It started with a couple of my green beans. Then it was a few of my sweet potatoes. Then ALL of the green beans, more of the sweet potatoes and a couple of cantaloupe and one branch on my strawberries. Yesterday when I went out to spray for powdery mildew I noticed some of the lower cucumber leaves were gone and ALL of the cantaloupe leaves and a couple more strawberry leaves!! I don't know if the cantaloupe plants will recover or if my sweet potatoes will regenerate and produce tubers. They're just the main stem with tiny branches off and pretty much no leaves at all. I cut a few of the Sweet potatoes back hoping to force new stems to come out but I don't know if that's going to work. My green beans seem to be trying to come back here and there but most of them were mowed down to only the center stem.
I still haven't figured this out but it's really making me frustrated. I would think bug damage wouldn't take the entire leaf off the stem and animal damage wouldn't be so neat. Caterpillars usually leave most of the leaf and just eat it's way around probably until it falls off or only has the veins left.
I did catch a little chipmunk over near my herb bed yesterday when I was spraying. He wasn't in the bed, he was hiding under the peppermint and ran across the yard to my broccoli plants when I moved around to his side. I don't know if he's the one who has been nibbling on my broccoli and lettuce. I know the neighbor said she lost all of her strawberries earlier in the spring and she did catch them in there. I don't know if the chipmunks could get to the cucumbers though, they were standing up kind of high.
I don't mind sharing but they have to give the plants a chance to produce first! I'm scared to go outside. But it's time to face the devil and let him know who's boss!
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