Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
A year old question...What's eating at my garden??
Last year I lost several new plants (maybe 7 to 9), tomatoes, peppers, etc,
all plants I had started from seed........ gone over night and part of the next day. I was ****ED!! My neighbor has about 5 cats that of course run free. Well one or more of them make a nightly pass through my garden and this also happens to be the side where my plants continue to be destroyed. The plants were beheaded about an inch above the ground, most of the leaves and stems were left laying on the ground. Something chews on the stems a bit then leaves it lay. Well last year I bought a trap and caught me a the ugliest cat, a cat from hell. I never had any plants disappear again after that. I had to buy more plants from a nursery to replace the plants lost, but I was glad it ended. Well, here we are a year later and it's starting all over again!! Lost 4 tomatoes and 3 pepper plants, even some of my potatoes plants are getting ripped. I really wanted to see how these particular tomatoes plants would do this year. I planted 6 of every thing, but the last few potted tomatoes got mixed up, so I'm not sure what is what (I planted 4 different types of tomatoes from seed). Well, no cat tracks this year.......but one has shit and dug in my new grass patch twice now, about 10 feet from the garden. I'm thinking it's another cat ......got to be.....what else would chew a plant off and leave most of it?? It's not a rabbit!! I looked at the bite marks and I think I know what it is but I need to see it. I hung the remaining parts of my tomato plants on the cages just to see if something takes them but nothing does. OK, so today......I hide by the window for about an hour......just when I'm about to give up...a black bird lands with a mouth full of greens, and it starts biting at one of my good plants. DAMN, there are the remains of 3 plants handing there....and it wants to chop down another plant just to take one leaf?? I bang on the wall and it fly's off. My garden is full of grass clippings but that's not good enough for this black bird. (It's an ugly black bird, not shinny like the larger ones I'm use to seeing, maybe this is a female back bird??) So I quickly build a make shift scare crow with a tall garden stake, a hat, and a shirt on a hanger. Then I dust the plants (again) with bug powder and try to think of other things to do. I went and BOUGHT replacement plants today and planted them, (of course I can't find the variety that I grew from seed). I have some 2x4 fence wire that I ran around some of the plants that were previous attacked. The birds can still get at the plants but maybe they'll be intimidated by it. I borrowed a pellet gun today, shot 3 black birds. I must admit I don't like killing harmless animals for no use but I'm hoping they are smarter than they look and realize that my garden is not a nest building smorgasbord. Any suggestions to rid my garden of black birds? (Oh don't say a cat.) I don't want to continue to dust my plants until they are 2 foot tall. I thought about tying fishing string around and in between the cages (down in TX by the water they do this to keep the seagulls from flying in but it's higher in the air). Cheers, Jim =====Not a killer.......just trying to protect my young......(plants) :-) |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
[IBC] For old, Old, OLD members ;-) | Bonsai | |||
[IBC] For old, Old, OLD members ;-) | Bonsai | |||
Planting a 3 week old tank and propagating a 2 year old sword rhizome | Freshwater Aquaria Plants | |||
30 year old washer question | Lawns | |||
Which garden vac to buy for a 73 year old? | United Kingdom |