What's attacked my sweetcorn!!!

[Jonnyt]

Went down the plot today to find a load of sweetcorn plants bitten off at the base. Nothing else has been touched. Any ideas what animal did this?

[Jungle Jane]

How long did you leave them for? I wonder is it snails & slugs eating a bit every night then hiding under the matting? They’ve eaten some of my sweetcorn in the blowaway,haven’t even planted it out yet.

[ameno]

The damage looks too rough and messy to be slugs. If anything, it looks like it might be rabbits.

[Jungle Jane]

Depends if rabbits can access the area,deer could also be to blame Does the metal fencing go all around?

[ameno]

Depends if rabbits can access the area,deer could also be to blame Does the metal fencing go all around?

Deer I would have thought would simply have eaten the whole plant, rather than chewing it off at ground level like that. Although admittedly I have no real experience of deer damage.

[peanut]

I had a problem with Muntjacs and their damage wasn't dissimilar to yours, they ate the tops off all my chard and just left nibbled stumps and stalks. In my case they jumped over but also forced their way under the fencing I had put up and once in the garden they crawled under my netting to get to one of the beds, how they did it without getting stuck I will never know! They also stripped the bark off my Hibiscus too, so look out for that kind of damage too. Pesky little critters!

[quanglewangle]

Here, damage like that would be badgers. They don't eat all that much but they do blunder about rather carelessly.

[Snoop Puss]

Here damage like that would be the work of rodents and a cat. Rodents chewing away at the base of the plant and a cat throwing itself at the plant to catch the rodent.

[Plot70]

Cats usually foul after they have wrecked a seedling bed.

[Snoop Puss]

Cats usually foul after they have wrecked a seedling bed.

Not when chasing a rodent they don't. Better things to do.

In my experience, the wrecking happens after the fouling to cover it up.

[Plot70]

Not when chasing a rodent they don't. Better things to do.

In my experience, the wrecking happens after the fouling to cover it up.

In my area they leave the fouling alongside the damage.
It is not unknown for them to cover it but rare in my experience.

[Snoop Puss]

In my area they leave the fouling alongside the damage.
It is not unknown for them to cover it but rare in my experience.

Pet cats are pretty fastidious about covering up poop. Maybe you have feral cats or uncastrated toms in your area that are making a statement that this is their territory. I've never seen cat poo left exposed except when dug up by dogs.

[Plot70]

The cats round here have been trying to dig up a fairly new concrete fence unsuccessfully and still fouled next to there failed attempt without covering it.

[Snoop Puss]

You have strange cats round your way, plot70.

Sorry to have spent so long off topic, Jonnyt. Are you on a site with other plots? Maybe other plot holders could give you an idea of possible culprits, which might help you take countermeasures for the future. Terrible loss now, though. I'd be fuming.

[Plot70]

Most of the cats in our area have been driven out of gardens with a combination of dogs and water pistols loaded with a mixture of tap water and pepper.
They must have switched to a foul and run policy.