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Garden Gate:  my bell peppers are gone!!  |
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Heartbroken farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
604 Posts
Annette
rio vista
Ca
USA
604 Posts |
 Posted - May 10 2011 : 07:19:56 AM
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Earlier, I posted that I couldn't get my bells to germinate here. Got lots of advice, and then started them in the house, on a heating pad. The starters did really well, and I transplanted last week. The garden is growing wonderfully. I got up yesterday mornin to check on things, and I only had 3 pepper plants left. Today, 1!!! The stems are all there, well about an inch of the stem is sticking up. Something is eating the entire plant. I have no idea what it is. All I know is I have one bell pepper plant left in my garden:( I am so sad. At $3.00 a pepper in stores, they are the main reason we started gardening. Bell peppers are a family favorite.
I'll start more, but this is so discouraging. I'm planning on creeping out at night with a flashlight, to see what is getting to them, once the new ones are in.
The tears I shed then, watered the flowers I harvest now.
www.broken908.blogspot.com
http://forums.familyfriendpoems.com/broken908
"The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values."-Dean William Ralph Inge |
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Candy C.
True Blue Farmgirl
823 Posts
Candy
Mescal
AZ
USA
823 Posts |
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adnama
True Blue Farmgirl
171 Posts
inge
fargo
north dakota
USA
171 Posts |
Posted - May 10 2011 : 07:28:54 AM
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| I'm thinking you got cutter worms, take a bit of newspaper about 2 inches high and make a collar around your plants, bury a bit of the collar in the soil, or take a paper cup, remove the end and bury that in the soil , plant would be surrounded and give some protection. The other culprit could be snails and slugs, for them put down some sheets of sandpaper or crushed gravel around each plant. |
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Heartbroken farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
604 Posts
Annette
rio vista
Ca
USA
604 Posts |
Posted - May 10 2011 : 08:09:38 AM
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I just this minute walked outside, to air and read these, and saw a HUGE crow. He is always on the fence in the garden, but just now he was on my pepper row, now housing one measley pepper plant. Could it be the bird? Corn is fine. Watermelon is thriving, peas and squash growing like crazy...in fact everything is thriving, except the peppers.
We have snails and slugs, so I take measures in that direction...mice haven't left any signs of arrival yet...but the cup idea is definitely going to happen. It should even protect new seedlings from this crow if he's the culprit!!
Thanks girls. I'm off to plant a third time, seeds and cups!
The tears I shed then, watered the flowers I harvest now.
www.broken908.blogspot.com
http://forums.familyfriendpoems.com/broken908
"The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values."-Dean William Ralph Inge |
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ladedacreations
True Blue Farmgirl
253 Posts
Sandy
Indian Valley
Idaho
USA
253 Posts |
Posted - May 10 2011 : 09:23:22 AM
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toilet paper or paper towel rolls work great for cut worms too. Could be that crow but I would assume he would pull the whole thing out. Voles usually eat it from underground so sounds like cut worms. Another thing I do to protect from larger critters and makes a great windbread to boot is to get some large coffee cans and cut both ends off. slip this over you peppers. (I would still put the cut worm protectors on as well) Dont give up, every year there are successes and failures. I have a good friend and neighbor and we share in each others success and failures. One year my winter squash was a bumper crop. She got some. last year the beetles got mine but she grew a bumper crop from the saved seed. It all seems to work out!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ladedacreations Filled to the brim with my handmade paper, vintage treasures & clothing, photography, naturally grown seeds and unique jewelry and hair pieces created from cast off vintage pieces and old silverware. Be sure to check out my comical Woo Hoo Sister pins for all of you mid lifers!
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http://www.etsy.com/shop/againstthegrain13 is my other shop dedicated to my extreme rustic switch plate covers. If you are a lover of natural wood, you are sure to enjoy these!
Everything I create is done so with solar power using mainly salvaged, recycled and up cycled items.
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”. Mathew 6:21
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - May 10 2011 : 11:31:01 AM
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Sounds like slugs or snails or the cutter worm. I have had that happen before. Very discouraging for sure. You can also use Diotamaceous Earth. Or finely ground egg shells sprinkled around the plants. Good luck!
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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Heartbroken farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
604 Posts
Annette
rio vista
Ca
USA
604 Posts |
Posted - May 10 2011 : 12:11:30 PM
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I looked up cutworms. I checked pictures of them, their moths, the damage, and their eggs...sure enough their eggs are under the leaves of tons of plants, and the damage is identical. When I was pullin up the lawn there were tons of them over-wintering just under the grass/soil line. I killed 100's, but didn't know what they were. I've never had them, seen them, or heard of them all these years. Well, now I know. New town, new benes, new pests.
Thanks for all the help, ladies, truely. I will do the cup or tp roll; and the crushed egg shells are collecting as we speak. I will not give up. Everyone needs bell peppers!! &hearts
The tears I shed then, watered the flowers I harvest now.
www.broken908.blogspot.com
http://forums.familyfriendpoems.com/broken908
"The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values."-Dean William Ralph Inge |
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Fiddlehead Farm
True Blue Farmgirl
4562 Posts
Diane
Waupaca
WI
USA
4562 Posts |
Posted - May 10 2011 : 2:57:17 PM
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Annette,
I had crows eating my lettuce last year! Usually it is rabbits. They like the new little plants. Try spreading some crushed red pepper around your plants. Buy it in bulk and sprinkle liberally, rabbits hate it.
http://studiodiphotosite.shutterfly.com/
farmgirl sister #922
Happy to be a "Raggedy Ann" in a Barbie World!
I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.
- E. B. White |
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LadyInRed
True Blue Farmgirl
6740 Posts
PeggyAnn
Vancouver
WA
USA
6740 Posts |
Posted - May 11 2011 : 12:37:03 AM
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Annette...sounds like slugs...we have a huge problem with them here because we are such a wet climate. Some one told me that if you use
cantaloupe rind...lay the outside down. Don't know why that works but I will try anything once. I use ground up eggshell myself for the slugs (plus I put them in a tin can full of water if I find them and make them sludge) and orange peel to keep the cats out. So far so good.
Blessings,
Peggy
Farmgirl #1326
http://ladyinredsite.blogspot.com
http://pegsmiles7.wordpress.com
"I'm only as strong as the caffeine I drink, the hair-spray I use and the Girlfriends that I have." |
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Garden Gate: my bell peppers are gone!! |
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my bell peppers are gone!!
