Will they eat seeds? It is so damn cold here this year I don't know if the seeds didn't germinate or if something ate them. I just replanted everythin g. Still haven't put the peppers in, they are better off in the greenhouse. Our frost date is April 15 yet I have never planted later than April 1. Is it cold everywhere?
Moles will not eat seeds, but can push up the soil and disturb the roots enough to damage emerging seedlings.
Voles will eat some seeds but their main diet is vegetation (leaves, flowers, fruits, shoots, roots, bulbs and tubers).
What often causes seeds to fail in cool, damp conditions are insects (seed maggot, wireworms) and fungus. I've had problems myself with seed maggots:
And yes, large parts of US have had much colder than normal temperatures this winter, compared to the recent past. On the other hand, some areas of the US (and the world) have been *much warmer* than normal.
What about Pepper plants? I planted 10 and they were gone. I planted another 1 yesterday as a test and this morning it is gone. I have never had anything eat pepper plants. I am so frustrated MJ
Is there anything left, like a stump or bare stem? Did you plant into a freshly cleared bed?
The pest that is most likely to take out new transplants (in my garden) is the cutworm. Two tactics I use to limit the threat is to completely clear a bed of weeds and litter one week before I set out transplants. The other is (with larger transplants) to wrap the stems with a strip of newspaper when I set them out. For smaller transplants, you could cut the bottom off a yogurt tub and push it down into the soil to create a 'wall' around the plant.
(For some reason my newsreader keeps claiming there are no unread messages in this group, so I finally just asked for the dozen most recent and found your post.)
It is not cut worm. I talked to the extension office today. Apparently the black plastic I used to cover the gardens for the winter made these critter s very happy. Also because the weeds were not as prevalent we didn't use th e tiller this spring. So now with the plants they are fat, dumb and happy. We have built cages and have set out about 10 plants for now. We bought som e traps and will use them as soon as these North Carolina storms are done w ith us. They were set last night and the rain tripped all of them. I was al so told that Rat poison will work too. Thanks for your insight. These newsgroups are on their way out so I am told . I guess it is just us old die hard's hanging on. MJ
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