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Symptom

Holes in leaves

Holes are almost always something eating. Slime trails mean slugs; green droppings mean caterpillars; tiny shot-holes mean flea beetles; torn, stripped leaves mean birds.

A sunflower seedling with ragged holes and a slug beside it

Go out after dark with a torch, and look for droppings and slime in the morning. Hole size and edges do the rest.

Likely causes

Ordered from the usual answer to the less likely one. Each links to the full problem.

Recorded on Cabbage

  1. A slug on a holed lettuce Pest Common

    Slugs and snails

    Ragged holes and slime trails, worst in damp weather.
  2. A green caterpillar on a holed cabbage leaf Pest Common

    Caterpillars

    Holes with green droppings; caterpillars under leaves.
  3. Radish seedlings peppered with tiny flea beetle holes Pest Common

    Flea beetles

    Many tiny round holes on seedlings; beetles jump.
  4. Brassica plants pecked down to bare stalks by birds Pest Possible

    Birds

    Brassica leaves torn and stripped to the veins.

Less likely on Cabbage

  1. A striped Colorado potato beetle on a chewed potato leaf Pest Possible

    Colorado potato beetle

    Potato leaves stripped by striped beetles and red larvae.
  2. A large green hornworm caterpillar on a tomato stem Pest Possible

    Tomato hornworm

    Tomato shoots stripped by a large green caterpillar.
  3. A striped cucumber beetle on a cucumber leaf Pest Possible

    Cucumber beetles

    Holes and scars on cucurbits; striped beetles.
  4. White vine weevil grubs among strawberry roots Pest Less likely

    Vine weevil

    Neat notches from the leaf edge.
  5. Young plants bitten off at the base by rabbits Pest Less likely

    Rabbits, deer and other mammals

    Leaves and stems bitten off.
  6. A pepper leaf with small, dark bacterial spots Bacterial disease Less likely

    Bacterial leaf spot

    Spots whose centres fall out, leaving holes.