You know when you do a ton of work only to find out that it was all a waste of time? Yeah, well I just found out that all the planting we did of squash, melons, watermelons, pumpkins and cucumbers was a waste of time. Something ate them. All of them. So this weekend will involve replanting everything, this time as starts in the mini greenhouse so when they go in the ground they have a fighting chance.
My first impression was that it must have been the seedcorn maggots again. Closer inspection ruled that out. The seeds had germinated and were then eaten. Not to mention the soil wasn’t wet enough to harbor the seedcorn maggots and we had dressed with compost in the fall so most of it had been broken down enough to not attract them.
My guess is slugs. We’ve had a bumper crop of the little fuckers this year.
For us it was snails. Planted a bed one day, stubs the next.
I have snails…a first…I was gifted a ton of plants in containers from a friend leaving for the Peace Corp…I didn't realize she had a massive snail/slug problem and had it for years! So her problem is now mine! Such a shame…I lost all my new seedlings in two garden beds…the 2 I parked the containers next to.
It's been a battle…but I think I'm on top of it…stale beer and diaphanous earth.
with the construction next door, we have rats. They've eaten my tomato plants, three years running now.
I always wanted to try the beer trick but we have a dog that jumps fences and would drink it so we can't put it out.
Last year it was slugs, then Mexican bean beetles..then hail ruined a ton of plants.
That is one of the worst feelings..seeing the garden wrecked.
Bummer, sorry to hear. It's hard to put a good spin on a devastated garden, but best of luck with the second round of plantings.
Sorry to hear that, I have had similar experiences from ground hogs, deer, etc.
I used to have slugs and snails pretty bad, but since I got a flock of Indian Runner ducks, I haven't had any problems. I give them lots of garden time in the high summer, fall and winter and have no problems in the spring. They get limited supervised time in the garden in spring as they will pilfer some of the leafy greens. Plus they are just delightful to have around and are great layers.
That's out plan with our new ducklings. Once they get larger we'll let them out in the garden to take care of some business.
Shitty!!!! So sorry. Now you'll be on my planting schedule. Sorry you have to follow zone 6B schedule. At least you have a longer season.
We only get one to two chances and then it's to late for the warm weather crops. Still very frustrating.
NOOOO! What a bummer. I had something uproot a whole baby squash plant and move it about six inches from where I had planted it, but other than that, luckily, everything is hanging in there (knock on wood).
I bet it was slugs or snails! Horrible creatures! Go get em – no mercy! xx
Here, it is earwigs. I *always* start my early cucurbits in 4-inch pots indoors (the pots go outdoors after germination.) They have a fighting chance if you direct-seed in June because the soil is warm enough that they grow quickly. But this time of year it is just barely warm enough to get melons to germinate and when they do they're sluggish (so of course the slugs have an affinity for them…. bad pun). They grow slowly and really can't cope with any pest pressure at all.
I was just looking back on your blog and you mentioned planting seeds about a week ago. If that's when your seeds were planted, I wonder if your melons, watermelons and cucumbers have actually all already germinated? Maybe some still have a fighting chance of surviving? FWIW, I seeded my 4-inch pots of cucumbers in the garage a week ago and the first ones sprouted today (at approximately outdoor temperatures.) I wouldn't be surprised if watermelons took 2 weeks to germinate outdoors this time of year
@muddytoes. We planted half of the cucumbers 3 weeks ago and the rest along with pumpkins/melons 2 weeks ago. None of them came up so I went exploring. They were all gone.
that sucks. i have dogs too so i modified the beer trap. my traps are glazed pot bottoms. i cover them with the mesh cover off of two broken fans and stake them in the ground with a little cut 6" piece of wire clothes hanger. the slugs can get through just fine. i also use this when i'm filling a hole that the dogs dug and putting grass seed. it keeps them off the seeds and the grass just grows up through the top.
i keep going back to the beer traps because i tried several other things that didn't work at all and were expensive, like copper tape on my beds. it worked for a little while and then stopped when the copper started to slightly corrode.
I put the hens out yesterday afternoon to gorge themselves on slugs in a few spots, as the dood was yanking up weeds around the raised beds. Holy cow they got stuffed. When they finally waddled (quite willingly, I might add) back into the run, they weren't at all interested in any of the additional chewy treats I hurled in for them. So the little pullets got learn to eat slugs. I get these annoying little tan/pink slitherers with wavy stripes on their backs. They didn't put much of a dent in my papavers (they probably regard that bed as a dangerous opium den, cripes), but everything else, munch munch much… *grumble*