What happened?

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I am finding squash and cucumber leaves gone from seedlings. The plant still is growing, but will have a stem and no leaf. I also transplanted a squash plant from the compost and I was walking around and checked on it and it was gone. I found it a few inches from where it had been planted. I replanted it. I am not sure how long it was out of the ground, but seemed okay. Would birds be doing this?

 

[digitS']

I have blamed . .

. magpies, for this sort of thing. Is there a chance that one has been in your garden, @Gardening with Rabbits ??

Steve

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I have blamed . .

. magpies, for this sort of thing. Is there a chance that one has been in your garden, @Gardening with Rabbits ??

Steve

I have not ever seen one in this neighborhood. There are a lot of robins. Also, a new sage plant had a lot of leaves pulled off. Some were gone, some on the ground and some half gone. I have noticed robins in that area of the yard. Also, there is a squirrel that comes and goes, but I have not seen it on the ground. It is usually going from tree to tree.

 

[digitS']

If Pied Maggie can't be blamed . . .

Some gardeners have lots of problems with squirrels. The eastern grey squirrels love the 2 walnut trees across the road. (Something has to, they sure don't produce decent walnuts. Must be good enough for squirrels.) The only problem I have with those squirrels, other than the little holes they dig, is that they will eat unripe peaches.

The more troublesome species, I guess, is the fox squirrel. More aggressive, I believe he gets into lots of things. There are not very many places around here with fox squirrels.

Ground squirrels are terrible. They will turn the environment near their burrows into moonscapes by eating everything. They won't climb trees, I'm fairly sure.

Steve
ETA: what about voles? Sage plants? What critters eat sage?

 

[so lucky]

My money is on birds, if the leaves are lying around nearby.
I keep finding huge jagged holes in my cabbage leaves, even with Dipel dust on them. I did find a slug resting on one of the plants. I think I'd better get the crushed egg shells out and sprinkle them around the plants.
Oops! didn't mean to hijack your thread.

 

[Lavender2]

I don't know about eating the plants, but my mom has a horrible time with gray squirrels digging up her annuals. She replanted the same impatien plant 5 times, saw the bugger dig it up. She sprinkled cayenne pepper around the plants and it left them alone.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

I've got problems like that right now. I've seen both doves and House Sparrows in there, but I'm pretty sure that most of the blame is on the sparrows. The most annoying thing that they're doing right now is eating the growing tips off of my peas.

I've got some old CD's hanging in the garden now, it's holding them off but it probably won't last for long.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That plant being pulled from the ground changed my mind. My first thoughts were cutworms or some type of beetle eating the leaves off. I've had rats and rabbits eat plants (usually beans) but they usually eat the leaves and part of the stem.

My guess is ion birds. Maybe they are eating the cotyledon off? That would be where a lot of energy is stored.

I had something similar happening to my tomatoes a few years back. I still think it might have been a rabbit because it was a leaf or two form several plants, just dropped, all in one might. I called the extension service and they thought it might be a beetle. I dusted the plants and ground around them with Sevin and it stopped.

Steve, insects are al I can think of that might eat sage. it was a new plant, not established, so still probably tender.

How about a random bird pulled the squash plan out and either cutworms or beetles are doing the rest?

 

[bills]

Cutworms can zip a leaf off pretty quick, stem too, if it isn't to big yet.. They have destroyed a lot of my bush bean seedlings over the years. I can often find them by just lightly digging around the last casualty..

If the whole plant was pulled up, as others suspect, it's probably a bird.They can be really tough on young peas sprouting..you pretty well need a net of sorts to prevent it.
I bought chicken wire this year to make covers for all my beds. It's light enough you can suspend it from a few smaller posts stuck in the ground, and easy to lift off for weeding or harvesting.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I used to put nails for cutworms because they went for the stem. I did not use nails and i have not had the main stem of any plant cut. I did notice a lot of bird droppings on a tomato plant. It is right next to a fence post, so some bird has been sitting there. I think I will sit and watch the garden and see what is going on. I have sparrows too and I used to have a pair of doves come through the garden when i had bird feeders. I have not seen them, but I have heard them in the trees around other yards. The sage looked like it had been plucked with leaves on the ground under it. I would have thought it was dying if I had not seen some other leaves tore in half and not laying right next to the plant.