What is it that is eating the leaves off my beetroot seedlings,
but not the stalks, and ignoring other stuff like lettuce in
the salad bed?

In article ,
lid says...

What is it that is eating the leaves off my beetroot seedlings,
but not the stalks, and ignoring other stuff like lettuce in
the salad bed?

Probably slugs

--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

In article ,
Roger Tonkin wrote:
In article ,
says...

What is it that is eating the leaves off my beetroot seedlings,
but not the stalks, and ignoring other stuff like lettuce in
the salad bed?

Probably slugs

It depends HOW they are being eaten. Pigeons are the other likely
culprit.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Roger Tonkin wrote:
In article ,
says...

What is it that is eating the leaves off my beetroot seedlings,
but not the stalks, and ignoring other stuff like lettuce in
the salad bed?

Probably slugs

It depends HOW they are being eaten. Pigeons are the other likely
culprit.


Having put the question here but then gone a'googling (the wrong way round
to
do things ! ) I came across a couple of suggestions that young beetroot
leaves are the joy of life to sparrows.

Well, 10 feet away is a pyrocantha hedge within which a flock of about
15 sparrows spend their days.

So, it's ex-Sainsbury's plastic punnets covering the beetroot seedlings
this morning.

The Gardener (SWMBO) has created a stack of shelves made from
plastic guttering to grow the salad stuff, so I doubt that slugs have
climbed past the cast iron bases made from an old drawing board.

On 15/05/2014 18:48, Nick Maclaren wrote:


It depends HOW they are being eaten. Pigeons are the other likely
culprit.


The bane of my life they are. They rip the buds of the cherry trees,
leaving shredded young branches hanging down. Pea, sprout and cabbage
plants get their leaves eaten as soon as I turn my back, if not put
under netting. They also eat most of anything put out for the birds,
even parking under the feeders to glean everything that drops out of them.

To add insult to injury, they then somehow get their bloated bodies off
the ground, seemingly just to recycle it all over my car. Only mine -
they leave my wife's alone. I really think they know I hate them.

--
regards andy