HELP! Attack of the vegetable eating insects...

[silvercaster]

Hello folks,
My wife and I planted tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and bell peppers this spring. We have already enjoyed a tomato, a small potion of lettuce and three cucumbers.

But we are starting to notice small holes and eaten edges on our lettuce and pepper plants. Upon close inspection I can only see ants...but I suspect grasshoppers or crickets.

We live and garden in San Diego, California and are not using any pestisides currently. If there's an organic way we'd prefer it, but we're not opposed to using pestisides.

Being new to gardening our own vegies, what could be eating our lettuce and pepper plants? And how do we stop this?

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[sandih]

I would douse the eaten plants with food-grade DE, not the stuff you use in a pool. I do that when I can't tell what is eating the plants. I would go out at night with a flashlight to see if you can find the culprit.