Zucchini Problem - Ask Extension
My garden is in a raised bed 30 inches high made out of landscape stone. My ZUCCHINI will germinate grow 3 inches high and will look healthy. Some pes...
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Zucchini Problem #868414
Asked May 14, 2024, 2:32 PM EDT
My garden is in a raised bed 30 inches high made out of landscape stone. My ZUCCHINI will germinate grow 3 inches high and will look healthy. Some pest will eat the leaves and leave a stem with no leaves. i have applied snail and slug bait and have re-seeded as necessary. i still have the same problem. Any ideas??
Thank you
Tim Dickens - Ironton, OH.
Lawrence County Ohio
Expert Response
Goodness! You certainly have a bad boy troubling you. Short of having a camera trained on this bed, I am not sure that you will "catch" the critter to know but there ARE some things you can do to stop it and MAYbe get a clue.
My top 2 suggestions is it is a rabbit or ground hog. IF the cut on the stems are at a 45 degree angle, it is a rabbit. Groundhogs seem to eat in circles. It does not sound like your description. Deer don't have incisors so their cuts are ragged and they don't generally like zucchini.
The National Gardening Society gives some ideas to keep the critter at bay: https://garden.org/frogs/view/101194/
I hope this is helpful information. You can always go to sites that end in.edu, .org, or .gov for reliable, research-based information.
My top 2 suggestions is it is a rabbit or ground hog. IF the cut on the stems are at a 45 degree angle, it is a rabbit. Groundhogs seem to eat in circles. It does not sound like your description. Deer don't have incisors so their cuts are ragged and they don't generally like zucchini.
The National Gardening Society gives some ideas to keep the critter at bay: https://garden.org/frogs/view/101194/
I hope this is helpful information. You can always go to sites that end in.edu, .org, or .gov for reliable, research-based information.
