Jay,

Sorry to hear about the plants. Everything under the sun ate my plants last year, including rabbits, deer and pillbugs (doodlebugs). With a taller fence (raised from 3' to 7'), the deer have been kept out successfully, but the bunnies and pillbugs still vex me.

I hope you can figure out what is getting your plants and find it way to keep it or them away from the plants.

Dawn

Dawn,
Thanks. It is minor compared to what some of you are facing with your flooding ect. The fact they were established and really growing I hated to lose them. And not knowing for sure what ate them. The one was ground level and could of even been a cut worm. But the other being up so high on the stem I'm not sure. Just took the whole top out of the plant. And the bite marks didn't look like a cut worm. I have never had much trouble with them but have seen a few. Would like to figure it out so I can prevent it on the replacements and the ones left to go out. The challenges of gardening. Jay

Jay,

You always so kindly point out that many of us are dealing with flooding, waterlogged soil, etc. and that is true, but it doesn't make the loss of your plants any less frustrating for you, so I just want you to know I feel your pain. Your problems with critters eating your plants is just as real for you as our problems with waterlogged soil, etc.

I normally don't have much trouble with cut worms either, and they haven't bothered my plants this year (knock on wood) but I have found a few in the soil just a little below the soil surface, so maybe I just found them before they could do any harm. (Chickens love cutworms and grubs, so my hens always run when they hear me calling them from the garden.) Don't forget that the southern cut worms can climb an inch or two above the soil and do their evil deed, although since it didn't look like cutworm damage to you, it probably wasn't them.

Do you have potato bugs? I normally don't have much trouble with them this year, but I've found a few this year and one was on a potato plant, but I also found one on a tomato plant and one on a datura, which makes some sense seeing as how they all are members of the same family. I haven't found any potato bug eggs and I don't know why I've seen "only" four, but I need to keep watching for them because if I have four, I will have more.

Do you have much trouble with field mice or voles or other small varmints? They are causing a lot of trouble for some folks here because the rains have driven them up to higher ground. They're one pest I don't have to worry about--the cats do their job and control the rodents pretty well.

And, of course, normally I'd suspect snails and slugs but I wouldn't think you'd have a lot of them with the type of soil you have.

I've had tomato hornworms since early April but not in large numbers. Of course, it only takes one.

Dawn

I've got something eating my hot peppers! I think... there's been two plants totally gone, and this morning I went out and four of my hot pepper plants have lost their leaves... totally. One was REALLY big too. Gosh durn it. It did rain last night, so I'm not sure if it was a creature or just sickly plants against the rain.

Boy, this year has been FUN... LOL!!

Beth

Beth,

Do you have deer and rabbits? In my garden, the deer really love the pepper plants. Even with a fenced garden, the young rabbits can often go under the fence or through some really small openings in the mesh. It could be almost any small animal, many types of birds, or insects. Some years I have a lot of trouble with turtles crawling under the garden gate and eating plants, but that usually is later in the summer when everything else is dry and the garden seems green and lush by comparison.

Dawn

It's probly not deer this far into town... but ya never know. Definitely rabbits. I've seen rabbits and coons around my house a whole lot this spring. More than usual. Ain't that grand? Of course, I can't afford to put a fence up right now, so I went outside a bit ago and threw down some mothballs. lol... we'll see what happens. :)

Oh, I have turtles at varying times of the year. We're right beside a drainage ditch and they seem to breed in there.

Beth

Beth,

Put up with me for a moment while I put on my "Big Meanie" hat long enough to warn you about using mothballs in the landscape or garden areas.

Mothballs are highly toxic and are not labeled for use anywhere in the home landscape or garden. In fact, it is against the law to use them in any manner other than the use prescribed on their label. I'd never, ever, ever put mothballs outside where they could harm us, poison our soil and even potentially kill our cats, dogs and other pets or wildlife. I don't even use mothballs inside our home.

We've had other threads on this topic, but perhaps that was before you began posting on our forum. I'll find and link one of the previous discussions. If you want to read more about the hazards of mothballs, just google mothballs and the words toxic or hazardous and see what pops up.

OK, I'll stop nagging now, but as a mom, I always try to put safety first.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Previous Thread on Moth Balls

WELL GOSH DURN IT! I'll run right back out and get rid of those things now... SHHEEESHHH. That's what I get for not asking you first, huh?

You're not being a meanie, not by a long shot! I need to know these things! Between my youngest and the new kittens and momma cat I've got outside, this could've gone very bad. I'm glad I mentioned it here! THANK YOU DAWN!

Beth

Beth,

I'd forgotten you had the kittens, or "catties" as our 2-year-old "borrowed" grandchild refers to them. I believe I read that the mothballs are especially toxic to cats, so in view of your kitten population, I'm glad you're going to remove them.

A dear friend of our lost his cat yesterday as a result of a rather tragic gardening accident. A couple of weeks ago (and I never heard all the details as he called in a hurry asking for a vet's name and didn't go into the details), he was using a herbicide at the ranch and, somehow, the cat licked up some of it. He rushed the cat to our local vet (a one-vet clinic) but the vet was in surgery and couldn't stop to see the cat. So, he called us and we sent him to our "back-up" vet just over the river in Texas.

That vet clinic kept the cat and treated it and told him the cat might survive, but might not. Well, Raven held on for a couple of weeks, but ultimately died, likely from organ damage. We were quite distressed. They'd had Raven for a long time--I'm guessing 11 or 12 years.

So, you have to be careful with animals around many kinds of products--including pesticides and herbicides.

Raven was a wonderful cat.

Dawn

My mother-in-law died of lung cancer a few years back. She had not smoked for about 14 years but she had mothballs in every window of her house to keep out spiders, she said. Whenever my husband went to visit overnight I had to wash everything he had taken, even the clean clothes because the smell of mothballs was so strong. Later she lived near us & even the cookies she so kindly brought over tasted "mothball-y". After she died a chemist told me that mothballs are a carcinogenic & that was what likely had killed her, not the long absent cigarettes.

After further investigation tonight I'm guessing cut worm on the one and probably a rabbit on the other. I measured tonight and it was ate off over 3 inches from the ground. Not sure if we have the southern cut worm here or not. I hadn't heard of it till Dawn posted that. I will google it and see what I can find out. But found what appeared to be some rabbit fur in a little nest. A rabbit made a nest in the garden last year and had babies before the cat found them.
I had replacements for them. Just hope I don't lose them again. Checked notes and the others had been out 11 days. I got them and about 6 more planted tonight. Have less than a half a flat of peppers to get potted up then will be finished with that. While potting tonight grilled some asparagus from the patch. Really good. Some of the plants in the cold frame are touching the top now and it is 24" tall at the back so need to get them out. Have really grown this week. My first bloom should open in the next few days. It is on a Golden Cherokee plant. So hopefully it will set some before the heat sets in. Jay

Jay,

I learned about the climbing southern cutworms from something Carolyn wrote on the Tomato Forum several years ago, and I think it was in response to a problem Bill P. (GoneFishin') was having with his tomato plants being cut off above the ground. Actually, in his case, I think he ultimately determined it was either mockingbirds or cowbirds cutting off his plants. But, the climbing cutworms stayed with me because it was just one more thing to worry about here in the southern plains. When I researched them, I learned they were much more prevalent than I'd imagined.

Those darn rabbits. They cause so much trouble. Usually the cats keep them away here, but sometimes the cats just ignore them. Tonight I had rabbits all around the garden, pretending to be eating grass. I'm sure what they are really doing is looking for a place to come through or under the fence and get into the garden.

It sounds like you're making good progress on planting and on potting up. The plants must be deliriously happy in the cold frame this week--look how fast they are growing now!

As well as your plants are growing, I bet you have blooms and fruitset before the heat arrives--as long as the May weather continues to act like it is May.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: One Reference to Climbing Cutworms

Dawn although I'm fairly new to cold frames and shade cloth frames rapidly becoming a believer. Still plan on getting some pictures. Also after a few days I remove the shade cloth and go to screen door fabric. It provides shade and also some protection from the wind. In fact the only real problem I've had with any of the plants coming out of the frames is wind burn. I do pull it back when I'm around home but must not be enough exposure to prepare them for the winds even in the plastic buckets. Been real surprised at how well the Tomatillos have done. Yes most of the plants are really going to town now. The ones I started in the SunGro starting mix are just now recovering. Live and learn. Hope to have the frame finished for the peppers this weekend. Then will have all out in happy homes preparing to go into the ground. Hope everyone has a great gardening weekend. Jay