Flea beetle in my rocket

[Medievalist]

I've got 3 tubs of rocket which 2 days ago all looked absolutely fine. Went out to pick some this evening and pretty much all the leaves have tiny little holes in them and there are small black insects on them that jump like fleas. Even the seedlings in another tray have little holes in them 😩.

Google tells me they are flea beetles and options are insecticides or waving a card with some sort of grease on it to catch them when they jump. Tried that and I've got a few beetles stuck to the card and Vaseline smeared rocket.

Don't want to use insecticides. Wondering if I should throw away the contents of all the tubs and start again (though how to stop them coming back?)

Does anyone have any experience or advice?

Hi, I had my rocket massacred last year by probably the same insect. Reduced to nothing within a day or so. I grow it under insect-proof mesh now, with a makeshift system of a wooden skewer planted in each corner of the pot to keep the mesh off the rocket and then clothes pegs to fasten it closely round the pot. There's probably a better way, though . The mesh I use doesn't let water through, so I have to remove it or water through the bottom of the pot.

I don't know for sure whether it is absolutely necessary to start again, maybe someone else can advise. Personally, I would redo the whole thing, given that it is a relatively inexpensive crop.

Thanks for the response. I'll give the netting a go - though it will need to be very fine as they're tiny little blighters!

Can't believe how quickly they damaged the plants. This is my first real foray into veg gardening so I'm just hoping they aren't going to damage my other crops (tomatoes, kale, herbs, beetroot, courgettes etc )

@Medievalist No worries . Yeah, they really tore through the rocket! You should be alright with the netting, provided it is woven tightly enough. I used it last year and it was really effective. If I remember correctly from my own experience, I think they like radish leaves, too... I had a couple of tomato plants in the vicinity that were untouched. The best thing you can do is to keep a regular eye on your crops so that you can deal with any issues as they occur.

'The best thing you can do is to keep a regular eye on your crops so that you can deal with any issues as they occur.'
Oops, didn't mean that in a critical way but rather as a general rule when gardening .

Ha ha - you're right of course! But honestly, on Tuesday I spent ages carefully thinning out a load of rocket seedlings which were absolutely fine. Then by Thursday they looked like lace 😩