What happened?

[annageckos]

The squirrels love to pull leaves and flower petals and leave them laying around. I've found that as long as I feed them they leave my gardens alone. Well, mostly alone, they do plant lots of black walnuts and oak trees. If I don't feed them, or forget to put something out they start digging and ripping things up. Lucky for them I have a soft spot for squirrels.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I wondered about the soft spot where I just transplanted the squash because they have buried nuts there. I have 2 walnut trees in my yard and when the walnuts come it is a circus with them fighting over nuts in the trees, but I went looking and I think some could be birds, some squirrels, but I found some that are bugs of some sort. I found a bush bean broken off, but not at the bottom like a cut worm, but the top was laying off to the side. Here is a picture of a cucumber with one leaf gone and spots on the leaves. Some other plants have holes about the size of these spots. I put this unfinished compost around the plants after I saw the leaves being broke off, but reading about some of the insect damage, I wonder what good all this unfinished compost is going to be.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I have more cucumber damage. I had a stem cut, but not at ground level and I have a few bigger leaves that look like that have been tugged on and half hanging on. I put soapy water all over the beans, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, peppers, cabbage and cauliflower. I weeded the cucumbers and the squash and then put more soapy water down. I am going to put some more seeds in for cucumbers and squash.

 

[digitS']

I think the spots and holes are from flea beetles, @Gardening with Rabbits . They may or may not cause much more damage.

The torn leaves and cut stems, I'd blame the voles until something better comes along.

I saw my first Mountain Cottontail this season. The neighbor was working in his raspberries and it raced out and through my garden with Garbanzo the Dog in close pursuit! She had probably better not catch Benjamin Bunny, however. He may outweigh her.

Steve

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I will look up flea beetle. I have never had anything bother cucumbers before. I hope the rabbits only nibble a little. I guess we have to grow enough to share.

 

[digitS']

Flea beetles can riddle things like radish. Interest in trying to eat the roots goes when you realize that the flea beetle larva has cut grooves all over them will the adults are punching holes in the leaves.

Benjamin ate all the many broccoli plants I set out last year. Chewed on the cabbage plants so thoroughly over several weeks that I had only a couple of tiny heads to harvest. He chewed down a whole row of early bush beans that were unable to come back. Benjamin did nothing that looked like sharing what he could comfortably get at.

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

I just used pyrethrum on my curcubits for the striped cucumber beetle and they seem to be gone.

 

[ducks4you]

Birds, squirrels or rabbits. Could be time to cage in your plants. Chicken wire is the cheapest and lightest and easiest to work with. Then, also put crushed eggshells around your plants to tear up those cutworm and slugs. Cheaper than DE.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Looked this morning and another cucumber upside down. It is not like a cutworm down at the ground, but the stem of the cucumber will still be in the ground and sticking up and the top with the 2 leaves off to the side usually stem up and leaves on the ground, more stem in the ground than on the leaves.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

So, yesterday I read that you can plant basil with the cucumbers to keep the bugs away. I went out and planted some basil, different kinds, and 2 bigger cucumber plants. I covered the area with plastic for the night. I figured the plastic would stop the squirrel or birds, but not bugs. I took the plastic off this morning and everything looked fine. I went back 3 hours later and there are cucumber leaves on the ground and a purple Opal basil plant almost broke in half with purple leaves all on the ground. I am going to use wire to enclose the cucumbers.