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carl27

What the heck did THIS??!!

Carl27
10 years ago

Drama. Something killed about 20 of my plants in three days... See picture below - all the leaves were clipped off (not eaten) and the trunk is chopped off.

Potential culprits that we have in the area: rabbit, skunk, groundhog, bird, insect...?

Other weird fact: nothing else in the garden was attacked - we have lettuce, carrots, beans, peas, herbs, tomatoes. Just the peppers.

Trying to fence the area as best I can but would help to know what this might be.

Thanks

Comments (9)

  • mctiggs
    10 years ago

    Yikes, that sucks. A rabbit ate one of my pepper plants from the garden earlier this year, it looked exactly like that. It didn't touch anything else, including carrots which makes me think cartoons lied to me.

    Small consolation, but I removed the bare stump and potted it, the plant grew right back. You may want to try that, if anything was left behind.

    Downright wascally, if you ask me.

  • woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a
    10 years ago

    Yeah... I have no idea. That does suck!

    I don't have the rodent probs a lot of others do, but I do get gophers. Took out 2 of my tomatoes and a bell earlier this year. On the bright side, they left enough of the root ball that I took one of the tomatoes and moved it, cage and all, over about 2 feet. And I took the bell and threw it in a pot. I nursed both back to health and they're producing like my other plants.

    I "extinguished" this year's family of gophers and only lost ONE tomato plant.

    I win!

    They did, however, take out most of my insectary garden though.

    Kevin

  • mswiggi
    10 years ago

    Looks like it could be a rabbit! I've had more than enough peas and green beans chomped down by them this year.

  • tony469
    10 years ago

    Do you have deer in your area?

    This post was edited by tony469 on Fri, Jul 19, 13 at 20:39

  • Calcat36
    10 years ago

    Ground hog. Deer eat greens which is dismissed by the pile on the deck there. Ditto rabbits. They dig tender stuff and if they dissed carrot tops... it was no rabbit. Skunks eat better than that. Birds would not eat the trunk. Caterpillars would have stripped the leaves and the branches as well, in one single night, without eating the trunk. Coons prefer sweet things and IMH experience, they tend to NOT eat pepper plants. Corn on the other hand... Opossums same deal, BUT I cannot say for sure as they are not a problem here.

    Ground hogs start at the tender top of the plant. Even WEEDS and get to a point where they just stop. That is what happened to you.

    If it is a hog, they feed early in the am, and just around dusk. And for fat buttocks, they sure to run fast! BUT when feeding and startled, they stand tall on hind legs. Best time to kill them with lead! Unless it is the caddyshack one...

  • peppermeister1
    10 years ago

    +1 for groundhog.
    my neighbor has been battling groundhogs all season. He catches them in the act and his plants look a lot like yours. I suggest elevating the plants. My neighbor turned a rarely used jungle gym into an elevated plant stand, he's got about 20 5gal buckets up there now.

    My plants are not quite elevated. The critters seem to stay away from my garden thanks to my dog patrolling our property and he and I urinating around the perimeter of the garden. It works!

  • MadCat1118
    10 years ago

    To keep groundhogs away, put out pinwheels. They are afraid of the movement of the pinwheel.

  • Calcat36
    10 years ago

    +1 for the peeing PEPPERMEISTER! Thanks for the laugh because I have done it too, yet I never thought about posting it! Where is the darn "like" button when you need it?

  • peppermeister1
    10 years ago

    I agree with MadCat about the pinwheel to keep the groundhogs at bay, I recently read that they are very effective as is a windsock or anything with a lot of motion.

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