A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Vegetable Gardening Who is eating my veggies???

I have two crops that are being attacked, my purple pod pole beans and my plain jane lettuce.
Someone has eaten all of the foliage off of the bean plants (about 5" tall) and left the stalks. I sprayed with insecticide, built a mesh cage around them and put out snail bait...The ones that were left have since been stripped.
The lettuce plants are disappearing...no footprints, no snail trails, no evidence of cut worms, no plant material, nada.
I would suspect deer, but I don't think we have any because we do have the odd coyote. We do occasionally see possums, racoons, and squirrels, but the squirrels get plenty stealing out of the bird feeders...
Anyone have a suggestion???

Hum... I would have suspected snails for the lettuce. But you say no. I'm stumped, sorry. What's your location?

I would be almost certain it's the deer eating the pole beans. I have the same problem with mine, so I try to stake deer netting around my pole beans. Lowe's has 7 foot netting in 100 foot rolls for $12 or $13 a roll. I wanted the 7 foot poles, but they were out so I got the 6 footers (5 feet when pounded in the ground). It helps as long as you keep the netting from sagging and they don't jump the fence. They're less likely to jump when the garden has grown full.

Top guesses for the lettuce are rabbits or groundhogs, but they normally leave tracks unless the ground is firmed up.