I put marigolds in in sq ft beds and the flowerbed a couple of weeks ago, and something has eaten the leaves off of them. Almost every leaf is gone! Something also took out all my carrot sprouts. Last year, the carrots that were close to the marigolds were spared, but now what am I going to do? We do have a gopher, but I haven't seen much of him lately.

My lettuces are fine, my onions are fine, but my radishes have had their leaves nibbled, and two calendula sprouts were sheared off, but the larger calendula plants are fine.

So what pest is brave enough to eat marigolds??? And what am I going to do now?

slugs loooove marigolds-- you can look online for natural ways to get rid of them-- i seem to remember something aboput a beer mix in a jar lid????

Not sure what did it, but I had that happen one year adn then the marigolds came back like bushes :lol: . I thought maybe it was deer but can't remember if they will eat marigolds or not. Prolly not though.... I will think some more on this. Mine was def. an animal becuase the whole plant (minus a few inches of stem and a leaf or two) was chopped off..

Well, I know it's not deer, I do have a population of earwigs. Haven't seen any slugs, or snails, but that doesn't mean they're not out there. I've heard to crush eggshells and spread them for slugs and snails, they can't crawl on them, it cuts them up. What a great reason to buy beer! I did put some out last year, in cat food cans, because something was eating my echincea. Mostly I got pill bugs and earwigs. If it's slugs and snails, I just don't get why they'd eat marigold leaves and not the lettuce! And with the carrots, it was the leafy tops, but they left the stems, but those two calendula sprouts, well, they were sheared off, to the ground.

I did pick up an old gardening book, called Peacock Manure & Marigolds, and she says you have to get the old stinky marigolds. She also recommends calendula (mine is flowering) and tansy. Guess I'll look for tansy!

Ugh. Slugs. I put out beer traps friday night, caught a couple of slugs by the lettuces, and a bunch in the flower bed, including about a dozen baby slugs.

Went out this morning, found a big fat one on my beautiful lettuce. Dropped his happy self into the beer trap, hope he enjoys it.

Yep... Slugs. They are the only things I can think of that would eat marigolds. Keep planting them... by May 1st you could plant seeds easily all over your garden and they will grow. They will be happy and grow all over your garden. I throw the seeds literally all over my garden to keep the bean flies, beatles, and a few other things from my produce.

Beer traps work well. As do putting boards on the ground near the garden and leaving them overnight. Then the next morning, flip the boards and give the birds a yummy treat. ;)

Val