Author Topic: What's eating my garlic?  (Read 4872 times)

Kea

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What's eating my garlic?
« on: March 04, 2012, 15:30:54 »
My garlic is growing strongly (planted end of October) and in the past the rabbits have nibbled the tips of the leaves off but I've never had any other problems. Just the last few days i have found a number of plants have been chewed off at the top of the clove and the clove half eaten and the leaves just left lying on the ground.
While they usually recover from the rabbits nibbling the shoot tips this is not something they can recover from. I promptly covered everything with fleece not sure if it will make a difference though. i have been growing garlic for a number of years and never had this problem.
Any ideas?

realfood

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Re: What's eating my garlic?
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2012, 20:00:06 »
It could be voles which struggle to find food at this time of year.
For a quick guide for the Growing, Storing and Cooking of your own Fruit and Vegetables, go to www.growyourown.info

ohmeohmy07

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Re: What's eating my garlic?
« Reply #2 on: March 05, 2012, 13:19:06 »
In my little garden in London the squirrels often come and dig up my bulbs to eat them - not any old plant - they seem to like tulips and crocuses, but not daffs.

Robert_Brenchley

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Re: What's eating my garlic?
« Reply #3 on: March 05, 2012, 17:45:51 »
Something et my garlic down to ground level during the last cold snap. I suspect pigeons, which suddenly descended on my brassicas, after leaving them alone up to that point.

Kea

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Re: What's eating my garlic?
« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2012, 20:14:13 »
I've got a lot of voles, they've never showed any interest in the garlic before but you never know. I don't think it's pigeons (they've had a go at the PSB though) because it looks gnawed at rather than pecked. Been too dry for slugs, soil in my raised beds is like dust.

Ru1

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Re: What's eating my garlic?
« Reply #5 on: March 06, 2012, 22:45:22 »
I agree with squirrels.

On my old allotment that backed onto a wood, squirrels helped themselves to my garlic  :'(

They only ate them when they were young plants.  I covered mine with netting to keep them away.  I only found this out when I went up early one morning and found them munching on them.

Hope this helps

Kea

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Re: What's eating my garlic?
« Reply #6 on: March 07, 2012, 15:08:13 »
I agree with squirrels.

On my old allotment that backed onto a wood, squirrels helped themselves to my garlic  :'(

They only ate them when they were young plants.  I covered mine with netting to keep them away.  I only found this out when I went up early one morning and found them munching on them.

Hope this helps

Possible but they have quite a bit of open ground to cover with a kestral overhead. The fleece should stop them then..I hope.

 

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