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Hobbiton New Zealand

i have two vegetable a small one by the house with lettuce radish spinich beetroot spring onions and herbs, something mowed off pretty much all the leaves off all the plants last week I put it down to birds, Second garden has bigger stuff tomatoes beans peas cucumber courgette cabbage cauliflower and brocoli, in 24 hours something has mowed off 15 cabbage, cauli and broccoli plants one cucumber and nothing else.
What the hell is doing it?
Can see no foot prints no rabbit poo so I have no ideas.

11/17/2010 2:22:05 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Are they taking the plant with them?

11/17/2010 2:32:02 PM

Hobbiton New Zealand

nope plants were about 8 inches tall and all that left is the main stem that runs up mibble of leaf

11/17/2010 2:35:07 PM

Alabama

I think it's a Deer, the same thing happened to me but I saw deer foot prints.

11/17/2010 2:42:01 PM

Mingo Co. WV

sounds something like a muskrat

11/17/2010 8:30:43 PM

Central Connecticut

do they have woodchucks in New Zealand? that would be my guess.

11/18/2010 8:29:58 AM

Hobbiton New Zealand

Nope dont have woodchucks, dont have muskrats, do have lots of deer and they live pretty close but there would have been fot prints in garden. I planted out another batch of seedlings yesterday so see how long these ons live.

11/18/2010 11:17:18 AM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Patch Elephants...they don't leave prints

11/18/2010 1:32:35 PM

Hobbiton New Zealand

well you plants lasted a grand total of less than one night.
I picking has to be rabbits or hares, So next question is will the little B$%#@&% eat pumpkin plants?

11/18/2010 2:35:09 PM

Long Island,New York

absolutely they will.....wrap those babies in chicken wire/fencing yesterday!!

11/18/2010 5:24:01 PM

Billerica,Massachusetts

or get a cat or two

11/18/2010 5:59:03 PM

Www.extremepumpkinstore.com

do you have ground hogs? Sounds too familiar

11/18/2010 10:16:37 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

Excellent, Mr. Van Pelt...EXCELLENT!!! Peace, Wayne
Steve, I would guess, if no foot prints...birds are chewin off yer new lil sprouts...happens here every year, a row cover for a couple weeks will help everything to grow up BIG & TALL!!! Peace, Wayne
Birds leave NO footprints, and early on, will eat it awl!!! Even the unsprouted seeds still in the ground!!!!
Once everything is 3 or 4 inches tall, amazing...the birds leave it alone!!! Not sure is what happens in KY, is the same as NZ, but hope this helps!!!

11/18/2010 11:35:35 PM

North Port, FL.

Steve could it be " POSSUMS " ?? below are some infomation abouts possums from the internet:

What do they eat?
• Possums are active at night and generally emerge from their dens about 30 minutes after sunset. They return just before dawn in the summer, but often earlier in the winter.
• Possums are omnivores, which means that they eat both meat and veges, although plants tend to be their main food source.
• Possums have favourite foods and will selectively feed on these until they have been destroyed. This is often why you will see single dead trees in otherwise healthy looking forests.
• On farmland possums are partial to clover. They will also eat crops grown for stock food such as barley and rye, particularly if the paddock is between two areas of forest.
• Possums regularly eat invertebrates such as weta and snails, and are known to eat the chicks and eggs of native birds (e.g. kokako, kereru, fantail, and muttonbird).
• They may also feed on the carcasses of deer, rodents and other possums.

12/24/2010 5:10:28 PM

North Port, FL.

Possums are eating up New Zealand!
In one night 20 possums can eat six kilograms of vegetation - that's enough leaves, fruit and vegetation to fill three plastic shopping bags. That doesn’t sound like so much, does it? But wait there’s more!
In one week 20 possums can eat 42 kg of vegetation - 21 shopping bags full.
In one month 20 possums can eat 180 kg of vegetation - 60 shopping bags full.
In one year (365 days) 20 possums can eat over two tonnes of vegetation - 1000 shopping bags full. Do you think that would fill your classroom?!?
In one night 35 million possums chomp their way through nearly 12,000 tonnes of vegetation. That is about the same weight as 110 million hamburgers! If the people in New Zealand (there are nearly 4 million of us now) were to eat the same amount as all the possums in New Zealand we would all have to eat 28 burgers for dinner each!!!!!
In one year 35 million possums eat over four million tonnes of vegetation. That is too many burgers to even think about!

12/24/2010 5:11:24 PM

Zurich, Ontario Canada

I have had this before. In one night whole tomato plants gone shortly after transplant to garden. Beleive it or not it was cutworms causing the problem. They leave only an inch of the stem and it looked like someone had cut it off with a pair of scissors. Every spring I dust my whole garden with some kind of cutworm killer and I haven't had the problem since.

Phat Joe

4/4/2011 4:25:29 PM

Muddy Waters

put a ring of sevin dust around transplants for 2 weeks I never lost one since I started the ring of fire!

4/4/2011 4:47:28 PM