My Pumpkin plant is gone!

TopThumb · Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:44 am

I started some pumpkin and melon seedlings this spring and they are doing well but this morning I went out to check on them and on one hill 2 plants are completely gone. It doesn't look like something pulled them out of the ground and not even chewed off by some animal. These plants had vines already on them about 4' long so I'm positive it wasn't bugs.

Any ideas?

SPierce · Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:06 pm

I had a gourd vine just up and disappear- something grabbed it from underneath and pulled it down. do you see any loose soil underneath it?

TheWaterbug · Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:55 pm

[url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=219507&sid=da8c67013072671577049a7335cd75eb#219507]Gopher?[/url]

TopThumb · Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:06 pm

From the looks of it, nothing seems to be disturbed, The mulch and straw are still covering the hole.

Do gophers go for pumpkin and melon plants?

TheWaterbug · Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:09 pm

"My" gopher chewed right through my 1/2" thick vine yesterday (see pic in linked thread, above). Oddly enough he didn't touch the pumpkin itself. Maybe he just needs the fiber.

His squirrel cousins will gnaw on the immature pumpkins, but don't seem to touch the vines.

The peafowl nibble on the leaves and will pull a freshly transplanted seedling right out of the dirt.

My 7-yr-old son and his twin cousins will trample the vines.

Pick your pest.

TopThumb · Fri Aug 12, 2011 3:16 pm

Wow! Pesky little things aren't they. I never had any problems before because my cat would catch any thing that moved sometimes 3-4 critters a day. Don't know what happened but he disappeared about a month ago after having him for 8 years. He never ventured out further than the adjoining neighbors but I'm thinking someone took him. Now my 1 acre lot is unguarded.

I did find one leaf about 6' away from where the plant was but that's all I found.

stella1751 · Fri Aug 12, 2011 4:49 pm

TopThumb wrote:Wow! Pesky little things aren't they. I never had any problems before because my cat would catch any thing that moved sometimes 3-4 critters a day. Don't know what happened but he disappeared about a month ago after having him for 8 years. He never ventured out further than the adjoining neighbors but I'm thinking someone took him. Now my 1 acre lot is unguarded.

I did find one leaf about 6' away from where the plant was but that's all I found.

I completely sympathize with you. My good dog died this spring. Nothing dared to so much as look over the back fence while he was around. Late last night, I heard several raccoons whooping it up in the tree behind my back fence. They were loud, boisterous, and obnoxious. I finally got up and went out to chuck some rocks at the tree.

The other dog? Sound asleep on the front lawn through it all. If it doesn't wear a U.S. Postal Service uniform, he's not interested.

It's an adjustment. Once the produce back there (watermelons, strawberries, tomatoes, and pumpkins) starts to ripen, I will be popping antacids by the bottleful

DoubleDogFarm · Fri Aug 12, 2011 5:13 pm

I heard several raccoons whooping it up in the tree behind my back fence. They were loud, boisterous, and obnoxious. I finally got up and went out to chuck some rocks at the tree.

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/DDF%20-%20Helpful%20Gardener%20Misc/Rambo.jpg[/img]

Eric

cynthia_h · Sat Aug 13, 2011 1:16 am

I was going to suggest a hose nozzle, on the focused, sharp stream setting, aimed either at the face or the...ah...directly opposite end of the raccoons. This is what it took to shoo them away from our Berkeley patio. Me menacing them with a broom wasn't anything to fear, evidently. But they did *not* like sharp, shooting streams of water on their snouts, in their eyes and ears, or in their little rear ends!

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

stella1751 · Sat Aug 13, 2011 6:57 am

cynthia_h wrote:I was going to suggest a hose nozzle, on the focused, sharp stream setting, aimed either at the face or the...ah...directly opposite end of the raccoons. This is what it took to shoo them away from our Berkeley patio. Me menacing them with a broom wasn't anything to fear, evidently. But they did *not* like sharp, shooting streams of water on their snouts, in their eyes and ears, or in their little rear ends!

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

That's an excellent idea! I believe I will leave the hose at the ready tonight. I didn't hear them last night, but they were probably sleeping after all the carousing from the night before. Either that or they were stuffing their faces

TopThumb · Sat Aug 13, 2011 8:25 am

We have many raccoons here and the only way I found to get rid of them is this way.

[img]https://i974.photobucket.com/albums/ae229/MyOwnStuff/rocky4as.jpg[/img]

So far this year I have taken 14 of them for a ride to a galaxy far far away.

stella1751 · Sat Aug 13, 2011 10:40 am

TopThumb wrote:We have many raccoons here and the only way I found to get rid of them is this way.

[img]https://i974.photobucket.com/albums/ae229/MyOwnStuff/rocky4as.jpg[/img]

So far this year I have taken 14 of them for a ride to a galaxy far far away.

That one is too cute for words. Makes a person almost want to prepare the produce for 'em, chopping it up into raccoon-sized pieces and garnishing it with a sprig of parsley. (NOT)

That far away galaxy wouldn't happen to be a state starting with a W, would it?

jal_ut · Sat Aug 13, 2011 3:29 pm

So far this year I have taken 14 of them for a ride to a galaxy far far away.

I hope you planted the little suckers. No use giving someone else the problem.

TopThumb · Sat Aug 13, 2011 4:19 pm

They were taken to a forest with 1000's of acres, no problem for anyone.