Cutworms? Use BT. You're done. I don't think DE is going to do much to slugs except maybe slow them down.

Good idea. I always here slugs get killed from DE but I do not see it. I did find a slug on it, so I think that is my problem. I think I have a huge slug problem. They are nailing new stuff as soon as it emerges. I have put down sluggo twice already and hand pick often. Still tons just smaller ones.

If you don't mind using non-organic methods to get rid of slugs then trying a product called "Deadline" works well. At my last home we had slugs all over the place and deadline took care of the problem over night.

Deadline contains metaldehyde. Toxic to pets and wildlife. It's banned here for outdoor use. There are safer slug baits which work.

You are right floraluk2, I should have mentioned to Donald that Deadline has a sweet aroma which can tempt pets, esp dogs to lick it up so beware of that. It is extremely effective on the slugs and the next day I could smell their copious rotting corpses blanketing the ground. The main reason I used it was due to the slug population at the time which was like a plague of locusts at the old homestead. Normally I use the safer slug pellets or beer traps.

There is some wide suspicion that while Sluggo (iron phosphate/EDTA) isn't toxic to pets and wildlife, it is to earthworms. Not so for metaldehyde.

I've never experienced slugs/snails eating lettuces or other things related. Grasshoppers and katydids create jagged edges look like those too, and cutworms usually chew through the stems. Caterpillars usually create smooth edges, IMPE. Junebugs and their ilk can do that kind of damage, IMPE.

Of course there are other moth larvae that will go after all kinds of plants.

I grow my lettuces in containers, which seems to help keep away a lot of the crawlers.

Above is overnight damage on new sprout. Below is same sprout 2-3 days later. It got no more damage but initial damage, even though it seemed minor, was harsh on seedling.

It's possible that second image shows damage that happened before the seedling emerged - wireworms and some beetles do that. I've seen it in my beans before, but it doesn't seem to affect the true leaves. It's one reason I start most things in containers to transplant. Beans don't do well as transplants, so i just sow them thickly, sprinkle snail bait around them and thin when they get their true leaves.

Snails and slugs definitely gobble down lettuce here. But the damage doesn't look like this. There'd be nothing left of that tiny seedling, not bite marks.

"Beans don't do well as transplants ..." Almost all my beans are transplants and they do fine. The soil isn't warm enough to direct sow until well into summer. I do a lot of transplants due to snail troubles. Lettuce, beans, brassicas, squash. I have to start them all in modules.

I watch my garden constantly and that damage occurred after it emerged. It was fine at sunset and tiny bite marks in morning.

I do use pine needles and yes I understand they give hiding places to slugs and other stuff. I like how it looks, it is free and easy and after 7 years it is good fertilizer.

I never added compost. Almost everything does great overall. I get 12 foot sunflowers, 10 foot cherry toms' (I top off after 10') etc. It is the early stages. If my soil had issues plants would do terrible big. 10 foot tomato's require a lot more then a tiny seedling that is only using what is stored in the seed.

I am not disagreeing I have issues just what they are.

I do agree that simply adding fertilizer is not the best way. IMO healthy solid is not easy to get. My garden does great and I work hard and I am learning. I am also a perfectionist. If you asked my wife, kids, friends or anyone who attended our backyard wedding in August 2023 they would say my garden is unbelievable. I have high standards.

Sorry for rambling. I am sorry if I did not answer things. Ohio is very humid and I am surrounded by woods full of bugs, diseases and fungus. I get prettu much every issue you can think fo out of nowhere and I suspect it is the woods around me. For exmaple my plum tree died. Nowhere near anything I eevr did, it got a plumb dieses after 5 years. Where the heck did that come from? No plumb trees with 1/4 mile, likely much more.

I do have some damage before emergence. I do see tiny worms that could be wire worms (need to look them up).

I do really appreciate everyone's help and I am stubborn but I am listening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

I can say I focus on the negative but my garden is doing much better this year. I am more trying to learn and spread info. In particular against slugs and snails. It rained here today and the slugs I found are significantly less than ever before.

I guess if it is not broken, why fix it? Maybe one day you will kill all the bugs and slugs for good.

Slugs are way way down so that problem is solved for the most part. I was also wrong about some damage. 2am this morning I could not sleep and put on my headlamp and found new bugs. I have never seen them before. I will make a new post too. They were very tiny, long thin bugs with long antenna. They were on 2 plants where I get the tiny bite marks. When I reached down to crush them they scurried into the soil. I THINK they had wings but it was hard to tell. There entire body was about as thick as a pencil lead. They were fast and greyish brown. Any ideas? They are way to small to get a pic that shows anything.