Are you saying the plants are 8 feet and the damage is only in the first foot? If so, I would first grab a flashlight and check around at night. You may find a furry friend or insects that emerge at night. If you don't find anything, I really don't know what to say without more information. Sorry!

yeah that's what I'm saying... there are very few leaves at the top to begin with because it's new growth, but all the damage is down low. However, my basil, spinach, and sprite melon which are all in the same bed, are totally fine.

I don't really know what other info to give, honestly. I can't find any evidence of insects at all, but I would think that if it were rabbits or something, everything would be getting eaten instead of specializing just in this one thing.

Yup, me also. My snap peas i'm picking now are gorgeous and the best i've had in years...they share the same trellis. One side snaps and peas, a few varieties. The other side i started pole beans a month or so ago but in succession...about 8 varieties over a few weeks time...
the first ones up and about 10 inches tall are totally laced and eaten. I've not caught the insect but suspect one of the beetles, not earwigs. Fortunately a few other varieties are not being damaged, so i will continue as i have always, and plants many varieties. And over a few weeks time...
Might not be too late to start a row just behind the others...for insurance...
the buggars doing the damage might just move on through their destructive cycle by the time the new crop comes up...just a thought. And how i manage to at least get a decent crop when i see problems. I have always had a good crop of pole beans so this is new to me this year.
I don't usually spray unless i know the culprit but if this continues i will this coming weekend.... researching now.

That's kind of where I'm at now too.... maybe a hail mary of sorts. Do the broadest spectrum spray I can find and hope it works. I do have a SLIGHT issue starting with squash bugs in the adjacent bed. Right now I'm hand picking the eggs and checking every day, so I might go with something that could double up and help with them too before they get too bad.

However, if this is rabbits or something else like that, spraying insecticide will do no good, so....

how about earwigs? That's the only thing I saw when I went out there tonight, aside from a single slug on another bed. The earwigs were pretty prevalent though.

Well, I was out working this morning and the section of beans that hadn't really been touched yet was fine, but when I went out at 9:30 tonight to check it was all eaten up the same as everything else.... so the whole 6' section of beans or so ALL have the lowest foot cleaned off. I'm starting to get pretty irritated, as this appears to have happened during the daylight hours.

Groundhog. Spotted today. Problem solved.

I figured it was an animal of some sort but I am new to gardening so it would be easy to get it wrong. Glad you found the culprit though.

I take my dog around my raised garden to deter unwanted guests with his scent. It may or may not help but so far, I have been 'attack' free. The rabbits are always in the yard but they avoid the garden.

For future reference while insects can be devastating to plants they are much slower then a rabbit, ground hog/woodchuck, or a deer. If the damage is total and happened overnight it most likely is not an insect, not even a tomato hornworm is that fast, especially if you cannot find the insect on the plant.

This post was edited by kimmsr on Thu, Jul 3, 14 at 7:15