Who is the THIEF .....

[Noreaster]

My second developing hot pepper plant in large pot is missing !

Question: Are hot pepper plants eaten by Rabbits ?????

[nolabelle]

If the plant was small, I suspect a rabbit may have gotten it... if you have rabbits in the area. That's the only info I could find by Googling.

[noinwi]

Was it pulled out, or bitten down to the nub? Rabbits tend to nibble smaller plants down. Deer will do either depending on the size of the plant.

[Siberian]

I've been dealing with a raccoon this year so far. He breaks into my garden on occasion and eats cucumber leaves and vines and trims the tops off my peppers. Leaves tomatoes alone though.

I thought it was deer damage at first but deer have never gone after my cucumbers, even when they are out in the open (and I have deer passing through on a daily basis). I then thought groundhog but since putting some reinforced fencing around the bottom, no problems -- a groundhog would dig right under. Plus I have seen the raccoon several times and the damage is always at night.

Point is -- don't rule out a raccoon!

[Noreaster]

Originally Posted by nolabelle

If the plant was small, I suspect a rabbit may have gotten it... if you have rabbits in the area. That's the only info I could find by Googling.

Yep,,,,,,both of those eaten were small, and there are rabbits in this neighborhood.
Hoping that a) it stops and/or b) my method of annihilation is more successful.

Last year the squirrels took a liking to heirloom tomatoes. Walked around with WHOLE ones in the mouth. Lost about 30% of crop.

Neither animal is "cute" !!!!!!!!!

[Dewayne mater]

Pretty sure I have a raccoon(s) thief this year. If so, they are a relentless and formidable enemy. Heading to Home Depot to see if I can get some chicken wire to surround the entire garden. Eating multiple tomatoes per night and sometimes green, so I can't even pick at blush to stop them. Good luck!

Dewayne Mater

[Got Worms?]

Woodchucks will also chew hot pepper plants down. They were eating my Cayenne pepper plants. The damage didn't stop 'till I got all the ones (there were five) in my immediate area.

Shades of Dan Aykroyd: 'Chucks are voracious, they consume mass quantities. "Mepps! Mepps!"

[Calcat36]

I'd go with woodchucks too! They have a habit of nibbling the top down. Squirrels and chippermunks (that's what I call 'em) will only go after veggies when water is scarce. Learned the hard way. Coons, while they eat almost everything, prefer sweets. I grow all of my super hot peppers in containers on a deck 10 feet off the ground and another 4 feet off. Coons attack the hummingbird feeders and suet feeders on the deck, and have yet to eat the plants. Ditto squirrels and chippers that LOVE black sunflower seeds. I leave cat food cans of water out all the time to keep them hydrated and away from my plants. i would LOVE however, to see one eat a Brain Strain or Trinidad Scorpion Butch! I would never get to a camera in time!

[BigBrownDogHouse]

For me it was rabbits. They did a number on my peppers this year. Some didn't make it....others grew out from the nub that was left.

Our coyote population is way down so the rabbits are everywhere. It's almost a guarantee when you go outside, you'll see one close by....at least one to a house it seems

The owner of a nearby nursery game me some peanut plants to grow and they decimated those too. I'll vouche that they love those too!

I wish they would eat more of my weeds.

[Crandrew]

ever thought about adding rabbit to the menu?

[FaithHopeLove]

Have you guys tried using human hair? I had a horrible problem with squirrels in my garden. When I cut hair I saved it until I got enough to put around the garden and they stopped getting into everything! Plus we shoot the darn squirrels! They also get into my horses water trough and can't get out and drown themselves, it's nasty and I have to check on a daily basis. I have hawks around here that eats the carcasses. I make sure I bleach out the horses water when they decide to meet their death, I hate squirrels!

[TNTiger]

Originally Posted by Calcat36

I'd go with woodchucks too! They have a habit of nibbling the top down. Squirrels and chippermunks (that's what I call 'em) will only go after veggies when water is scarce. Learned the hard way. Coons, while they eat almost everything, prefer sweets. I grow all of my super hot peppers in containers on a deck 10 feet off the ground and another 4 feet off. Coons attack the hummingbird feeders and suet feeders on the deck, and have yet to eat the plants. Ditto squirrels and chippers that LOVE black sunflower seeds. I leave cat food cans of water out all the time to keep them hydrated and away from my plants. i would LOVE however, to see one eat a Brain Strain or Trinidad Scorpion Butch! I would never get to a camera in time!

That's what people told me 2 years ago and I believed them until I saw squirrels eating my tomatoes. They've been really bad in my garden this year and we've finally resorted to the pellet gun to thin the herd. Unfortunately it's a really big herd!

[Noreaster]

Well, at least for now, the pepper plant eating seems to have stopped. Maybe they're eating flowers and grass !

Last year's squirrels ate a lot of tomatoes once they began to ripen. Am hoping not this year, since we're not suffering any drought here at all. But also, there are simply fewer squirrels running around...not sure why. We took out a big tree that probably had squirrel nests, maybe they moved !!!!!

[FaithHopeLove]

I let my chicks out of their coop for about a week and they ate all my peppers so back in the coop they went, at first they were eating bugs then I guess they found my peppers and thought they were a better choice. Bad chickens!