Yesterday, this plant was 16-18 inches higher than the top of the cage. Today, all the leaves es have been eaten (presumably) and the fruit left. There’s none on the ground, and none of the other pepper plants (5) has been touched in the same way. Pretty sure there’s an opossum or a skunk working on my Cherokee Purple tomatoes. In fact I struggled with bringing in one last night because it was turning just a tad purple. I regret that I chose not to. This morning the bottom half was chewed up.
But what eats pepper plants from the top down? Deer? Some kind of worm like tomato horn worms? Any help?
by TankSaladin
13 Comments
I’ve never seen anything mess with my pepper plants, especially knock a whole branch off. Could it be a neighbor or something? Could someone have pruned them without you knowing? Those look like awfully clean cuts for a deer but I could be wrong here. Best guess would be a larger herbavore or omnivore like a deer or a woodchuck or something. Looks odd to me though.
Insects usually eat parts of leaves, not whole branches.
I have had hornworms decimate pepper plants
Animals and bugs
That looks like deer to me!
Get bird netting from Home Depot or Lowes. About 20 bucks , wrap them up or make a barrier , sprinkle garlic powder and red pepper around them.
Pretty much everything it would appear. Even mammals that supposedly can’t tolerate capsaicin.
Most likely deer. They have eaten my pepper plants down to a few inches sticking out of the ground. They seem less likely to go for the superhots, but even those have not been completely safe.
I have the same problem…but its groundhogs. They wont eat the peppers, just the leaves. Its been very dry where I live and I believe that I read somewhere that they eat leaves for moisture. Anyone confirm this?
Rabbits eat the new growth tops off my plants
Deer. Sorry.
https://www.reddit.com/r/HotPeppers/s/cGFLCLj9xh
Can’t really tell in the pic, but deer teeth always cut on a significant angle. Can’t speak to the actual degree but it’s obvious.
My dogs 🤣