Oh, Pistol, I feel your pain! And, hey, there IS a support group for grieving gardeners, and this forum is it!I hate that all your hard work came to such a discouraging end.

Do you think there is a chance your plants could regrow from the roots that are left in the ground? I don't know if they would....I've never had broccoli wiped out by rabbits, only by deer. My deer-ravaged broccoli did come back, but it was older, having been in the ground for some time and being quite large by the time the deer snacked on the plants.

Also, are you pretty sure it was rabbits? They can, of course, squeeze underneath the chicken wire and the babies can squeeze through some pretty small mesh.

If your rabbits have learned to climb, I want to see a photo of them doing it.

So, do you have a plan B?

Dawn

Dawn, I guess I'll just forget broccli for this year. I'm not sure it was rabbits but I saw some tracks, but no droppings. They always dig under the chicken wire and usually just nibble here and there and I just find where they got in and put a shovel full of dirt there and that stops it. I hope thats what it was cause I can deal with that, but if it was something else then that would really worry me. It wasn't deer or I would have seen tracks. The plants were gone so it wasn't cutworms. I hope it wasn't crows. They wouldn't eat broccoli would they? By the way, my garden is in a clearing in a forest of blackjack oaks and deer are thick. The way I made my fence might be helpfull to someone. I put "T" posts in and put 3 foot high chicken wire on them. Then I went to Lowe's and bought one length of 1/2" EMT (electrical conduit) for each post and wired it to the posts by cradling it in the corner of the post and wrapping it with wire in two places. It's very strong and stiff and won't rust and has lasted a long time. I think it comes in 10 foot lenghts so it makes a nice high fence for cheap. I strung it with heavy monofilament fishing line. Don't do that, It had too many environmental impacts. Instead, get some lightweight electric fence wire and string it on the EMT. Space it a little above the top of the chicken wire and space it a little wider apart as you go up. Hang some white cloth strips from it at least at first. Deer raise their white tails as a warning signal and I think the cloth waving in the breeze reminds them of that. Works great.

Pistol,

It probably was rabbits. I've seen baby cottontails go through very small chicken wire....maybe not 1" though, maybe the 2".

I had so much trouble with rabbits for a while that I added another foot of chicken wire to the BOTTOM of the fence. I dug a trench alongside the existing 3' tall fence. The trench was 6" deep and 6" wide. I wired the new bottom fence to the existing fence, having it go down 6" into the soil and then bending it so it came out 6" horizontally into the soil in an "L" shape. Then, I filled in the trench and planted flowers there. It was effective at keeping the rabbits, skunks, armadillos, possums and other critters from coming under the fence. UNFORTUNATELY, I let the bermuda grass invade the flower beds and then the bermuda roots grew up through the buried chicken wire.....so, after about 5 years, I dug out all that chicken wire last year, and so far the small critters haven't returned.

My garden is in a clearing in the woods too, and the deer think I planted it just for them. (They even visit it in the winter time "just in case" something might be growing there for them.) I have not been very effective in keeping them out of it. Since I only have a 3' tall fence, it is not much of a deterrent. I may use your method to add height to my fence. I need to do something. Lately, when I am out planting, the deer stand 15' or 20' outside the garden and watch me plant. I guess they are seeing what will be on the menu for them later this spring and summer.

And, it might be crows. Were the plants completely gone? I have seen crows (and other birds like mockingbirds) "chop off" plants at ground level, but they usually just nibble at them and don't eat the whole thing. If you didn't find any plant remains on the ground, I'd bet it was rabbits. But....you had a LOT of plants. Did they get them all in one night? If so, you must have some really fat rabbits about now.

Thanks, again, for describing your fence. It may be the solution I've been looking for. I am so tired of planting 3 times as much of everything as I need, just so we'll possibly have something left after the deer gobble up all they want.

Oh, one more thing....I don't usually rely much on animal repellents, but blood meal scattered along the base of the fenceline sometimes keeps the rabbits out. (It also attracts vultures too, though. They circle and circle and circle the garden, looking for the dead animal they are convinced is there.)

Dawn

My mom bought 3 broccoli plant last week and put them in her garage overnight. This garage is almost like a bedroom, but they do put their car in there on occasion. Anyway, they next day the tops were eaten off of all three. Maybe a mouse in the garage?

Pistol, your story trumps my dead tomatoes easily. I can relate though.

I'd bet it is a mouse. This problem pops up a lot on the tomato forum where a lot of people raise their seedlings in basements.

For the rabbits, I bought Fox Urine at a nursery last year to naturally repel the rabbits and moles, hoping they would think that there was a predator nearby, it seems to have worked. I didn't have anything getting in the yard last year.

I feel your pain with loosing your seedlings. My puppy got all of mine. I was hardening them off on the patio, and when I ran errands DD let the puppy out without watching her or picking up the seedlings. I returned home to find pieces of the peat pots all over the patio!

I guess overcoming obstacles like that are one of the reason we keep gardening... so we use our creativity to out wit the little buggers next time!

Courtney