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Creatures that eat rhubarb and strawberries.

BigladBiglad East LancashirePosts: 2,498
in Fruit & veg
I've got new growth on the rhubarb that I split recently but one shoot has disappeared, along with a couple of strawberry plants. A lot of cats pass by that part of the garden. Are they normally fans of those fruits? It doesn't look like slug damage or similar so I've got mammals as favourite, followed by birds. 
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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Central Norfolk UKPosts: 77,462
    Labradors and dachshund x JRTs will eat strawberries won’t they @WonkyWomble? So maybe local foxes are taking up gardening 😉?
    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • tui34tui34 Béziers, Herault, FrancePosts: 1,983
    edited December 2020
    @Biglad   Hens love strawberry leaves.  (Pigeons, birds?)   Rhubarb - I'm not so sure about.  I thought they were toxic.
    A good hoeing is worth two waterings.

  • Ferdinand2000Ferdinand2000 Posts: 530
    I eat rhubarb.

    But not for a couple of years until it is established.

     B) 
    “Rivers know this ... we will get there in the end.”
  • BigladBiglad East LancashirePosts: 2,498
    I did wonder if I should find a corpse in the vicinity :o 

    The current SPs:-
    1/2 Cat
    6/4 Pigeon
    5/1 Fox
    1000/1 @Ferdinand2000
  • Ferdinand2000Ferdinand2000 Posts: 530
    That 1000/1 is tempting.

    What is your address, and I have £10 that says I can prove it was will be me.
    “Rivers know this ... we will get there in the end.”
  • BigladBiglad East LancashirePosts: 2,498
    edited December 2020
     :D:D:D
  • ObelixxObelixx Vendée, Western FrancePosts: 27,611
    We love strawberry and rhubarb crumble but it wasn't us, honest.

    Have had to protect rhubarb crown from being hen-pecked but nether they nor our strawberries have ever been bothered by our 2 dogs.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 SomersetPosts: 9,266
    Probably slugs I think.
  • debs64debs64 West Midlands, on the edge of the Black Country Posts: 4,223
    Mice or rats ate my strawberries on the allotment but not rhubarb. I can’t imagine a cat would willingly eat fruit. 
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Leicestershire, UKPosts: 11,336
    edited December 2020
    A couple of years ago I set up a trail camera to see what was pulling-up strawberry plants in the winter and eating the crowns.  Therefore, I would like to introduce a new potential culprit:
    Badger @ 3:1.
    Cats are 'obligate carnivores' so it won't be one of those.
    Squirrels are also a possibility @ 7/2 as hungry ones will eat just about anything.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
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