What creature is eating my cucumbers?

Question: I'm in St J right in town, and I've been battling woodchucks (using fence) this year more than any in the past. There's semiwild habitat even among the houses, so they're impossible to eliminate. Trapping hasn't worked. But these toothmarks are small, so maybe the cucumber problem is some other creature?

responder: An Ask Extension Expert Replied July 21, 2024, 8:40 PM EDT
response: Hello Edward,  That's always annoying to me as well when you work hard for your harvest and your crop is sampled.  You are suspecting Woodchucks but, given their size, they would be taking a bigger bite.  Other smaller rodents, chipmunks, mice, voles might nibble on many things just as in your picture.  Woodchucks would be mowing down whole sections of carrot tops or destroying a lettuce patch.  I will include several articles that will broaden you knowledge of these pests and what you can do to manage them.    https://extension.purdue.edu/news/county/whitley/2021/07/whats-eating-my-garden-plants.html  Here is an audio file that is quite long but you can learn a lot from their commentary.  https://extension.unh.edu/blog/2021/04/dealing-nuisance-wildlife-growing-garlic-inkberry-tree-guards-audio   And here are a couple articles about Woodchucks: https://extension.psu.edu/woodchucks  https://extension.unh.edu/sites/default/files/migrated_unmanaged_files/Resource000562_Rep584.pdf  I hope your detective work is successful!

responder: The Question Asker Replied July 22, 2024, 9:17 AM EDT
response: Hello Extension,  Thank you very much for this sympathetic response. "Sampled" alas is not the word. Woodchucks, which we and our neighbors see all the time on Main Street, did indeed mow down whole rows of lettuce, spinach, chicory, parsley, dill, nasturtiums, carrots, beets -- come and come again! -- leaving only fruit, asparagus, rocket, and taking only an occasional bite of cucumber vines (mostly they went for the whole fruits) or tomato vines or fennel, but when other things ran out they started down the row of onions (not the garlic or shallots [real ones with real flavor, not modern supermarket varieties]. Dozens of those plants were beautiful ones that I had started indoors. It took me days of sealing off with stones and buried wire fence (it's a slightly complex perimeter), and deciding whether or not an electric fence was the way to go. The upshot seems to be that they were climbing over a three-foot fence I'd discreetly placed, for visual reasons, a few inches inside a tall cedar hedge, which helped them climb. After I added a second tier of fence, raising the height on that side to seven feet, they gave up. At least it seems so for now! The problem is that even in town there's too much habitat on the slopes between a number of houses, so woodchucks could never be eliminated.  Forgive me if I vent! My question should have been: Are the nibbles of a few cucumbers perhaps just the work of squirrels and something minor that a gardener can live with, compared with woodchuck damage? After the discouragement that almost made me quit gardening, I really just wanted to have a complete picture of what I'm dealing with.  I've been gardening in the NEK almost every summer since 1973, but mostly out in the countryside, with rarely any predation.  Best, Ed  Edward BehrThe Art of Eating ArtofEating.substack.com  St. Johnsbury, Vermont 05819 USA @ArtofEating        On Sun, Jul 21, 2024 at 8:40 PM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

responder: An Ask Extension Expert Replied July 25, 2024, 10:15 AM EDT
response: Edward, hello again, It really is impossible to tell exactly what is eating your cucumber based on the tooth marks.  Perhaps talking to a game warden and bringing them on board for your neighborhood problem would give you insight and maybe they could take some action.  Obviously, I cannot speak for them.    Two other things you could do:  First, to detect who is lurking you could place a board sprinkled with a powder, such as limestone and then identify the prints.  Second, you can try a fear evoking repellent which would mimic the presence of a predator, such as granulated fox urine.  You can purchase products such as these locally or on line.  I should note that there is not definitive research recorded that these products work but some users have stated that their application solves their problems.  I hope something works for you.  I can see you have been at this for awhile.

responder: The Question Asker Replied July 25, 2024, 1:13 PM EDT
response: Dear Can,  Thank you so much. I'm sorry for my grumpiness! I think at this point I've fenced out the adults, but we saw a young woodchuck inside the garden yesterday, and there's still some, but much less damage. We didn't get a clear look, but the young one seemed to go through the fence. I should have used fencing with smaller openings, which some online articles advise. So tighter fencing may be next, but the predator repellent would be a lot cheaper and less work, so maybe that's the way to go.  Best, Ed Edward BehrThe Art of Eating ArtofEating.substack.com  St. Johnsbury, Vermont 05819 USA @ArtofEating        On Thu, Jul 25, 2024 at 10:15 AM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

responder: An Ask Extension Expert Replied July 25, 2024, 1:35 PM EDT
response: Your welcome, Ed.  Here is another site we found today that you might find useful - https://wildlife-damage-management.extension.org/