Yeah, that isn't cutworms causing that. Your onions are fairly thick at the bottom so the cutworms wouldn't be able to do much damage to these anyways. Definitely got my head scratching with that picture. I have quite a few onions as well and sometimes with the winds, it pushes the "leaves" over and does cause them to tear like in your picture. It could just be that - but may also be someting else as well. Here is a link that might be useful: BsnTech Gardening Blog

Thanks for the replies! We decided to try chicken wire on the bottom part of our fence. My husband dug out the grass by the fence, then folded the chicken wire in an "L" shape. He secured the wire to the fence, with the "L" along the ground sticking out about eight inches. Then he covered it with mulch to see if anyone's trying to dig. At least that was the theory! He was almost finished this evening when he discovered that he was three feet short. So, he'll be off to Lowes tomorrow for more wire, then finishing it up. We covered all the beds with deer netting except for one flower bed that had 30" tall painted daisies plus other flowers. Wouldn't you know it, last night two daisy flower heads were eaten, they probably slipped out of the support ring. The snap dragons, marigolds, cosmos, and celosia in the same bed were untouched.

So what would munch on a fern? I have (had) 3 Japanese painted ferns growing healthily since spring. The other day, I noticed they were gone, and upon closer inspection noticed several fronds lying on the ground. The other ferns nearby are untouched. Any ideas from you fern experts? We have deer roaming about, but I think they would have just eaten the fronds, not left them on the ground.

Hey Markiz37, your recipe is similar to mine. Altho I use liquid from Ivory bar soap kept in water in a plastic container, and liquid garlic. And my husband is now watching his colesterol, so he saves me all the egg yolks. I use about 5-6 of them now instead of 3 whole eggs. The beef bouillion is an interesting idea too. I've tried the netting. They still got in, and in fact they ran off with it the first time. One of the neighbor kids said he saw a buck with the netting all wrapped around his antlers and was dragging it all over with him. The next time, they jumped thru it and it went onto the road in the night and my neighbor drove over it and it wrapped around the axle of her car and I had to pay for her repairs! Never again!! The dog doesn't keep them out. But then, she doesn't always notice them when they sneak in the back yard. For me, the ONLY thing that works is my homemade concoction, similar to Markiz37's. I have to spray 2 gallons worth since I have over 1600 roses. The deer will not eat my roses if they are sprayed well enough. This last time, I went over two weeks without spraying and not one thing was eaten. But when I saw a young doe running up the road past our house the other day (in broad daylight no less) I decided it was time to spray again. Now, if I could just get the thrips to go away....