Sweet peppers getting destroyed

b54red · September 7, 2012

I don't know whether it is birds, squirrels or something else but something is eating up almost all of my sweet peppers. My plants are producing like crazy but something is eating the peppers up before I can pick them and I'm not talking about just a little hole pecked in them. Almost the whole pepper is being consumed. It is now so bad that I am only finding one or two peppers every few days that are uneaten when I should be picking between a dozen or two ever few days.

RebelRidin · September 7, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by b54red

I don't know whether it is birds, squirrels or something else but something is eating up almost all of my sweet peppers. My plants are producing like crazy but something is eating the peppers up before I can pick them and I'm not talking about just a little hole pecked in them. Almost the whole pepper is being consumed. It is now so bad that I am only finding one or two peppers every few days that are uneaten when I should be picking between a dozen or two ever few days.

I can't imagibe birds eating them that way. I would expect squirrels to chew them off and try to carry them away (it's in their nature) but I guess they could just eat them in place. Deer possibly?

Perhaps a water scarecrow could help?

biscgolf · September 7, 2012

in my experience deer will generally eat the whole plant. i would suspect a raccoon were it occurring in my area. foxes have also been known to like sweet corn so i would see them as a possible sweet pepper consumer as well. trapping is our go-to deterrent for either around here.

roper2008 · September 14, 2012

Possibly rats, or even possum. Check at night.

September 7, 2012	#1
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	Sweet peppers getting destroyed I don't know whether it is birds, squirrels or something else but something is eating up almost all of my sweet peppers. My plants are producing like crazy but something is eating the peppers up before I can pick them and I'm not talking about just a little hole pecked in them. Almost the whole pepper is being consumed. It is now so bad that I am only finding one or two peppers every few days that are uneaten when I should be picking between a dozen or two ever few days.

September 7, 2012	#3
biscgolf Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Virginia Posts: 353	in my experience deer will generally eat the whole plant. i would suspect a raccoon were it occurring in my area. foxes have also been known to like sweet corn so i would see them as a possible sweet pepper consumer as well. trapping is our go-to deterrent for either around here.

September 14, 2012	#4
roper2008 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Virginia Bch, VA (7b) Posts: 1,337	Possibly rats, or even possum. Check at night.