Vegetable Plants

I planted a vegetable garden and I have had a problem with some squash plants being taken out of the ground and laying by where I planted it or they are totally missing. One of my cucumber plants had the leaves eaten off of it. Some of my squash plants are very droopy a few are laying on the ground and some have yellow leaves.

I'm not usre exactly what kind of critters are in your area but if the plants are uprooted it must be a larger critter (bigger than a bug). The usual culprits are cats, squirrels, and skunks, but those usually won't eat the plant. You may have multiple pests attacking your plants.

There are a couple of ways to protect plants. First is physical barriers such as a wire fence around the whole garden or a small wire cage around each plant. The size of the fence or cage varies with the type of pest because cats and squirrels can jump and climb.

The second method is repellants. There are a lot of recipes out there for homemade remedies containing garlic, hot pepper, soap, etc. There are also several commercial products like PlantSkyd.

The first step is trying to figure out what is doing the damage. Many animals only come out at night so you may have to sneak out with a flashlight to see what's in your garden.

I have the same issues! I have planted and planted and planted. The plants just disappear! I put in fennel and found a hole with one little, pathetic frond coming out of it. I have my little garden surrounded by chicken wire about 2 feet tall. I put castor beads in and around it and I still lost another fennel plant and some parsley this week. If anyone ever cooks this critter he is gonna taste awfully good with all the herbs he has in him!

One good deterent is coyote/wolf urine. Which ever predator is more common in your area. Be warned the stuff stinks bad. It can be acquired at local sporting/hunting/outdoor stores. I am sure on line also. Even skunks won't push their luck if they are not absolutly starving. Another solution is to plant something easier for critters to get that they may like better. Leaf lettuce is normally cheep in seed form and grows pretty quick. Just plant it a good distance from the plants you really want to keep. Just a couple tricks the dear old grandad taught me when I was a kid. He would sow a batch in one corner of his back yard away from the garden, early and late. He would sow it once a week for five or six weeks straight. That way he said all the bunnies had a place to eat until his actual garden toughened up. Hate it but everybodies gotta eat even the obnoxious little critters.

Thank-you for your replies, I will give some of these ideas a try. Does anyone know what would be making some of my squash plants droop and some have yellow leaves. Also some of the leaves are brown and dried out on the edges. I have sprinkled them with blood meal and I have applied Garden Tone around the base of some of my plants. Also, some of my pepper plants have black patches on them like they have been burned or singed slightly with heat. The leaves don't look deformed tho. I also noticed that the tiny buds on some of my pepper plants were laying on the ground under the plant.

If you just planted the squash recently it could be transplant shock. If they've been in the ground for longer it could be too much water or too little water, or somebody's been munching on the roots. Or whoever's been munching the others has trampled them and damaged the stem so it can't transport water to the leaves. Lots of possibilities--if you do a little detective work you can probably eliminate some of those.

I haven't seen any foot prints in or around my garden except mine. So whatever is getting in my garden has to be pretty small.