What Does This?

Chopper 6/30/2014, 1:03 am

I wrongly blamed my voracious chickens for this damage. But even after adding a fence and bird netting it is only getting worse and now the carrot tops are being eaten too. I see no eggs or signs of caterpillars but it must be? Any ideas?

What Does This? Dscf4012

These were formally huge brassicia leaves. Now skeletons. You can see the one that is (was) left. Now gone too. Sad

southern gardener 6/30/2014, 2:17 am

boy, that's some serious damage! could it be birds? I'm trying to see the leaves...are there triangular cuts....like beaks? could it be rabbits? Check tonight and see if there are any rabbits around, or during the day for birds...sorry for you loss.......

Marc Iverson 6/30/2014, 2:26 am

Could it be slugs?

mollyhespra 6/30/2014, 8:54 am

Do you have a trail camera? It looks like bird damage, but you've ruled that out. Any paw/foot prints that you can see?

**camprn** 6/30/2014, 9:01 am

rabbits or a woodchuck

mapspringer 6/30/2014, 10:21 am

What time of day are you looking for the culprit? Worms and caterpillars are often night stalkers. Go out just as night is falling and take a look, if you haven't already.

Chopper 6/30/2014, 12:02 pm

I will go out at night. It is on a tabletop about waist high so I didn't think rabbits could manage that. After I surrounded it with bird netting I didn't think squirrels could get in either. I have not checked at night nut I will tonight. I sprayed with Bt but that does take time and it was an old bottle so may not even be any good. Will let you know if I find out one way or the other.

DorothyG 6/30/2014, 11:06 pm

Look for a green worm on the underside of a leaf or stalk, will have a "horn" on one end that sticks up and has a red hue to it, has white stripes that go around the worm diagonally. Look for their dung on the ground, can be almost the size of rabbit pellets.

I don't know the name of the worm, we just called them horned worms. They can devastate a garden in no time. Good luck.

Yardslave 7/2/2014, 7:49 pm

In the spring my broccoli, chard, kale and cabbages were hit by flocks of house finches they migrate through and hit like a plague of locusts. The damage they leave behind looks like your veggies.
Another thing that can do the same damage is voles. They can climb over tall barriers, burrow into beds, eat and leave. The voles will leave a path they follow to the beds- look for trails around your beds- that's their shortcut to your veggies. You can leave a mousetrap in your beds along any nearby bed wall and bait it with a slice of apple or peanut butter. I have to spike the traps with a 6 penny nail to keep the trap anchored down when it's sprung because the voles are so fast they jump away when the trap jumps as it's triggered and the vole escapes unscathed- they are super fast! Evil or Very Mad

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