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Arizona Gardening

What would be eating my marigolds?

12 years ago

I have marigolds scattered amongst my tomato and cucumber plants to deter pests. They were doing a great job, til I noticed that two of the plants were missing their flowers and some foliage. The tomato plants and cucumber seem to be untouched as of now, but I'm worried that whatever is eating the flowers will eat the veggies once they're more prolific. Ground squirrels is my first guess, as we have a block wall surround so it's not javelina, and I doubt it's the birds. Do the ground squirrels eat the veggies too?

Comments (3)

MissionGardens
12 years ago
I had a very tenacious rabbit in the fall who lopped the heads off mine and ate the greens. Are the flower heads also being eaten on yours, or are they left scattered like mine were?
lazy_gardens
12 years ago
Quail?
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jeff_12422
Original Author
12 years ago
I've never seen a rabbit in our yard, just ground squirrels and birds, although my parents have had issues with rabbits eating their flowers too. The heads are lopped off and eaten, and the greens are gone now, too. Surprisingly, the tomato plants are untouched.

QUAIL??? Really? B/c it's definitely their season, but I never thought that they would go after flowers. Argh!

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