# Groundhogs and potatoes



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Would a g-hog dig up a potato patch and eat all the spuds? 

Never in all my years have I seen anything like it. Potato patch looks like a bunch of little land mines went off in it. Some potatoes were on top of the ground, but not many. Mulch and cardboard dug to shreds. Plants nearby are eaten to the ground, even the horseradish which is supposed to keep the g-hogs away! 

Looks like that will be the okra or gladiolas patch next year. So far (knock on wood) the g-hogs haven't eaten those.

Or is a starving deer my culprit? They did eat the Jerusalem artichokes down to stems.


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## fatrat (Feb 21, 2009)

I've never seen any wild animal dig up and eat potatoes or potato plants. However there is only one that I can think of that would and that is hogs. Michigan is now having problems with wild hogs and you are in Ohio, so maybe it's becoming a problem in Ohio also. That's the only animal that I can think of that would do what you described.


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## katydidagain (Jun 11, 2004)

Sounds like you had the same issues I did except I didn't see evidence of digging--just a lot of at 1st glance misshapen spuds--upon further inspection they were eaten! I'm thinking moles or voles. Disgustingly disappointing year.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Haven't heard of wild hogs here. YIKES! I think they would have dug up the 'chokes too though.

Not voles, they don't dig that much.

Time to break out the game cam. I wonder where dh left it.


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## geo in mi (Nov 14, 2008)

Control of feral pigs Sus scrofa

See any tracks like these?

geo


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## Pete Q (Apr 18, 2010)

I have had a herd of deer going after my potatoes this year, but they went after the flowers first and then ate the young leaves from the tops of each plant, leaving still about a foot tall plant that would allow the vine to stay alive. Never did I see them pull out the spuds.

Two years I have lost most of my harvest to underground pests. First was voles, and second was grubs. Neither leave mess on the top, so I bet you have something else. 

How about badgers? They eat everything including roots. Or maybe pocket gophers?


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

No pocket gophers or badgers in Ohio, that I know of. 
No tracks, this happened before we got the good rain and ground was rock hard. 
I know deer ate the chokes because of the way the chokes were eaten. 
A couple other things that could have done it, chipmunks and 13 lined ground squirrels. 

But would a pig dig up a bunch of potatoes and leave amaranth and tomatoes? The lush stand of amaranth is untouched.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Danaus29 said:


> But would a pig dig up a bunch of potatoes and leave amaranth and tomatoes? The lush stand of amaranth is untouched.


Yes! Hogs were designed to find much of their diet underground. If the feral ones only ate vegetation, they'd be tolerated more. Instead, they destroy all vegetation by turning over all soil and eating the roots of everything. They are living plows. 

Martin


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Oops, I thought this was on the cooking forum. I was going to say, yes, and carrots and onions too. : D


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

vicker said:


> Oops, I thought this was on the cooking forum. I was going to say, yes, and carrots and onions too. : D


You're funny. I'll be thinking of you when I'm buying potatoes this week.


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## Marcia in MT (May 11, 2002)

We had problems with wood/Norway rats getting into our potatoes when we lived in Seattle. Ate or spoiled every single tuber! I trapped them and the problem went away.


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## swollen tongue (Mar 9, 2006)

Rabbits eat my potatoes not a lot of them but enough to see some potatoes laying on the ground every othermorn or so.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Why didn't I think of _rabbits_????? I bet that is the culprit! There are a bunch of rabbits in the area and I hadn't looked at the garden for a couple days.

I forgot about our house rabbit that used to tear open the bags of potatoes when I brought them home from the store.


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## fatrat (Feb 21, 2009)

Rabbits eat potatoes? That's a new one to me! We've always had lots of rabbits around but never did have them eat any potatoes. I guess there's always something new to encounter in the garden. I sure hope our rabbits don't figure out that the potatoes are good to eat.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Domestic rabbits will dig since it's their nature to live in underground burrows of their own making. Cottontails may starve to death atop a mountain of food buried under a few inches of hard snow.

Martin


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I had a domestic pet rabbit that would find a potato hidden anywhere. He never ate the little potatoes but would grab the biggest ones and eat just a few bites from them. 

If someone has unleashed a European rabbit plague on my garden I *WILL* learn to enjoy eating the varmints!!!!


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