We have (had) a lovely chilli plant in the final stage of fruiting. Anticipating a bucket of chilli’s, with tails wagging, we set out getting sambal recipes and jars etc ready to go once the fruit matured.

To our dismay, upon closer inspection over the weekend, all the fruit has been eaten, somewhat delicately as none of the leaves have been eaten or disturbed, right down to the bud.

Now, the usual suspects (and previous culprits, our three dogs and/or the feline) are out of the equation this time as this plant is in a tall pot and the top of it is over 1m off the ground. There are no nearby trees or access points to allow the myriad of crows/maggies access, anyway, surely a bird that size would cause damage.

May I ask whether there could be anything which would come to mind. I loathe spraying, however, I will do so if required.

Firestorm.

my guess would be rats, possums, or the neighbours!

welcome Firestorm.

Thank you bluegreen – this may be the first of a few posts from me in coming weeks.

Have recently moved into a new house with a grossly neglected garden/lawn and I’ll be sourcing some guidance..

I noticed some of our chooks love chillis. They’d jump up and grab them. No damage to the plants.

Firestorm said:

Thank you bluegreen – this may be the first of a few posts from me in coming weeks.

Have recently moved into a new house with a grossly neglected garden/lawn and I’ll be sourcing some guidance..

you’ve come to the right place :D

you’ll find we are are friendly bunch who love to talk gardening here.

bluegreen said:

my guess would be rats, possums, or the neighbours!
welcome Firestorm.

yes- welcome firestorm
where do you hail from – nearest big town ?
bush turkeys and rabbits can be culprits in certain parts of aus.
i have chillies here and earwigs, sparrows and snails don’t touch them.

Keep a watch for birds in your garden.

Indian mynahs love chillies but so do heaps of other bird species.

Birds are unaffected by capsaicin which is the substance that makes chillies hot to the rest of the animal kingdom.

Benowa, Gold Coast..

The reason I stipulate the suburb is simply due to the fact that the soil conditions move from sand to clay depending on the suburb here on the Goldie. Benowa, definately falls into the “clay” category.

haven’t seen many minors around.
However, would birds be able to be so delicate as to remove all the fruit and not damage the foliage?

fruit fly? I hear they eat chilli???

pain master said:

fruit fly? I hear they eat chilli???

Not totally consume it with no evidence. You’d find rotting fruit if it was FF.

Hmmm…same thing happened to my chillies a few years back. I just presumed it was the dogs but I didn’t actually see them do it, so perhaps it wasn’t…or perhaps you have very clever canines or felines!

I know my girl dog would pull the branches of the loquat down so she could harvest the fruit straight off the tree. How flexible are the chilli branches?

fruit fly may be a consideration… the buds are very small at present, so is quite difficult to see details.. perhaps a job for CSI!

hortfurball, I have to smile, our animals can be VERY inventive when it comes to sourcing food. Although I suspect that getting the ladder out of the shed to get to the top would be a little out of their league.

We went out late last night (after the rain finished) with a torch to check out any nighttime crawlers… much to the consternation of the neighbours… didn’t find anything but a nasty little cane toad which met its maker in short shift..