Zucchini Leaves Gone!

[Farmers]

Please Help - in a matter of hours our zucchini, squash and some watermelon leaves were gone. We had went out in the morning to water and all was fine, checked the plants by this afternoon and several leaves from the top side of our zucchini plants were missing and eaten back to the stem. We have not seen any critters or any sign of any sort of insect. It also ate some of our watermelon leaves and squash but mostly the zucchini. Did not think it was a rabbit because the leaves closest to the ground were still intact. It was a beautiful Black Beauty Zucchini. Any information would be much appreciated!!!!!

[grapenut]

Sure sounds like a Deer to me...did you happen to look for any tracks?

[Farmers]

Originally Posted by grapenut

Sure sounds like a Deer to me...did you happen to look for any tracks?

Thanks for the thought of a Deer, fortunately we do not have them around our particular spot - Bear & Raccoons, but did not see any tracks around the plants. We were wondering what kind of damage a squirrel or groundhog might do.... we have a few but not many.

[Silentmeow]

Woodchucks can do a lot of damage and they are crafty little buggers! We had one dig under the fencing in the corner of our garden. He'd munch away on anything. Once he took a bite or two out of each squash rendering them useless. I planted limas one year and the first harvest was wonderful. I waited for the second harvest but the stems never flowered again. I thought that's a strange plant to only put out pods once! The woodchucks had been sneaking in during the night and ate the flowers off of the stems. They can be live trapped with some lettuce covered with peanut butter but the best control is Smith&Wesson.

[Zinniagirl]

Definitely agree with the groundhog idea. One can do an extreme amount of damage in a very short time!! Wish we had only one

[Eccentric Follies]

Another vote for groundhog. The deer here seem to stay away from the prickly leafed plants like the squashes. One year they "trimmed" the sweet potatoes. Ate the sweet's leaves right down to the pumpkin leaves on the vine that was growing through the sweet's patch.

[Farmers]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts.... it sure helps to have an idea of what it could be. We have been keeping watch and no signs yet of anything although we thought we may add some spice to their diet and sprinkled Cayenne pepper over everything thinking it may deter some from snacking further - will see At least if it doesn't work we will have a Fiesta on the mountain top