Kale pest identified

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Kale pest identified

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Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6540
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Thu Dec 10, 15 10:34 am Post subject: Kale pest identified

I had been wondering why my kale plants had started to have their tops removed one by one recently. I've seen the occasional leaf removed by squirrels, but this was large portions of stem, leaving the leaves scattered on the ground. I had started to wonder if maybe a skunk was getting after them, but that seemed unlikely since the kale is several feet tall now.

We have since found the culprit.... our own dog

She's been whining to be let outside more frequently the past several evenings, and we've finally made the connection. She was just going out to the garden and grazing on kale stems for as much time as we'd allow her to be outside before calling her in again!

Emotions are ranging between

and

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45470
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Dec 10, 15 11:10 am Post subject:
i had a dog that was keen on eating plant tops ,very neat at "snipping" i blamed squirrels for a while til i saw her doing it. my ex fil had to use chain link to keep his dandy d' terrier out of the fruit cages as the hairy one was extremely fond of strawberries and ate every ripe one he could.

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Thu Dec 10, 15 3:07 pm Post subject:
My terriers love broccoli stems, carrots & courgettes & apple but as yet haven't worked out the self service route. Luckily they can't read so wont see this thread.

GrahamH

Joined: 23 May 2015
Posts: 523

Posted: Thu Dec 10, 15 3:16 pm Post subject:

A butcher is shooing a dog from his shop, when he sees £10 and a note in his mouth, reading: "8 lamb chops, please." Amazed, he takes the money, puts a bag of chops in the dog's mouth and quickly closes the shop.

He follows the dog and watches him wait for a green light, look both ways and trot across the road to a bus-stop. The dog checks the timetable and sits on the bench. When a bus arrives, he walks around to the front and looks at the number, then boards the bus.

The butcher follows, dumbstruck. As the bus travels out into the suburbs, the dog takes in the scenery and after a while he stands on his back paws to push the "stop" bell. The butcher follows him off.

The dog runs up to a house and drops his bag on the step. He barks repeatedly.

No answer.

He goes back down the path, takes a big run, and throws himself -whap!- against the door. He does this again & again.

No answer.

So he jumps on a wall, walks around the garden, barks repeatedly at a window, jumps off and waits at the front door. Eventually, Tavascarow opens it and starts cursing and shouting at the dog.

The butcher runs up screams at the guy: "What the hell are you doing? This dog's a genius!"

Tavascarow responds,
"Genius, my foot. It's the second time this week he's forgotten his keys!"

chickenlady

Joined: 18 Aug 2013
Posts: 413
Location: Dorset

Posted: Thu Dec 10, 15 5:27 pm Post subject:

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Thu Dec 10, 15 6:18 pm Post subject:
Graham my terriers haven't brains enough to know it's not wise to go down a badger set in December with muzzles on so I don't think I'll be sending them to the butchers just yet.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15578

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 15 7:28 am Post subject:
Nice one Graham. Pity about the kale plants Slim. You need to have words with your dog.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45470
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 15 11:43 am Post subject:

LynneA

Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 4893
Location: London N21

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 15 12:53 pm Post subject:

Pumpkin has more "decorative" tastes.

Having had to discourage her from chomping on the grass in our mini wildflower meadow, we sowed her a few trays of different cat grass mixes. Not the slightest interest was shown, so we put them in with the hens for them to enjoy.

Then I buy a lovely tall, frondy ornamental Pennisetum to put in a perennial container, and it turns out it's kitten caviar. She even climbed up the mini greenhouse to knock it down to the floor to chomp on it

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6540
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 15 2:37 pm Post subject:

I would stick with high fiber grasses, like pearl millet, or just older tougher grasses for your pet to graze on. (I think that's why your Pumpkin went after the pennisetum). I think they're primarily grazing on it for the fiber content to "move things along" digestively, and those tender young wheatgrass shoots probably don't have so much fiber in them.

Our dog heads right for mature fibrous grasses (like brome, or quackgrass) when we're out for walks.

otatop

Joined: 01 Jun 2005
Posts: 1425
Location: North London

Posted: Sun Dec 13, 15 3:27 pm Post subject:
I had a Labrador who knew precisely when a tomato was at it's best. It took me a little while to work out what was happening. Stupid me - smart dog.

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