Oops

A few days after the pole beans came up, something started munching on the leaves.   Within another day or two, most of the leaves had been eaten.  Some looked like they were turned into lace, others were completely decimated, and only a stub remained.

After some searching online last week, it sounds like the lace-like leaves point the finger at some type of bug, but the decimated plants implicate squirrels (which we have many) or some other animal.  

From my reading, it looks like the two best organic pesticides options for this particular option are Neem oil and  a cayenne pepper solution.  I have neem oil, but before work on Thursday, I figured I would try the cayenne, water, dish soap combo.  I used some last year for the tomatoes, and while it didn't help keep away the squirrels, it also did not hurt the leaves.     

The problem is that in rushing, I either forgot to add the water, or added way, way to little.  So essentially, I doused the seedlings with mostly vinegar and cayenne, and pretty much killed all of the remaining pole beans and squash seedlings.

On Friday, before we left for Indiana, I sowed some more pole beans and squash.