What's eating my garden plants?? - Ask Extension
I live in Gleneden Beach. My chives, nasturtiums and rose bush have been eaten! The rose buds and leaves AND stems were all gone one day. Basil, pars...
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What's eating my garden plants?? #880249
Asked August 05, 2024, 12:38 PM EDT
I live in Gleneden Beach. My chives, nasturtiums and rose bush have been eaten! The rose buds and leaves AND stems were all gone one day. Basil, parsley, mint, lupine are all untouched. I have the plants in 2 wood framed, stepped, raised beds. The first bed is about 18" from the ground, and the 2nd is almost double that. I see slugs and slime on my property, but not in any great amounts, usually 1 at a time, and I have not seen them in the beds. I also have not seen any rabbit droppings, though I see rabbits all the time on my property. And do rabbits eat rose stems? I have not seen deer on my property, nor any deer scat. Do raccoons eat these plants? This has me stymied.
Lincoln County Oregon
Expert Response
This sounds like either deer or elk browsing, but a close up photo of the cut ends of the rose branches would help with ID. Neither deer nor elk have upper incisors (front teeth), so they tend to leave a little tag end on bitten branches, whereas lagomorphs (rabbits) and rodents (e.g., squirrels) do have upper and lower incisors and make cleaner bite-edge.
Some of the lowest snips look clean enough to be from rabbits, but a couple of the mid- and upper- level look suspiciously like deer damage. Depending on your yard's situation you can either consider exclusion with robust fencing, or you could try a water scarecrow if there is a way for the scarecrow's motion detector to take in the area you need to protect and without accidentally blasting neighbors, delivery folk, etc.
If you or a friend/neighbor has access to a trail camera, you could very likely catch the perpetrators in the act and hone in further on species ID, entry point/entry direction, etc.
If you or a friend/neighbor has access to a trail camera, you could very likely catch the perpetrators in the act and hone in further on species ID, entry point/entry direction, etc.
Thanks so much, Dr. Dana. Although I haven't seen scat, after considering all you said, it seems to me that deer/elk are the problem. I guess we'll have to learn to live with them.
Suzanne
From: ask=<personal data hidden> <ask=<personal data hidden>> on behalf of Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>>
Sent: Monday, August 5, 2024 4:04 PM
To: Suzanne Gagnon <<personal data hidden>>
Subject: Re: What's eating my garden plants?? (#0150167)
Sent: Monday, August 5, 2024 4:04 PM
To: Suzanne Gagnon <<personal data hidden>>
Subject: Re: What's eating my garden plants?? (#0150167)
