• Please post pictures and as much information as possible.

pest something is biting the leaves off of my pepper plants

S

sjklix

Some animal is biting the leaves off of my pepper plants. They're not eating them though. The leaves are left on the ground around the plants. It is only affecting the peppers, not the tomatoes or herbs. They've denuded jalapeno, fresno. lunchbox (small sweet) and serrano. It's happening sometime between dusk and dawn. I'm using raised beds surrounded by 4 ft high wire mesh fencing. The tops are open though. Anyone have any ideas? I've attached pictures (before and after) from a trail cam. This has been happening since we planted the garden this year. I've lost 6 plants at this point. We do have the full selection of wildlife here in the panhandle of WV. Anyone have any insight? TIA.
with leaves.jpg
without leaves.jpg

As you can see, the pic on the left is with leaves and the pic on the right is 16 hours later after being chewed up. The leaves are all on the ground beneath the plant.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Second guess - Voles (doubtful. They would eat the leaves as well)

Third guess - Crickets/grasshoppers (doubtful. The former eat holes in the leaf, the latter eats from the edge.)

Forth guess - Snails/slugs (doubtful. They'd leave a slime trail and generally eat holes in the leaves)

Fifth guess - Squirrels, because they're bastiages. Huge garden nuisance. They dig shit up, bury shit, bite shit...they're bastiages I tell ya! Seriously, with it being so hot and dry lately, they're known to bite/eat stuff they usually don't mess with, looking for moisture.

I'm outta guesses. I hope you find your enemy. Good luck with it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Raccoons, possums, woodchucks and rabbits terrorize pepper plants at night all the time. You’ll probably have to apply some kind of ‘control’ to maintain your grow until you harvest. It’s a reality when you‘re growing food thats accessible to any form of predation. I think how you manage a grow is a key aspect to any grow’s successes/failures. This is where a ‘grow plan’ gives you the opportunity to establish a contingency plan for your grow if you experience an issue. Most obstables in a grow can either be prevented or controlle.d. Personally, I find the challenges of ‘growing my own food‘ push me into a better state of mind when looking at ‘the big picture’ around me. I haven’t met a plant that I didn’t like per se…I wish I could say that about people.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Growing mint around your grow is better than that crap (Bobbex). Powdered pepper will keep a lot of critters out of your grow. Reapplying can be a pain due to rains or improper watering technique. Both of these forms of controls can be grown very inexpensively and both can eat them, too.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
you can always order a few honey badgers, and some cobras, oh and importing any animals/bugs from Australia will solve all your problems. You might not have a garden afterwards, but the next season will be great!

Cheers lol!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D3monic said:
Mints a terribly invasive plant on it’s own. I’m still fighting to kill it off when it got loose.
Click to expand...
When planting mint placing it in a 10“-12” deep container with its bottom cut out of the container will usually keep it from spreading. Pruning will keep the mint off of the soil so it doesn’t spread out of the container. I keep a lot of ‘rhizome-type’ plants from spreading this way. Keeping it in pots will help, too. Of course not much is %100 when you’re dealing with outdoor conditions. Just a preventative tip.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top