Sweet Potato mystery?????

[Kassaundra]

I weeded the bed there was no place for "tracks" I didn't notice any, the bed was full of plants, sweet potatoes, grass and lambs quarters. Nothing was touched except the sweet potato vines. While weeding I was disrupting the top layer of dirt did not find any cut worms at all, I would think w/ that much damage overnight the soil would be moving w/ large numbers. Some rodentia seems likely, why would they just cut the vine and not eat anything? and not cut the stems of other plants??? The grass in the bed is runner grass so the sweet potato vine and the grass vine are structurally similar.

I do not have any before pics, might get a couple of shots today, see how today goes.

 

[catjac1975]

I have sweet potatoes and groundhogs. They have not touched them. The have taste preferences. They like tender plants like emerging peas. They love beans and butterbeans. But. If they don't like what ever else you are serving they might eat the sweet potatoes. I doubt it though. And they would eat the leaves not just cut them down. I vote for the pest cutworm. So glad I don't have them here! So Sad.

 

[catjac1975]

Do you think they can bounce back?

 

[Kassaundra]

I'm not sure, there is little stems / leaves left for photosynthesis, but w/ tuber roots, maybe????

 

[catjac1975]

I think they may send out new leaves pretty easily.

 

[buckabucka]

My sweet potato set out new vines and leaves after they were cut off by the rodent. Our rodent (or whatever it was) only chewed through stems, leaving the rest of the plant, or just dragged it under the black plastic without chewing on other parts. It seems so wasteful!