Something eating garden
Garden has been doing well other than tomatoes that seem to have some sort of blight, but something has been eating my garden. This morning I woke to find a lot of the top leaves of my bean plants missing, both in raised bed and containers. Also, some lettuce was eaten, and partial tomato. I have also noticed a few small holes in garden, about 1-1.5 inches in diameter. Even on top of my tomato plants, almost 4 feet high, the beans that were growing up tomatoes have leaves eaten on top. Also, kale is getting eaten, you can see one of the holes in corner of the kale picture, there are 3 others same size but within garden, not at edges.
- Attachments
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Tomatoes, definitely bird damage. Usually they will go after tomatoes when they start to blush but once they have a taste for them and if there isn't anything sweeter, like papaya, they will go after green tomatoes. They are very fond of large tomatoes and chili peppers.
Birds will also eat lettuce leaves, they will peck them to nubs and pull seedlings out of the ground looking for worms.
They will also eat tender green and they would leave the tips of the stems, but other critters have a fancy for those things too. They are not the work of beetles which would look a lot different. Anything from rabbits, racoons, deer, and other critters have a taste for garden greenery. fencing and netting are the only solutions I know for that.
Here feral chickens will eat my lettuce seedlings and bulbuls will only leave caps on the Hawaiian chili, and I need to pick my tomatoes at first blush. Birds will also hollow out the sweetest papaya and they like to eat orchid flowers, especially phalaenopsis buds and catleya petals. Birds and snails will both go after strawberries and I have to get to the Brown Turkey figs before the birds do. Slugs ad snails do the most damage chewing off the tops of my seedlings and eating roots of plants. Doves will eat the pepper seeds from the pots so I have to put a cover on the seed tray so they can't get to them. Mongoose will dig holes in my garden if I bury green waste so I have to wait a couple of weeks to plant otherwise they dig up my plants too. The geckos love earthworms. When I dig up my garden to add amendments they are right there to pounce on any earthworms I happen to dig up. I use lights to deter the Chinese rose beetles and they are sometimes a problem but not much. They will leave the bean and rose leaves lacy and they eat the roses too. The geckos do have a taste for beetles so that does help.
After I cut my grass, the cattle egret swoops down to look for any worms, slugs, or grubs that have been exposed. They also like to eat geckos.
Birds will also eat lettuce leaves, they will peck them to nubs and pull seedlings out of the ground looking for worms.
They will also eat tender green and they would leave the tips of the stems, but other critters have a fancy for those things too. They are not the work of beetles which would look a lot different. Anything from rabbits, racoons, deer, and other critters have a taste for garden greenery. fencing and netting are the only solutions I know for that.
Here feral chickens will eat my lettuce seedlings and bulbuls will only leave caps on the Hawaiian chili, and I need to pick my tomatoes at first blush. Birds will also hollow out the sweetest papaya and they like to eat orchid flowers, especially phalaenopsis buds and catleya petals. Birds and snails will both go after strawberries and I have to get to the Brown Turkey figs before the birds do. Slugs ad snails do the most damage chewing off the tops of my seedlings and eating roots of plants. Doves will eat the pepper seeds from the pots so I have to put a cover on the seed tray so they can't get to them. Mongoose will dig holes in my garden if I bury green waste so I have to wait a couple of weeks to plant otherwise they dig up my plants too. The geckos love earthworms. When I dig up my garden to add amendments they are right there to pounce on any earthworms I happen to dig up. I use lights to deter the Chinese rose beetles and they are sometimes a problem but not much. They will leave the bean and rose leaves lacy and they eat the roses too. The geckos do have a taste for beetles so that does help.
After I cut my grass, the cattle egret swoops down to look for any worms, slugs, or grubs that have been exposed. They also like to eat geckos.
-
applestar
- Mod
- Posts: 30842
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
That's a lot of damage overnight. Larger animal or many? Winged or 4-legged?
Was this all during the one night?
You didn't mention where you are -- it's difficult to surmise the possible culprits -- deer, groundHOG, opposum, roof rats.... It really is possible the holes in the ground was unrelated -- Just harmless moles looking for earthworms and grubs -- Or maybe they really were the entry points for the culprits. It would be best to find out what it/they were to plan the best defense.
Netting, fencing, scares, traps.... You could set them all just as preventive but that won't be efficient.
How often can you check on the garden? How big is your garden?
Was this all during the one night?
You didn't mention where you are -- it's difficult to surmise the possible culprits -- deer, groundHOG, opposum, roof rats.... It really is possible the holes in the ground was unrelated -- Just harmless moles looking for earthworms and grubs -- Or maybe they really were the entry points for the culprits. It would be best to find out what it/they were to plan the best defense.
Netting, fencing, scares, traps.... You could set them all just as preventive but that won't be efficient.
How often can you check on the garden? How big is your garden?
