tkolencik
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Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:41 am
Location: Southwestern PA

What could be eating my pepper seedlings?

Something ate my king of the north pepper seedings and also my hot wax seedlings. Had my flats outside yesterday for a couple of hours, but didn't seem to have any problems. I did notice an ant on the seedlings though when I brought them in. About 34 seedlings in all. They were stripped to the stem. Also several onion plants were attacked. I keep the seedlings in my basement. Could 1 ant have done this or could it be spiders? Thanks.

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Kisal
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It wouldn't have been the work of 1 lone ant, and spiders don't eat plants. They're carnivores. (Well, most spiders eat insects, so I suppose "insectivores" would be a more exact label, although some large spiders eat birds.)

What time of day were your plants outdoors? It sounds more like the work of slugs or snails, but they aren't usually out on bright sunny days. They tend to be nocturnal.

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kimbledawn
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I agree, but sometimes if you have a very shaded area that satys kinda cool slugs will come out. I have baby slugs eating my kale as we speak!

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applestar
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Didn't you say they were in the basement? 34 seedlings in all? This happened overnight? It sounds like a bigger culprit than bugs or even slugs unless you have those big ones. I agree ants or spiders are not likely unless you have one of those mushroom farmer ants that cut leaves and takes them to their nest to make mushroom compost... (where do those ants live again?)

If it happened indoors, I'd suspect mice (Last year, some of my broccoli seedlings in the garage got eaten and I found telltale mouse droppings :evil: ) I set traps but having my two cats thoroughly patrol the garage was apparently sufficient to scare them off.

ON THE OTHER HAND!!! Two days ago, I uppotted my hot pepper seedlings and brought them back inside just as it was getting dark. I was busy putting everything away so I had left them on the floor for about 30 minutes before putting them back under the lights. The next morning I realized that some of the Jalapeno pepper leaves had holes in them, then realized some others were missing leaves. MY CATS HAD SAMPLED THEM TO SEE IF THEY WERE ANYTHING LIKE CATGRASS :evil: :evil: :evil:

If it happened outside, then I would suspect rabbits or deer....

tkolencik
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Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:41 am
Location: Southwestern PA

Mystery solved. Laid down some mouse traps yesterday. I have some "friends" downstairs. Laying down some more today. Hopefully, this solves the problem. Thanks for your input. Hope everyone has a peaceful day!!!

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Kisal
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Glad you caught the little culprit! :)



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