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Vegetable Gardening

What's eating my squash!?

13 years ago

Hi everyone, newbie here!! I have a pretty huge garden, mostly tomatoes but also some herbs, string beans, cukes, zucchini, strawberries, peppers. Last year as an even newer newbie, I had pumpkin and canteloupe and zucchini overtaking everything, so this year I planted those along the edge of the garden all the way around- we have a rabbit type fence around the garden. It's all been going pretty well, but I am finding that some of my pumpkins and butternut squash- a LOT of them- which are growing on the outside of the fence are chewed up. We have grown pumpkin a few years in a row- not fenced- and never had anything eat it before. It's really disappointing. Still have a good number of butternut squash safe within the garden, but we've probably lost about 8 to these nibbles. The main suspects here on our property would be groundhogs and deer. Is there any advice for this at all?? Also, we planted a large patch of sweet corn- first try- and it has been decimated, presumably be deer. We have tall stalks, corn was coming, now gone. ARGH! So, if anyone has any advice, I would love to hear it.

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Comments (3)

snowling888
13 years ago
Groundhog ate my pumpkin.
zaciiz
13 years ago
My guess is same as yours. I've been experimenting with low-budget deer/ groundhog protection for a while now and found a cheap fencing design that works well for deer at least. I put a high-tensile (or whatever wire you have around) fence up with T-posts and then another one about 36 inches (opinions vary on the spacing) to the inside of it- a fence within a fence- and put an electric fence charger to it. The theory is that deer can jump very high but won't jump distance. I spaced 4 strands evenly to about 5 feet high (as tall as the shallow-driven posts) on the outside and 2 strands (one at the top and another a foot or so down) on the inside. I used insulated handles and made a gate to walk though. Worked well as long as the charger was on. Google "Pennsylvania State University deer fence". They came up with the idea although I added a few more wires. To make it cheaper, build good braces and pull the wire tight so you can space out your line posts or just use cut, straight tree branches and put insulators on them.

Since deer haven't bothered my crookneck squash, next year I'm going to plant a few thick rows just inside the fence to see if that will deter them. Although I've seen groundhogs crawl through some dense brush, I'm wondering if the squash would turn them back when it gets thick. I've been thinking about eventually planting blackberries around the perimeter as well. If anyone knows any other prickly growers that would work, do tell.

I've seen groundhogs dig under fence to get to a garden and burying chain link or chicken wire seems to be the only way around that- expensive.
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Where did you get the seeds from were they store bought or saved? To me it doesn't look like anything is eating them it looks more like a mosaic virus. I will say that sometimes when aphids suck the juices out of plants they cause deformed leaves, but I don't think that is the cause. If other people on here think it could be a mosaic virus as well I would destroy those plants and start over. Typically there is discoloration associated with mosaic viruses so maybe that isn't what it is. Sometimes seedlings just have a few deformed leaves initially and then they seem to correct the problem somehow. I have let such plants grow only to be very disappointed with them. Whatever the cause those are examples of plants I would thin out.
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I think it is slugs. I have seen this happen in my garden, and I second the idea of going out at night with a flashlight. Small slugs don't always leave visible trails. Birds are also a possibility. Sluggo should help with slugs/snails (and is available in an organic version). Netting will help with the birds. I now always sprinkle sluggo around seedlings, and cover all my beds with netting until the seedlings get a little bigger. I use 4x8 foot raised beds, and have netting tents that sit right on top of them.
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Thank you all for the comments. I had the squash on my counter so i could take it with me to the garden center to get help there but i won't have time until the weekend so i threw it out w/trash .... It was pretty big (10 inches ) i tried to take good pictures - it looked like something with sharp fangs or claws. - maybe one critter started eating and another came behind to get their dinner!? I did put out some snap traps a couple weeks ago - inside a milk carton so birds and friendly creatures wouldn't get hurt - and both traps were tripped by morning with no critters but the apples were gone..... That method didn't seem to work well for me and i just don't want to hurt the wrong ones. Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions! I will try the netting over new growth as recommended- THANK YOU!
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Larry, You'd think that little Yorkie would eat a more tender leaf. Squash leaves can be pretty tough. Before we raised the height of the garden fence, during a drought year the deer would jump the shorter fence and eat entire pumpkin and squash plants down to the ground, although they usually ate everything with more tender foliage, like peppers, tomatoes, beans and Swiss chard first, and then would eat squash and pumpkin plants the next night when there was nothing better left. There is a reason we have a great fence around all the big garden spaces---it is because without them, the deer ate everything we planted. I've never had anything smaller than a deer, except birds, eat squash leaves, but our dogs are fenced out of the garden. Even the rabbits are fenced out, and that takes a lot of effort because they are really good at finding places in fences where they can squeeze underneath the fence or through it. Tawnybee, If it is just about anything other than birds, spraying the plants with a hot pepper spray (you can make your own, just google to get a recipe) will stop them from eating, but if it is birds---the hot pepper spray won't deter them. If you are in a dry area and water is scarce, putitng out a birdbath or shallow pan of water for the birds might help. I have trouble with birds seeking water in hot, dry weather so keep several shallow pans of water out for them and that makes a big difference in how much they bother the plants. It might be squirrels, if you have them around you, and often they are seeking water too. Dawn
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weirdtrev
13 years ago
Deer and other animals are one culprit but because you mentioned the outside of a fence I wonder if they are on a lawn, cause edging with a weed whacker can leave a chewed appearance too :)

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