In article , "Lynda LeCompte"
wrote:

Hi all,

Reading that post about vegetable garden mulch reminded to post about my
predicament.

I started my first vegetable garden this spring. I left it a bit late so
only planted cherry toms and watermelons (and my son planted sunflowers).
Well, none of the tom seeds sprouted - I have since found out that
transplants are the best way to go. My watermelons and sunflowers were
coming on well and then one by one... everything got eaten! One day there
were healthy little plants, the next there were stumps!

Next to my veggie patch I also have a good sized, controlled, blackberry
garden. We had a bumper crop this spring and they were HUGE - but that's
not the point... A pecan tree sprouted in the middle of the patch and we
just let it grow. It was about six feet tall with a good bunch of leaves
and then one day, every_single leaf had been munched off. I was thinking
caterpillars, but I don't think for one minute even 20 of them could eat
that much.

Could it be the cicadas?!

Unless the plants were just snipped off and the top laying near them, I'd
guess snails and/or slugs for the watermelons and sunflowers. A light
scattering of Bugs Getta (snail and slug bait/killer) or Bugs Getta Plus
(apply about once a week or after heavy rain) is helpful about a week
before and for a week or two after planting or sprouting seedlings around
here. You can also try the old standby of beer in a saucer, but I find
that to be pretty much an exercise in frustration and futility.

The Bugs Getta Plus will also (in addition to slugs and snails) kill
"cut-worms" which are the incredibly ugly fat gray larvae with the orange
head, which you will often see when turning soil. They will cut roots and
stems of young plants. (Anyone know what insect "cutworms" are the larvae
of?)

If you found your plants just snipped off, then I don't know the identity
of the culprit. I wish I did. Some years I find the tops of some of my
peppers just snipped off, as with a clippers. I imagine there's some kind
of snipping insect around that chews a very smooth cut.

I don't know about your pecan tree.

--
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