Got to the allotment today and saw that my Baby Bear Pumpkin was completely severed at ground level. The plant was about 4 foot long and the stem was about the thickness of a broom handle. Could this be the work of cut worm? I didn't think they ate anything thicker than a lettuce stem! :'(
Any ideas appreciated!
Don't know about cut worm, but I've had slugs eat throught the stems of my pumpkins. They left the leaves completely alone - wasn't pleased >:(
Noooooooooooooooooo FB I would be totally gutted! (I know I have to get a life!) I would have thought that at 4 feet, it would have been beyond the pest's stage. Slugs usually get mine when they are small. You have my sympathies.
Doris, your life sounds fine to me (and strangely familiar!) I too get sooooo upset when something like this happens.
FBG, as this is my first year as a pumpkinner, I'm afraid I don't have the knowlege to advise but I wonder, could it have been a rodent?
If it was the size of a broom handle it would be quite woody. Probably not something a rodent would be interested in with the exception of porcupines or beavers. How about that great domestic pest Homo sapiens juvenilius?
Or could it be that it snapped due to inclement weather?
I found 6 of my runner beans all cut cleany at ground level, but also found a couple of whopping big snails under a nearby lettuce. Now why couldn't they have eaten the lettuce, so tender and sweet!!