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something is killing my plants

T

trwoolsey07

I returned home yesterday to find some of my pepper plants and my fiances cucumber plants destroyed. Then cucumber plants had been completely removed from the soil, root and all, with relatively little damage otherwise. The pepper plants, it appeared, had been cut in half at about soil level and the sprouts had just been left there on top of the soil. I thought the cucumber plants were gone, since they weren't laying in the pot, but i found them just laying on the table top where I put the pots every morning. This table is a good 4' off the ground and this is happening in the middle of the day. Has anyone ever had anything like this ever happen to them?
 
No, but unless the deer are jumping a 6' fence(and i'm not putting that past them) in a developed neighborhood in a town of over 100k, I am at a loss for anything else that could be doing this. The middle of the day thing really has me stumped...
 
Hmm, it sounds like raccoons to me, maybe. Cut worms cut the plants off about soil level and just leave the rest laying there and a raccoon might pull a plant and take it away to play with it. But I have the same question, do you use fish emulsion?
 
i was thinking coon or a possibly a cat if your using fish emulsion. I have heard of cats digging stuff up looking for the fish :)
 
No I'm not, this is my first go around with the whole peppers and garden thing. We have never seen any racoons around, that's not saying they aren't there(we do have green belt and golf course very close to us). What could I use to keep cutworms away, assuming that's what's part of the problem is.
 
I believe he already said he is not using fish emulsion.

I live in a suburb of Cleveland, OH, which is a fairly good-sized city, and in a neighborhood where the houses are packed in like sardines. However, it is not entirely unusual for us to find deer walking down the middle of the road. I wouldn't eliminate deer as a possibility for that reason.
 
So, something yanked out your cucumbers and put them all on top of a 4' table and then ripped out your pepper sprouts and left them on the soil, all in a fenced in yard in the middle of the day, which would exclude most nocturnal animals?

My guess: you pissed off one of your neighbors.
 
@nick- unfortunately you are not the first person to suggest the neighbor thing, but why wouldn't they just kill everything? Either way it sucks.
 
I hate to agree with the disgruntled neighbor (or better yet, bored teenager) solution but it sounds that way to me as well. If the whole plant is ripped up with out being chewed upon or destroyed, then that would be my guess. Good luck.
 
sad to say i agree with the neighbors/kids in the neighborhood idea. My next door neighbor (whom we have a great relationship with.. and her two kids) was surprised as hell that her 13 year old went into our garden picked a lot of our tomatoes and hurled them at our respective back neighbors house... just for kicks. I am willing to think the messy divorce at the time had a hand in it.. but people are unpredictable.. specially kids. We made her clean the house with all of us watching and she also did most of our garden work in the fall to make up for it. She's a good kid.. just snapped
(she also had some councelling).
 
i would not guess without some forensics

please get a wildlife type camera at basspro or
other outdoor hunting supplyshop and setup for motion to take some pictures

if you find out it is a bigfoot, chupacabra, or sasquatch etcetera please post pictures

:dance:


it may be one step easier (and more affordable)to just lock up the yard

i would still set up the camera survey anyway
 
Should probably get one of these as well for while you are away...

mercenary010.jpg
 
Squirrels?. Being in the city I am not sure how well it will work, but go to the closest hair salon and ask for a bag of hair, it will spook them. Sprinkle around the outside of the plant area. When it washes away in the rain you will need to spread more. If it is a human threat and you have metal fencing you will need a car battery and some wire for the gate....or be nice and just get a lockable latch.
 
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