Ducks and Runner Beans

Hi,

During the last 2 nights, my husbands Runner Beans have been "got at". There are only little stalks left. The leaves ( mostly whole ), are left scattered on the floor - spat out in favour of the more succulent new growth?

We have a wild Duck, ( Florence ) who more or less lives in our garden could she be the little hooligan who is decimating my husbands hard work? Do Ducks eat such things? Maybe it's the Rabbits! Would Rabbits not eat the leaves, instead of leaving them lying on the floor?

Help would be very much appreciated, 'cos if its Florence, l can feel Duck a l'orange beckoning.

 

I had a problem with wood pigeons pulling leaves off last year for no apparent reason. I hung old cds near the plants and the reflections in the light seemed to deter them as they didn't touch them again.

This year they haven't touched them - yet, fingers crossed.....

 

Thanks Bilbo, we have wood pigeons too, so l may be pointing my finger in the wrong direction. It was just that Flo' the Duck, seems to have a voracious appetite.

 

Could be rabbits as they'll eat the entire plant almost down to the ground and the larger leaves may not be as succulent as the stems/shoots.

Once saw somebody's entire planting of over 100 runner beans lost because rabbits ate through the stems at low level.

 

Right, so it could be Rabbit Pie then, instead of Duck a l'orange. Don't mean it really.

 

Is there any hope do you think, of them recovering. One thing l did notice before the "incident", the leaves had turned a paler colour, and had gone sort of papery.

 

I know mine quite often go paler after transplanting them to the open ground; after hardening them off of course, after a week or so though, especially when the weather gets warmer (as it is now) they soon pick up and race away....

 

That sounds like sun scorch, but could also explain why the rabbits preferred the juicier stems (I was actually thinking of what the leaves are like when first planted out and why rabbits may initially prefer the other bits in above post).

If it's just the larger leaves off the plants, and the shoots and smaller leaved are there, then it's probably not rabbits.

Any other signs of what could be rabbit damage to other plants? I have huge rabbit problems and have to fence them out of everything (that avatar is a bit tongue in cheek).

 

Unfortunately Bilbo, there aint nothing left to "race away". Whichever pesky critter it was that did the dirty deed, they just left short sticks poking our of the ground. GRRRRRRRR

 

No, not at the moment, but we do have quite a lot of rabbits here. We have put netting around the peas though, so they would not be as easy to get at.

So you don't think it could be the Duck then?

 

If you need to fence your peas against rabbits, and your beans have been reduced to stumps it sounds more and more like rabbits have eaten the runner beans. I very often hand feed my hens with the greens I pick for them every day, and although not they're ducks if they went for leaves of planted runner beans the plants would be torn from the ground, rather than have them cleanly bitten off.

P.S. It's not a Runner Duck you have by any chance?

 

tee hee​