guys that looked like grasshoppers, so I agree there is a multi-cultural party going on here. I actually have been spraying Ortho once a week for the last 3 weeks (at dusk to avoid as many bees as I can) and it seems to be helping a bit. Thanks for the feeback!