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RE: We caught the woodchuck! Details to follow
Usually foliage eaters leave a pretty good indication they've visited by shitting somewhere near where they helped themselves to your plants. 😆 The deer eat my blackberry leaves and I can always tell by the mounds of crap all around the bushes!
I'm trying to think of what eats potato leaves besides beetles'n'bugs..hmm
have you had any problems prior to this, with your sweet taters?
Yes -- the leaves had holes in them from insects. Leaves missing, I don't think is insects but perhaps I let them go too long?
They will drop 'spent leaves', but dropping most/all is usually a disease - which is probable because many garden insects spread it. Do you use compost tea or any sort of kelp/seaweed for micronutrients?
Would animals scavenge the "spent" leaves? I saw a lot of leaves under one pepper plant, but none around the sweet potato -- I think they're being consumed...
The kale, for instance, I removed several yellow and chewed leaves today (the lower leaves), but none had fallen off.
Also gave the squash and cucumbers a severe haircut yesterday and today, bagging the leaves (and one whole cucumber plant!) for the trash as I don't want whatever disease they've got coming back... And sprayed neem oil yesterday but with the rain I'll need to again.
I used some kelp/seaweed once, perhaps a month ago. What schedule do you use for it? It's raining today and tomorrow so I'll add it to the watering the next day, if it makes sense to. Thanks!
I don't think most animals will opt for ground source if there is fresh foliage available. It sounds like something might've preferred your sweet potato leaves. If it is a disease, the lower leaves will show deficiencies first. Sometimes they dry out and by the time they are released from the plant - crumble into dust. Not uncommon for late season. If it was recently planted, then that is something to look into.
We are getting hammered with rain here as well. Had a bad wind storm yesterday and I've got a big clean up effort ahead of me.
I use all natural fertilizer and organic amendments the same way; I look at the recommended strength/mixture and I only ever feed at 50% of any recommendation. The kelp/seaweed can be used pretty frequently, I use it once a week. It will generally not harm the plants because it actually feeds the microbes in the soil and the microbes convert nutrients in the soil that the plant is unable to intake. Micro and macro nutrient deficiencies can sometimes mimic disease, so if you know you're feeding them what they want - it is more likely a disease. It's certainly not easy to give accurate diagnosis because many types of problems can look very similar.
The Neem oil spray can be applied every week or biweekly and is usually not going to wash off in rain if it was dry before rainfall. I will suggest spraying the undersides of the leaves, if you're not already. Many pests will feed from beneath the leaves, like aphids for instance. The undersides of the leaf can tell you a lot about what sort of pests you're dealing with.
Rain splashes soil born illnesses around the garden and many times up onto leaves. Another reason I prune my tomatoes up so high from the ground - at least 18" from soil. I also mulch with straw or wood chips to provide a protective layer between plant and soil. Don't get me wrong, disease can still spread! I lost about 20 plants in the recent set of storms.
Heavy rain followed by wind can spread spores of a sick plant very quickly. I actually have my tomato plants in 5 different locations for that reason. Once it starts, it spreads fast. Powdery and downy mildews are ruthless spreaders. I've had all sorts of problems to solve this year, so I can tell you that after you conquer a problem, it gets easier the next time. Then new problems come up..LOL 😆