Finally I have organic pumpkins with no borers, but what's suddenly eating the pumpkin leaves??
What's eating my pumpkins???
Deer.
Not deer. We are fenced.
Rabbits? That grazing can't be an insect. If there are insects that big then may God help us all.
It it was a tomato plant, I'd guess Hornworm, but I don't think they're into punkins!
Bummer!
Groundhog? Mine don't care about fences - they'll either go under or over!
Seems like if it were a critter there would be stem damage. I agree with Sequee -- looks just like what a hornworm would do to them.
I have dealt with worms before. This is chopped off piece by piece as seen in the photo. We do have groundhogs, but they have never touched the pumpkin vines. Maybe it is groundhogs?? Any other possibilities?
If it were hornworms wouldn't you see droppings somewhere on the stems? That must be a pretty big hornworm by this time! It looks as if something started munching at the stems and may have been scared away before it could do more damage.
I wouldn't be surprised if some type of worm was at work here. It it were a hornworm, it would be huge by now and I agree with the earlier poster(s) that suggested that there would likely be droppings nearby, sort of here n' there.
Someone on another thread mentioned something called a "melon worm" that likes to feed on tender foliage. I've seen loads of these guys on my pumpkin and buttercup squash vines and they sure do go to town of the leaves. I've managed to spot them and kill them before they did any extensive damage though. They're pretty small, too, but since I killed them early on I do not know how much bigger they would have grown.
http://ipm.ncsu.edu/ag295/html/cucurbit_key.htm
I don't think it is any kind of worm because there is no sign of droppings and signifcant sections and small pumpkins were gone overnight. The most likely possibility seems to be what gardadore suggested, groundhogs. We have many of them.
You can keep the groundhogs at bay by either sprinkling dried blood around or mix a raw egg with about 2 cups of water and strain. Pour into a sprayer and spray. Replace both after a while or after a rain. This really works, but, again, you have to keep it up.
The only thing this doesn't work quite as well on is beans - our groundhogs are so crazy for them, nothing but a fence works - a strong hardware cloth fence, about 4 feet tall, the bottom foot bent out at an angle and dug in so they can't dig under. They can dig under a regular fense and they can climb too if they want to bad enough.