A possum eating my chillis ?
 

Hi All,

In my backyard I have two passionfruit vines growing on the back fence
and have noticed for a while now a clump of partially eaten passionfruit
at the base of one of them (Panama variety). I assumed there was
something getting in the yard and eating them. BUT today when I had
another look there where quite a few half eaten chillis (cayenne type)
in the same pile which had not been there previously.

I assumed a possum to start with but understand that possums don't
generally like chillis and that chilli based liquids are used to spray
on plants to stop the possums eating them.

I haven't seen the tell tale signs of possum droppings or any droppings
for that manner. Oh and the chilli plants they are pinching them from
are about 6 metres away from the pile that is being formed.

Anyone have any suggestions ?

I haven't seen any possums here in the past. I 've been living here 2 years.

Thanks in advance
David
Wollongong, NSW

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 19:51:17 +1000, David wrote:

Hi All,

In my backyard I have two passionfruit vines growing on the back fence
and have noticed for a while now a clump of partially eaten passionfruit
at the base of one of them (Panama variety). I assumed there was
something getting in the yard and eating them. BUT today when I had
another look there where quite a few half eaten chillis (cayenne type)
in the same pile which had not been there previously.

I assumed a possum to start with but understand that possums don't
generally like chillis and that chilli based liquids are used to spray
on plants to stop the possums eating them.

I haven't seen the tell tale signs of possum droppings or any droppings
for that manner. Oh and the chilli plants they are pinching them from
are about 6 metres away from the pile that is being formed.

Anyone have any suggestions ?

I haven't seen any possums here in the past. I 've been living here 2 years.

Put some sand around the plants and look for paw prints the next morning.

David wrote:

I haven't seen the tell tale signs of possum droppings or any droppings
for that manner. Oh and the chilli plants they are pinching them from
are about 6 metres away from the pile that is being formed.

Any chance of it being Bulbulls?
They like red things to eat, like cherry tomatoes.

David writes:
In my backyard I have two passionfruit vines growing on the back fence
and have noticed for a while now a clump of partially eaten passionfruit
at the base of one of them (Panama variety). I assumed there was

Maybe rats? I know they will chew on chokos, and they climb.
As for whether they can develop a penchant for chilli--a pet rat owner
might be able to answer that.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)