HELP! Motheaten leaves

[rickh6723]

Hi folks;
I have a backyard grow with about 8 plants from store bought seeds. 3-4 are showing moth-eaten appearance that looked like insect damage, but despite checking several times i day i cannot see any insects.
The holes in the leaves are preceded with rust colored spots. I have tried spraying with dilute soap, but it doesn't seem to have any effect either way.
I'm wondering if its some kind of virus or nutrient issue
any thoughts/suggestions?
TIA

[Gingerbeard]

I can't tell you what it is, but I can tell you it is not moth damage. Moths do not eat plants. Caterpillars eat plants. If you are being eaten, you will find little black poos on leaves below the eaten ones.

[DW2]

Howdy rickh6723, moths won't eat the leaves, but their larvae will. Look at the underside of the leaf with a loupe, some of the critters can be very tiny. The damage could be from grasshoppers or leafhoppers as well. You could try spraying them with some hydrogen peroxide to see if that might run them off, or apply a neem oil spray as well.
Good luck with the hunt.

[crucialbunny]

I faced something similar a few years ago. I removed the chewed leaves an dusted the soil and plants with diatomaceous earth. Seemed to clean the critters out pretty well for me.

[SoOrbudgal]

I sprayed 2x's so far to keep moths, grasshoppers and kill catipillars.