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Uncommon Pests

May 8th, 2017

This year I purchased onion plants for the first time. In the past, I’ve started onions from seed and have always been happy with the results. Since I’ve had a busy spring, I thought purchasing plants would save me time. Little did i know that the earthworms around here do not like onion plants from away. Every single morning I go out and 30-40% of the onion plants have been dug up, reburied, moved, or just are just slightly lifted from their spots. At first, I thought it was birds. Then I did some research and with observation, spotted the nightcrawlers digging up the onions. I thought about letting the chickens in the garden, but they dig holes and in general make such a mess I don’t want to do that.

My onion crop may be non-existant this year. For two days I’ve moved the dug up plants to different spots in the garden, those are getting dug up as well. It’s probably too late to direct seed onions, but I may pull all the plants and count the $40 a lesson learned. I may also just forgo onions this year, which will be very sad. It’s interesting that these plants are not liked by the worms where my homegrown seedlings are left alone (I have a few in the back in the same row as these plants, no unearthing of these). Makes you wonder what it is about these plants that the worms don’t like.

What strange pest problems do you have in the garden?

5 Comments to “Uncommon Pests”
  1. Sara on May 8, 2017 at 10:35 am

    That is SO weird! I saw your post on Instagram this weekend.Maybe they are treated with an anti-fungal or something? So frustrating that your fallback plan for onions did not work out. We just have the normal pests here–squirrels dug up half my peas and then are half of the rest that did germinate, boo!

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  2. Beth K on May 8, 2017 at 10:50 am

    That’s so strange. I’ve planted onion plants for several years now and have never had an issue like this. It stinks for you, though. :(

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  3. PennyAshevilleNC on May 8, 2017 at 1:15 pm

    Well, I nevah! That is really interesting. I am sad for your work and onion plans though.

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  4. sarah on May 8, 2017 at 4:59 pm

    Weird. Most of my onions were dug up by my chickens. They never mess with the ones from seed, I think yours and mine both just suffered because the plants are big and noticeable but not very firmly rooted.

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  5. Mich on May 11, 2017 at 4:54 pm

    How weird! I always buy in onions as I’m never organised enough to sow the seeds early enough. I usually have the problem with birds pulling them out…..which I’ve resolved by using a bird scarer.

    Reply to Mich's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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