I feel your pain..... 2 days ago I had 2 lovely multicolored amaranths. I forgot I tossed seeds and 2 made it! This morning the red was gone. The yellow is still there. Hopefully it is not appealing to the critter. BTW they were about 1 foot tall.

Any idea what's eating your plants? Sorry about your plants...I know what it's like. Many times in the past, armadillos destroyed or damaged plants in my yard. They were after worms and grubs underground, I think, and the plants were just collateral damage. I had to trap and relocate a big armadillo this year. In the case of potted things, they have mini-greenhouse things that could be closed up at night, then opened in the daytime, if that would help.

SQUIRRELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

linda, how did you trap the armadillo? I have a neighbor who has been trying to trap one for quite a while.

I want to know that as well..............

Could also be raccoons. I have had them raid a small pond on my porch (no fish in it by the way) and they have chewed their way through plastic pots to eat the roots of my water iris and mini papyrus. Have trapped and relocated 2 raccoons last week.

My husband seems to think it was a raccoon. Although, I noticed a small rat scurrying around about a week before, in the early morning hours just before sunrise. My bet is the rat! We live in a very heavily wooded area so there's really no telling what it was. With the lack of rain that we've had the local critters are looking for food/water sources.

I've started from square one again, this time they're in a safer spot....I hope, haha.

sprinkle some coffee grounds on the soil. squirrels and rats don't like it. Don't know about raccoons

sprinkle some coffee grounds on the soil. squirrels and rats don't like it. Don't know about raccoons

Thanks for the coffee grounds suggestion. I'm going to give it a try.

The squirrels around here don't dig in the pots that are topped with lava rock. It's a good mulch to keep the moisture in as well as keeping the soil from splashing out when watering.

About trapping the armadillo, there's a place on one side of the yard that has a fence not far from that side of the house. I blocked off both corners with some concrete blocks slanted toward two traps...each pointing in opposite directions. So that either way the armadillo was heading, it would have to go into the trap or else turn around and go back the way it came. I put containers of compost with worms toward the rear inside each trap, but I don't know if that even made any difference. The second night, the armadillo was in one of the traps. I hated to do that, but was just tired of all the holes and damaged plants over the years. Just remember, though, other critters could end up in a trap...cats, raccoons, etc.