Sloat Garden Centers logo

Pest eating leaves of broccoli plant

Home | Pest Problems | Pest eating leaves of broccoli plant

Question

I recently bought some broccoli seedlings and they are growing strong! It looks like there might be some pest eating the leaves outside though. The leaves are large, but have holes and broken corners all around a handful of them. Do you know what could be causing this or if I need to spray for some pest? I never see anything on the leaves or in the garden, but I wonder what this could be. Is there some broccoli pest I need to control and if so what could I use to control it? Thank you!
Kristin
San Francisco

Answer

The first suspect is cabbage looper, a very tricky caterpillar that blends in really well. They tend to lie along the midrib of the leaf during the day. Look carefully. The caterpillars can "shred" the plant leaves rather quickly. These are best controlled with Bt or Spinosad. Another likely culprit are slugs that can hide in many small, tight spaces. These can be controlled with Sluggo or Sluggo Plus which also contains Spinosad. Spinosad works on all chewing/rasping insects. All these controls are considered organic solutions.

Share this post

More From Ask the Garden Guru

Newsletter Sign Up

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Copyright ©2026 Sloat Garden Center