The easiest way I know of to figure out what sort of pest is eating your SWP is probably to scatter flour or talcum powder on the ground around the plant and see what kind of tracks are left behind the next morning. Of course, if it is raining where you live, this probably won't work.

When something is eating my plants it is usually deer, who leave more ragged torn edges, or rabbits, who nibble down to the stalks. I don't have a lot of squirrels, though, and the dogs generally keep them away from the cultivated portions of our property.

One way to deter whatever it is would be to spray the foliage and stems with hot pepper spray or to sprinkle it with cayenne pepper from your spice rack.

I've linked a hot pepper spray recipe for you. Do be careful about spraying the foliage in full sun or if the temps exceed the 85 to 88 degree range. Sometimes pepper spray burns tender foliage, esp. if it is in full sun or if the weather is hot.

If the prospect of possible burned foliage makes the hot pepper spray an unwelcome idea, you can buy animal repellents like Critter Ridder or any of the many other varieties at nurseries and home center stores.

Good luck,

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Homemade Pesticides/Repellents

Dawn..Thanks!! I don't think it's deer. I'm in a fenced yard in the middle of OKC. I've about decided that it is my squirrel "friends". I think I'll try the cayenne and/or hot pepper spray. The weird part is that not 20 feet from where they are feasting, I have a large planter with a SPV that is HUGE. . . and they don't touch it!! Kind of like my kids. . .tomatoes HERE, but not THERE!!

Cheri,

All the wild things that eat in my garden will often select one plant over the other. For example, they will eat one pepper plant but not another. Or, they will ignore the hybrid sunflowers growing OUTSIDE the fenced-in garden and then jump into the fenced-in garden to eat the hybrid sunflowers that are growing there. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.

I think the pepper spray ought to work if it is squirrels. They even sell bird seed now already treated with pepper to deter the squirrels from eating it.

Hope you are able to save the SPVs from whatever it is that's munching on them.

Dawn

Squirrels? I never would have thought squirrels would be the rascal, but my potted potatoe vine has disappeared also...in okc.

Young squirrels don't have much to eat at our place in the summer and they will even resort to eating bark from young pecan trees.

ive had what was identified for me as army worms. they came on like a juggernaut to certain of my plants. they devoured the leaves but not the stems

but if you get them, youll find a handful of caterpillars at the crime scene

I had a friend who bought a squirrel proof feeder, one of those metal ones that close when the squirrel jumped on it. She said the squirrel sat on top and peed on it as if to leave it's opinion of the new feeder.

Sooner funny story.. We don't have any squirrels YET. Not enough trees I guess...

I've had the same problem with my sweet potato vines. All the leaves were chewed off. It was chipmunks that were the problem. Still battling them. They totally destroy my planters every year on my front porch. Tried many things. No solution yet

Midtown in LR, AR. One day we had 4 vines of SPV growing out of 2 pots and a few days later they were completely gone-roots and all-we have had the vines in multiple pots on our deck for years -never had this issue. It’s almost like a ghost came and took them away. Very weird.

Probably squirrels or something similar. Well, unless it was a case of garden theft, which sadly, does happen.

I don't have to guess at what is eating my sweet potatoes, tracks say deer, mother and baby. I expected this when I brush hogged my neighbor's peas and sweet potatoes. All of God's children gotta eat, but they don't have to eat my sweet potatoes. Its been 4 years since I used my electric fence, but it may be time to dig it all out and hook it up. This rain should start new growth in a lot of areas and they can tasty food near the woods.