Something biting stems of plants
 

I have some Cosmos grown from seed and now planted out.

Each night another one or two are being bitten off around 4-5" off the
ground and most of the leaves on the fallen bit left uneaten.

I am trying to puzzle out what is doing this.

I have a wildlife camera but pointed it at the wrong area last night (too
much down angle). I will try again tonight.

However I'm struggling with the logic of something snipping off the top of
the plant but then not eating it.

Any ideas?


Cheers



Dave R

--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

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Something biting stems of plants
 

In message , David
writes
I have some Cosmos grown from seed and now planted out.

Each night another one or two are being bitten off around 4-5" off the
ground and most of the leaves on the fallen bit left uneaten.

I am trying to puzzle out what is doing this.

I have a wildlife camera but pointed it at the wrong area last night (too
much down angle). I will try again tonight.

However I'm struggling with the logic of something snipping off the top of
the plant but then not eating it.

Any ideas?
Cheers
Dave R

The obvious likely answer is 'slugs'. They might simply enjoy the juicy
stems more than the chewy leaves. A few slug pellets (and the resulting
corpses in the morning) should confirm this.

Or ants, and ant powder?
--
Ian

Something biting stems of plants
 

"Ian Jackson" wrote in message
...
In message , David writes
I have some Cosmos grown from seed and now planted out.

Each night another one or two are being bitten off around 4-5" off the
ground and most of the leaves on the fallen bit left uneaten.

I am trying to puzzle out what is doing this.

I have a wildlife camera but pointed it at the wrong area last night (too
much down angle). I will try again tonight.

However I'm struggling with the logic of something snipping off the top of
the plant but then not eating it.

Any ideas?
Cheers
Dave R

The obvious likely answer is 'slugs'. They might simply enjoy the juicy stems more than
the chewy leaves. A few slug pellets (and the resulting corpses in the morning) should
confirm this.

Or ants, and ant powder?

My gues would be mice, ofter have trouble with mice nipping off young
brassica plants hardening off and this year the same thing has happened
to my giant carrots, know it was mice as I have caught six of the b******
this year!

Phil



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Something biting stems of plants
 

On 02/06/2018 22:39, philgurr wrote:
"Ian Jackson" wrote in message
...
In message , David writes
I have some Cosmos grown from seed and now planted out.

Each night another one or two are being bitten off around 4-5" off the
ground and most of the leaves on the fallen bit left uneaten.

I am trying to puzzle out what is doing this.

I have a wildlife camera but pointed it at the wrong area last night (too
much down angle). I will try again tonight.

However I'm struggling with the logic of something snipping off the top of
the plant but then not eating it.

Any ideas?
Cheers
Dave R

The obvious likely answer is 'slugs'. They might simply enjoy the juicy stems more than
the chewy leaves. A few slug pellets (and the resulting corpses in the morning) should
confirm this.

Or ants, and ant powder?

My gues would be mice, ofter have trouble with mice nipping off young
brassica plants hardening off and this year the same thing has happened
to my giant carrots, know it was mice as I have caught six of the b******
this year!

Phil



---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com

I would also go for field mice, though they should be called harvester
mice as they often cut down plants and build a stockpile of food for
harder times.
You could look at the cut off stems for signs of how they have been
eaten, slugs tend to leave a smooth bite where as mice leave groves from
their teeth.

Something biting stems of plants
 

In article ,
says...

I have some Cosmos grown from seed and now planted out.

Each night another one or two are being bitten off around 4-5" off the
ground and most of the leaves on the fallen bit left uneaten.

I am trying to puzzle out what is doing this.

I have a wildlife camera but pointed it at the wrong area last night (too
much down angle). I will try again tonight.

However I'm struggling with the logic of something snipping off the top of
the plant but then not eating it.

Any ideas?

Favourite hobby of hares :-(

Janet.

Something biting stems of plants
 

On Sat, 02 Jun 2018 23:18:05 +0100, David wrote:

On 02/06/2018 22:39, philgurr wrote:
"Ian Jackson" wrote in message
...
In message , David
writes
I have some Cosmos grown from seed and now planted out.

Each night another one or two are being bitten off around 4-5" off
the ground and most of the leaves on the fallen bit left uneaten.

I am trying to puzzle out what is doing this.

I have a wildlife camera but pointed it at the wrong area last night
(too much down angle). I will try again tonight.

However I'm struggling with the logic of something snipping off the
top of the plant but then not eating it.

Any ideas?
Cheers Dave R

The obvious likely answer is 'slugs'. They might simply enjoy the
juicy stems more than the chewy leaves. A few slug pellets (and the
resulting corpses in the morning) should confirm this.

Or ants, and ant powder?

My gues would be mice, ofter have trouble with mice nipping off young
brassica plants hardening off and this year the same thing has happened
to my giant carrots, know it was mice as I have caught six of the
b******
this year!

Phil



---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com

I would also go for field mice, though they should be called harvester
mice as they often cut down plants and build a stockpile of food for
harder times.
You could look at the cut off stems for signs of how they have been
eaten, slugs tend to leave a smooth bite where as mice leave groves from
their teeth.

Possibly not mice.
The wildlife camera worked this time after I adjusted the mounting.
Only two short videos around 22:00 last night.
The first one might have been triggered by a moth but the second on (soon
after) was by a hedge pig!

I'm reasonably confident that the camera will capture mouse activity
because we used it to track a mouse infestation of a kitchen (not ours) a
few years back.

I will investigate further - I think the stems might be being slugged up
towards the top and then breaking at a point where they are weakened
enough for the top to overload the remaining stem - probably about where
woody turns to fleshy. If this is what is happening I'm still not sure why
the slugs aren't then eating the tops.


Anyway, I hope a hedge pig is better than slug pellets.
Not keen on the pellets in case they poison Spiny Norman.


Cheers



David


--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

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