What did that?

Every morning I go out into my garden with a little bit of trepidation, worried about what I might find. It’s a rare day where there is no damage from some sort of critter. Most are easy to identify. This cabbage has been trimmed by my chickens (they can just reach over the chicken wire to the outer edges of the leaves) and then had its heart munched by a possum. I think it’s time to harvest before nothing’s left.

Possum nibbled cabbage

This time of year (heck, almost all year) the white cabbage moths are really active. Their caterpillars can eat half a broccoli leaf in a day. Every morning I pick them off and feed them to my grateful chickens. Not that they appreciate the pupae enough to leave that cabbage alone! Oh gosh, now that I look at the photo I see an egg just above the caterpillar – it’s that small white speck. I’d better rush down and squash it before I have something else to pick off my plant in a couple of days.

Caterpillar from the cabbage white moth

What I can’t figure out is what in the world snipped off my bean leaf? There was no sign of animal or insect activity on the plant or anywhere in this bed. A possum would have eaten more, a snail would have left a trail, a caterpillar would have munched through multiple stems and parts of leaves, a leafcutter bee would have cut a hole in the leaf… What did this?

Bean leaf – collateral damage?

 

Advertisement