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| About two days ago I noticed that something has chewed off the tops of nearly all my romaine lettuce along one row, and I'm missing about half of all my new zucchini and squash buds.
The garden is fenced in with 4' tall fence with 1x2" wire fencing. There's no sign of anything digging under it, (its also buried 16" and bent outward at the bottom). I don't see any tracks, there are no chewed leaves left behind, and the squash buds are over a foot high and are not bent down. Neighbors have had groundhog trouble in the past and we've got a ton of rabbits but I don't see tracks, the fence has always been critter proof, and nothing is bent down as if chewed by a small critter. The lettuce looks as if something took one big bite and took off the top 1/3 of each plant. The tomatoes, yellow zucchini, okra, and cucumbers are not touched. I see no signs of bugs. I do have several 2" round holes in the garden that look like maybe mole holes, but I've never seen moles eat plant tops. Do birds eat lettuce or blossoms? The lettuce I suppose could be some type of four legged critter, but the blossoms are too tall and not bent down to ground level. The ground is soft and from where and how the lettuce is eaten, there would be tracks. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| I watched a groundhog climb over my 7 foot trellis last year. Groundhog proof seems to be a whole echelon above critter proof. ~emmers |
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- Posted by groundhogbait none (My Page) on Sun, Jun 24, 12 at 14:21
| I thought about that but a ground hog would have left tracks and I doubt one could reach the tall buds on the zucchini plants without either folding over a few leaves or the flower stalks themselves. The buds are cut off almost right at the blossom, maybe a 1/4" down and no signs of the blossom on the ground. The dirt around the lettuce is raked smooth, even robbins leave tracks in it. It wasn't disturbed at all. I did find quite a few earwigs when I pulled up my early pea plants, but the lettuce damage is too severe and too fast. It looks more like a deer took a big bite out of each head but I've never seen any deer this far into town and again, no tracks. The way I've got the fence set up the top and bottom curl outward a good foot or so. I even doubled the fence since I had small rabbits pushing themselves through it. I ran a 24" tall section of rat wire with 1/4" holes around the lower part at the ground. |
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| That sounds like a better version of my new fence :) I took 6 feet of chickenwire and bent several inches outward at the bottom and secured it with a run of paver blocks (too lazy to bury it) and left the top foot or so floppy. It's held up so far against the marauding hordes (except for squirrels and chipmunks of course) but I'm pretty sure the groundhog could get in if it wanted to. My first line of defense is not letting it know that there's goodies in the garden. My 'hog troubles last year started when I foolishly left the garden door open to (I thought) allow the 3 baby bunnies that got in a chance to escape. Instead I ended up needing to chase a groundhog and three baby bunnies out of the garden - and herding baby bunnies is no easy task - and for the rest of the season the groundhog treated the garden like an all-you-can-eat buffet. He did seem to like the squash, and the groundhogs in my yard can go up on their hind legs to nibble something tasty... But considering the lack of tracks you do seem to have a puzzle on your hands - flying deer? Levitating groundhog? I don't think a bird would do what you're describing on your lettuce. Hope it was a passing fancy and won't become a repeated offense. ~emmers |
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- Posted by groundhogbait 7 South Jersey (My Page) on Sun, Jun 24, 12 at 23:53
| I pretty much ruled out anything that can leave foot prints. I've gone so far as to sweep the area with a broom to be sure prints are left. The lettuce looks like it's been bitten off from the side, with all the plants in the aisle being hit, with the exception of one in the back of the patch with some nibbling off the now bolting leaves on top. I measured the blossoms that were cut off, their 20" tall. My Zucchini plants are nearing 5' tall right now, only the one plant, directly across from the lettuce at the end of two adjacent rows have been affected. I have several traps set for groundhogs, with lettuce, so far all I got was two very large rabbits, neither of which were capable of getting in with out leaving foot prints. I did find a few earwigs, but have never had damage due to those, but to be sure I dusted for them today. I also set a game camera in the garden. If its large enough to trigger the camera, I'll know what it is soon enough. I removed the eaten lettuce plants. I would also think that if it were a groundhog, I'd see damage to my red beets, squash, melons, cantaloupes, etc. Not to mention some sort of tracks. I haven't seen a deer in this area for 20 years, its just to densely populated and either way the neighbors dog or any one of my cats here would have chased it off. I've got one huge cat that loves fresh rabbit, its not often one gets near the garden without either a chase or becoming a gut pile in the grass. The round holes in the ground puzzle me, I don't see any mole hills, we generally don't have any snakes, and filling in the holes only lasts to the next morning. In several years now, I've not yet found the critter that made them. The cats drag in mice, chipmunks, rabbits, moles, voles, and on occasion a groundhog. The neighbor had a few burrowing under his shed, they died of lead poisoning last month, so far the holes haven't been re opened. We all look pretty hard to find new burrows, and take turns stalking them. I did shoot one last month that was able to stand almost 30" tall on his hind legs trying to look over the neighbors garden fence, but that was the last time he stuck his head up anywhere. The shot turned him into a fuzzy Pez dispenser. Hopefully the game cam catches something tonight. |
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| The round holes might be chipmunks? There are several of those in our lawn, and we see the chipmunks dart right in. It surprised me they were so out in the open in the lawn. The vole holes in my garden were smaller, more like one inch diameter than two. Hope your surveillance pays off. ~emmers |
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| The holes sound like rat holes. If it is, your game cam will catch them. |
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- Posted by groundhogbait 7 (My Page) on Tue, Jun 26, 12 at 1:46
| Well, I came home today and found 90% of the lettuce chewed off to the ground, all of my leaf lettuce is gone, and one whole row of squash is trampled and chewed. The game came found the culprit, a HUGE ground hog, who visited at 9:57AM, and again at 4:37PM. The came shows him dropping into view, he didn't trip the camera til he had eaten quite a bit. There are no holes under the fence. He's got to be scaling the fence and jumping in. He never once touched the open aisle, he stayed in the lettuce, never letting his feet touch the dirt inbetween. He never left a track. The lettuce heads are 14" tall, with some starting to bolt, his back is higher than those. He's one fat critter. I left him a huge bait pile of easy to get at lettuce and apples, if he survives that I'll have to sit for him with a rifle. If the bait pile gets him, He's in for the ride of his life. I also set a half dozen traps in and around the garden. The part that gets me is that he scaled a 6' fence, with a 14" outward and downward overhang. I'd have trouble getting over that fence. I also found that he chewed through the adjacent shed, there's a 24" hole in the one wall, he chewed through the back wall, then tried to chew through the garden side wall to get at the garden. I had a problem years ago with chipmunks chewing through the garden side wall years ago and I doubled the T111 siding with a layer of sheet metal in between. I guess hee hit the sheet metal and gave up. The bad part is he not only got at my garden, but he's eaten up both neighbor's gardens, with the exception of one, who has no fence. Another neighbor said she noticed that all her newly planted flowers were eaten this morning as well. |
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| I don't know if, for the sake of science and stronger fences, you'd be willing to let him make one more foray into the garden so that you could point your cam at the fence and see how he's getting over - I'd be interested to know, because I'll have the same problem if the 'hog who was wandering through the yard yesterday decides to see what's in my garden. A last meal for the condemned, and for the advancement of groundhog exclusion technology? |
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| Nice sleuthing!! Who knew they were so stealthy, and emmers called it. Now, good luck getting rid of the varmit! |
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- Posted by groundhogbait 7 (My Page) on Thu, Jun 28, 12 at 0:54
| The fence is just over 6' tall, the bottom of the fence is double and triple in some places with sheet metal buried well below the end of the fence. Digging under is just short of impossible unless he can eat through aluminum sheet metal and wire fence. The fence is three sided, bordered on the north west corner by a 10x15 wooden shed on an 8" think concrete slab. The lettuce is along the shed wall in 6 narrow rows about 20' long. So far he's eaten 3 rows down to the ground and never left a foot print in the aisle or dirt. His fir and tail must smooth over his foot prints. I left a huge bait pile of lettuce, broccoli, and cantaloupe yesterday, and sat waiting, he never touched it. I sat and watched the garden till about noon, went in for a bite to eat and came out 15 minutes later and 15 heads of lettuce were chewed off and no sign of the hog. I gave some thought to him maybe climbing over the shed and dropping in from the roof, but that wouldn't let him out. The fence is supported with poles about half way, so it won't support much weight hanging on it. Let alone a ground hog trying to climb over the outer overhang to get in. I did find some chewing on the adjacent shed today, but he gave up, and there's some digging around the edge of the garage on one corner but again, he hit the rough concrete over pour about 6" down and gave up. I have 6 live traps set, a dozen various size conibear traps set in among the remaining lettuce. So far he's not touched a trap. I dusted the surrounding area with cayenne pepper powder, figuring if he walks in it and licks it off, he's in for a surprise. I'm not sure if ground hogs are affected the same as we are by hot peppers? Also in the garden are various other sprouts, okra, new squash plants, onions, and melons but he's only gone after the lettuce and zucchini blossoms so far. If I catch the thing, will stringing up a dead one ward off others? I've combed all over the neighborhood and have yet to find a den or burrow, if I find his home, I know where to wait for him. At work, we've had a number of ground hogs burrow under the store room floor, but its just a matter of sitting and waiting for the hog to show his head and bang, he's gone. |
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| How about a trap - like what is used for raccoons? We have caught many a raccoon with something similar to the link below. Hi everyone - I am new to gardenweb - I really appreciate all the advice here. :-) (USDA Zone 7b) |
Here is a link that might be useful: Havahart 1 Door Raccoon Trap
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| I can't believe he ate 15 heads of lettuce in 15 minutes! He must be watching you while you're watching for him! I wish I could provide some advice but it sounds like you're trying pretty much every possible option already. |
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- Posted by groundhogbait 7 (My Page) on Fri, Jun 29, 12 at 4:02
| I've got a half dozen havahart type live animal traps but so far he's not gone near them. I've baited with lettuce, canteloupe, melon rinds, broccoli, and red beets but the bait goes untouched. I've gotten a few rabbits in the trap but none large enough to do any damage in the garden. I pulled up the chewed lettuce heads, used them for bait but it seems he only bites on a plant once, even in the garden, each time its a new plant that got eaten. I had 300 heads of lettuce, after this week I'm down to about 50 tops, and some of them have damage again now. At this time in the season, as the lettuce bolts, I basically just let it go to seed for next years crop. The problem is he's even chewed off the flowering stalks. I added a wire fence around the roof of the shed on one side today, I increased the overhang on the fence and sprayed the lettuce with some pesticide that I hoped would deter his appetite. I left the garden at 7pm to put some tools away, and came back in less than 5 minutes and four heads of lettuce were chewed down to the ground. The part that gets me is that it can eat that fast. I'm 300lbs and can't eat that much that fast. I gave the remaining plants a good shot of Malathion in hopes the odor deters him. I've grown a garden here for 15 years, this is the first year I've had anything get through the fence. I've had insect issues last year, but never a furry critter getting over the fence. I would have fully expected burrowing rather than climbing, so far, he's not even tried to burrow under the fence. This weekends project will be to install a proper gate or door, I poured a threshold at the point of entry so nothing can dig under, now I need to make an easy to walk through gate or door. The way it is now I have to take down a 6' tall upper gate and remove a fence panel to get in. The plan is to make a screen door from 1/4" rat wire which closes against a cement stop at the bottom and is hung from the adjacent fence post with hinges. I never thought a groundhog would be able to scale a 6' fence, but there's no other way in. Maybe I need to electrify the fence next. There has to be more than one of these things, but the only one on the trail cam was huge. I had to give the game cam back the other day, so I don't have the option to keep it up. I just can't figure how something so small can consume so much so fast, and not even leave any scraps on the ground. The eaten heads look like something just took a huge bite out the middle right down to the ground, leaving only the stump and a few outer leaves standing.
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