Runner Beans have been dug up

[Plot1]

Hello all,

My first post on here although I have been lurking in the background using this site as an excellent source of tips and advice.

I've discovered that the runner beans (Enorma) that I lovingly nurtured in my greenhouse and planted out at the plot last week have been dug up. However they have not been eaten but have just been strewn around the planting site. The digging would indicate that it is unlikely to be mice as the soil has been disturbed to about 4 inches depth. The plants themselves were a good 7 inches tall at the point of their demise.

Is this likely to have been a fox or has anyone got other suggestions on what might have carried out this dastardly act?

[Flummery]

Do you have squirrels locally? They are know for uprooting broadies on our site.

[Plot1]

I have not seen any squirrels while I have been up there but the plot is surrounded on the one side by large trees so that could be a good suggestion.
The reason I initially suspected a fox is due to there being one that regularly potters on to the site in the evening as there is an elderly lady plot holder who every evening leaves out sandwiches for it! (honest). It is quite an old fox that has a severe limp so I've never been massively bothered by its presence but with my beans having been uprooted I have become suspicious of the harm it may do over the course of the summer, particularly as my plot is the first one it travels over in its quest for its daily sandwich. Nobody elses beans have been touched on any other plot by the way.

[womble]

If you used chicken pellets, it could have been a fox or a badger. Has anything been eaten on the plants?

Otherwise a rabbit, but you should be able to see if it's that, by the pellets it's left and they tend to scratch in long scrapes.

Could have been a cat, but unlikely if every bean has been dug up.

Don't know much about squirrels.

Was there any randomness to it, or was every plant dug up on purpose?

[Jimmy]

Could be the most evil murderers on the plant, cats.
Any sign of their disgusting parcels.
Jimmy

[womble]

We get it, you don't like cats. Do you think we could stop with all the vitriol now?
Btw rats kill far more birds than cats do.

[Plot1]

there were a few minor bits of leaf missing during the days prior to their exhumation but nothing out of the ordinary.
11 out of 12 plants were dug up, left uneaten, and all were recovered within 2 feet of where they were planted. There was no trace of faeces either so no clues on that front. It would appear that whatever dug them up did it more for entertainment than for food needs.

[ginger ninger]

Hello Plot1, Welcome to the vine.
I would think it's highly unlikely to be Mr Fox unless he's trying to dig for mice. He's more than likely visiting the site for the mice and rat's that live there...plus the sandwich that get's left for him.
I'd be more suspicious of the two legged vermin that frequent allotment's site's on a night, ask round to see if anyone else has had the same thing happen to them. It could have been something digging for worm's...but why just in the one spot is a puzzle!
Hope you find out what happened, these thing's are so annoying.

[Jimmy]

Yes must stop responding about cats.
Still it's the owners that assume there nice little kitty is loved by all, well they are not.
No more from me in this post.

[womble]

Yes must stop responding about cats.

You must be getting me mixed up with someone else.

there were a few minor bits of leaf missing during the days prior to their exhumation but nothing out of the ordinary.
11 out of 12 plants were dug up, left uneaten, and all were recovered within 2 feet of where they were planted. There was no trace of faeces either so no clues on that front. It would appear that whatever dug them up did it more for entertainment than for food needs.

Did you use chicken pellets?

No wild animal digs something up for fun, unless it's cubs.
It's been very dry, could well have been badgers searching for roots. Or foxes or badgers searching for worms, as ginger says.
Difficult to say without seeing it in the flesh really.

[greengas]

Could it be ferrel children?

[ginger ninger]

Could be the most evil murderers on the plant, cats.
Any sign of their disgusting parcels.
Jimmy

We get it, you don't like cats. Do you think we could stop with all the vitriol now?
Btw rats kill far more birds than cats do.

There's a lot of cat lovers on this site (The vine) and those that tolerate cat's to a degree, although we all have different opinions of cat's I have to agree with womble, rat's do kill more bird's than most cat's do.
At least cat's don't go round killing birds with air riffles, leaving fishing line and hooks around so swan's and other water bird's sometimes suffer a terrible long slow death. Or poison bird's of pray because they may or may not take a lamb. We should look at our own species before we start to have a go at any other.

[womble]

Sometimes I'm disgusted at being a human being, but as my friends say, that's barely something I have to worry about.

Lets not turn this into another cat lover vs cat hater thread.

[Plot1]

Did you use chicken pellets?

.

I have not used chicken pellets. The ground was manured last autumn so only that and some blood fish and bone fertilizer at the time of planting.
Unlikely to be children as the cane structure for the beans was not touched.
I'll have a closer look at the digging today and try and upload a couple of photos.
Thanks for all your advice so far.

[ginger ninger]

I'm very tolerant of most thing's in life but for anyone to have such venom about one animal is beyond me. With regard to turning a tread in to a hate or love cat thread that's all down to each others opinion, as far as I'm aware we still live in a free country where everyone's view's are taken into consideration or have I woken up in a parallel universe where every thing has changed???