Hello long time lurker! I've very recently joined as well after watching forever. I'm happy to hear that you've fenced it because there is no telling what nipped your leaves. I've seen birds steal leaves too. For the early days in my garden, I've covered plants with a wax paper bell to protect from critters & wind. Cut top out for now and will remove soon. Probably going to have to re-plant. Hope you hear from Okie Dawn to be sure. Better luck. LL

Hi blytherbean!

I'm glad you decided to stop lurking and join the fun!

Laura Lea is right. It could be almost anything that nipped your leaves, from bunnies to squirrels to mice to birds to pillbugs and sowbugs, who will climb the plant and eat the leaves off one by one, at least here in my garden. Unless you catch them in the act, it is almost impossible to know what ate the leaves, and at this time it is a moot point because the fact is the leaves are gone.

Since it is already May, I would probably replant because even if the plants resprout, it will take them a couple of weeks and that will push your blooming time into the type of weather that is unfavorable for them. A month ago I would have said wait and see if they resprout but we had more growing time to play with a month ago.

To give your plants a little protection from whatever is trying to eat them, surround them with something that a critter will have a hard time getting around/through/into. If it were me, I would cut the bottom and top off 2-liter soft drink bottles or milk jugs so that I had a plastic cylinder 6" or 8" tall. Work that into the soil around the just-planted tomato plants so there is an inch or two beneath the soil and the rest is above the soil. Not only will it protect the plants from some of the animals like rabbits or mice or squirrels, it will give them a little protection from the wind for a couple of weeks as they get established. Be sure to remove the cylinder in 2 or 3 weeks while the plant is still small enough that you can lift up the cylinder without breaking limbs off the plants.

Make sure you don't have any leaves/hay/wood mulch, etc. right up against the stem of the plants because pill bugs and sow bugs will be drawn to that and then will eat your plants. (Those little bugs got 22 of my plants this year!)

You could spray your leaves with something that will make them unappetizing, like 1 tablespoon of red pepper sauce (like Tabasco) in one gallon of water, with just a little squirt of liquid soap--not detergent--added to help the spray adhere to the leaves. Or, to foil small animals on the ground, scatter red cayenne pepper in powder form aroung the plants. If you are going to use the pepper spray, don't spray it on the foliage if temps. are going to exceed 90 degrees or the plants may burn.

If you have dogs or cats, brush their hair and then pull the hair out of the brush and put it on the ground near your plants. The smell of a 'predator' will often keep small animals away from your plants too.

You said you put a 'low' fence around the garden. How low is it? It needs to be 2 to 3 feet tall to keep out most of the small animals that want to eat your plants. And you have to be sure they can't climb underneath it too.

I know it is very discouraging to put plants in the ground and then have them eaten by something. There just isn't much you can do to keep this from happening every now and then. Remember that the animals who want to eat your plants can think about how to get to those plants 24/7 while you cannot be there to protect those plants 24/7. Sometimes it can turn into quite a battle of the wills.

This sort of thing happens to all of us. Don't let it get you down. There is a solution to every problem even though it sometimes takes a while to arrive at the actual solution that works in your situation.

Happy growing and good luck!

Dawn

Thanks guys. I figured I could get the answers I needed right here on the OK forum. I will probably try the new plant/2 liter protection thing. God knows I drink enough diet pop. I'm traveling again very soon so I may just have to scratch my plans and try again with peppers. Funny thing, I have this garden cart with sides that drop down for loading heavy stuff. The result when the walls are down is that is creates a perfect wire mesh cover in every direction-from the sides, above etc. 90% of the time I walk out into my yard, a very well fed rabbit is sitting underneath it, mocking me I'm sure. I'm torn between creating a wildlife haven in my backyard, and planting edibles at every turn. Probably one and the same, it just depends on who ends up eating them.
I inherited (or the bank did) a really neat yard with two big pecans and a pear and pines etc. An incredible amount of wildlife considering I'm in Midtown Tulsa. I was mildly annoyed by the feaston my tomato plants but all in all, I enjoy seeing the rabbit hide under my garden cart more

Blytherbean,

I understand how you feel about the rabbits and other wildlife. I fed the deer and rabbits all winter long. I stopped feeding the deer in March so they would 'go away' and not be tempted to eat the garden. The rabbits are still here, though, and I am still feeding them. They aren't afraid of us or the cats, although they will run off into the tall grass in our neighbor's pasture if they see one of our dogs.

Of course, there is always the law of unintended consequences.....and as a result of the rabbits being fed quite well, we have a bumper crop of well-fed cottontails, which in turn has attracted hungry coyotes who prowl our property at night hunting for a nice rabbit dinner. These coyotes must be fairly hungry as they don't run off when I go out into the yard. Instead they just sit there and howl. Obviously they know I am more afraid of them than they are of me! The rabbits have adapted just fine, though, by coming out to eat in broad daylight when the coyotes are not around.

Your yard sounds really nice. Anytime you have a place where wildlife can manage to survive in the midst of an urban area, I think that is pretty special.

Dawn