{"id":19185,"date":"2022-04-12T11:02:12","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T15:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/?p=19185"},"modified":"2022-04-12T11:02:12","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T15:02:12","slug":"creature-eating-lettuce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2022\/04\/12\/creature-eating-lettuce\/","title":{"rendered":"What creature is eating the lettuce in my greenhouse?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question:<\/h3>\n

I have some small creature eating my lettuce. It gets into my greenhouse, which only a small rodent could do. It eats a fair amount of lettuce down to almost ground level. The larger creatures that also devour what I grow — porcupines and skunks — I am able to trap and relocate.\u00a0 \u00a0I could use help determining\u00a0what is eating the lettuce.<\/b><\/p>\n

Answer:<\/h3>\n

Abi Griffith, Horticulture Community Education Assistant<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
Sorry to hear that!\u00a0 It may be helpful to look at this fact sheet\u00a0What’s Eating My Vegetables<\/a>\u00a0from UMass and scroll down to ponder the “Damage By Vertebrates” section which includes suspects such as rabbits, woodchucks, chipmunks, and squirrels. They suggest watching the area around the mornings\u00a0and dusk to see any rodent activity and checking for any droppings? The fact sheet also describes the plant damage by type of critter so this may give you some more clues. They also suggest “To help determine what vertebrate animal is causing the damage, sprinkle a layer of finely ground limestone around the damaged plants and look for animal tracks left in the powder the next day.”\u00a0Is the greenhouse a secure, closed up structure, reducing the suspects to a certain size as you suggest? You could try covering the lettuce at night with some row cover if you have some to deter the critter.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: I have some small creature eating my lettuce. It gets into my greenhouse, which only a small rodent could do. It eats a fair amount of lettuce down to almost ground level. The larger creatures that also devour what I grow — porcupines and skunks — I am able to trap and relocate.\u00a0 \u00a0I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[199,204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask","category-pests"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat creature is eating the lettuce in my greenhouse? - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2022\/04\/12\/creature-eating-lettuce\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What creature is eating the lettuce in my greenhouse? - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Question: I have some small creature eating my lettuce. 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