I planted three rows of collards, a row of cabbages, two rows of beans, plus a bed of pak choi and cabbage.
All the collards were destroyed along with the row of cabbages. The small bed with pak choi and cabbage is now getting chewed up. The cabbages in that bed were all leafless this morning, and some of the pak choi were nibbled.
Though I haven’t caught them yet, I suspect it was ducks.
Today we must figure out how to keep these greens safe. We’ve put in a lot of effort only to lose them. Problem: we only occasionally see the ducks in the gardens, so I don’t know if they’re really the culprit. Maybe – worse – there are rabbits getting in.
I have no idea, but we must do something.
13 responses to “The Case of the Missing Leaves”
I had something similar happen a few years ago; all brassicas gone, but strangely lettuces weren’t touched. After a few days the culprit was found: a 5′ iguana! Mind you, in CENTRAL Florida, not south. He was easily caught and hauled off. Seems these things are often fed kales, etc.
Wow – that was a hardy iguana. They are really terrible in South Florida. Glad you got him.
Ugh. My daily battle. I am trying to grow more in the open this year (vs only in my “greencage”) and I found rats had been eating all my snow pea shoots and bok choy leaves (thought it was only the iguanas at first). I set mechanical rat traps baited with never fails peanut butter (i use the plastic chip clip type b/c their easy. I never use posion as it has the potential to go up the food chain, plus I can compost the culprits.) . I also place a milk carton over top to block other animals from getting caught as the rats can fit through the handle holes. Set a few to at least narrow down your suspect list.
It’s probably the ducks. Mine ravaged some of the cabbages before I could chase them out. The good thing is they aren’t that hard to keep out of something. 1-2 foot high fencing (or stuff piled up) will do it. Even tall grass was a deterrent for mine (since they’re paranoid) but mine aren’t muscovys so I don’t know their inclinations.
I think you’re right. I’ll look for some fencing.
Rabbit fencing is high enough and excludes both enemies of greenery.
Wow, so disheartening !! What about movable electrified (solar powered) livestock fencing? Really easy to move, gives enough of a jolt to deter varmints !
I tried three times to grow water spinach, and ultimately gave up because the rabbits liked it so much I never got any.
But if you feel like sitting out waiting for them, rabbits and ducks are both tasty.
When I lived in an apartment I “borrowed” a neighbor’s backyard to garden in. Among other things I put in beets, which failed to thrive, they would sprout and then they were gone. I planted a second batch and then the neighbor told me the quail had been down in the garden every morning eating the sprouts.
So I gave up there and asked my Dad to let me grow beets in one end of his raised beds, where they grew strongly until I forgot and left the hose on over night, and the raccoons tromped the beets into the mud dancing in the shower from the sprinkler.
That was a bad year for beets
Oh man, I have had years like that.
I’d set some snares. Or live traps becaise we have outdoor cats. We occasionally find rabbit parts. So we don’t have a lot of rabbit issues.
Okay now here is a gardening post I can relate to! Heehee
I hope you don’t have rabbits, they jump and dig in my yard. And chew up drip irrigation lines, ruining them. I’ve become a total Mr McGregor.
The ducks ate my fall brassicas as well. They got banished to the chicken pen. The children miss them.