Habits of Chewers – Voles (Microtus spp.), ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi), and gophers (Thomomys spp.) have a common taste for sweet potato vines. Voles look similar to mice and are about 6 inches long. Their damage is concentrated near to the ground.
- They also will dig up to 10 inches below the soil surface.
- The slightly larger 10-inch pocket gophers are usually unseen, traveling in tunnels about 1 foot underground.
- Their vine damage is generally concentrated at the plant crown right above the soil, as they eat their way up from the tubers.
- Ground squirrels are similar in size to gophers, but with a distinctive bushy tail.
They forage mainly above ground and enjoy eating tender new vines.
Do rabbits eat sweet potato leaves?
Can Rabbits Have Sweet Potato? – Sweet potato itself isn’t a good snack for our bunnies, because it’s high in starch and sugar. But, it can be good for underweight rabbits that need to gain weight, under your veterinarian’s guidance. And, many rabbits will love eating sweet potato leaves, vines, and skins (in small amounts!). What’s your rabbit’s favorite snack?
What is eating my potato leaves?
Colorado Potato Beetle – The common black and yellow-striped “potato bug”, a very familiar insect, is the most serious pest of potatoes. Both the adult, or beetle, and the black-spotted, red larva feed on potato leaves. Their damage can greatly reduce yield and even kill plants.
How do I keep deer from eating my sweet potato vines?
How To Keep Deer Away From Sweet Potato Vines – Grow sweet potato vine in window boxes on the second floor or higher to prevent deer from reaching it. Growing it on a raised deck is also an option. Deer are unlikely to climb a set flight of stairs to get to it.
Do rats eat sweet potato vines?
Humans first started growing sweet potatoes more than 5,000 years ago. Today, gardeners in all U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zones can grow this as a summer annual, though it’s only winter-hardy in USDA zones 9 through 11. While sweet potato vines have few pest problems, rodents rank as one of the most serious pests in a sweet potato patch.
Do wild rabbits eat sweet potato vines?
Can they eat their leaves and vines? – Yes. rabbits can eat sweet potato vines and leaves. They have various vital nutrients including proteins, carbs, vitamin A, C, B complex, and most of the minerals that their tubers have that we have listed above. Furthermore, they are fibrous or have fiber and their amount of carbs is low.
Can chickens eat sweet potato leaves?
Can Chickens Eat Sweet Potato Vines? – As opposed to the white potatoes, which are part of the nightshade family, sweet yellow potatoes are not a part of it. Sweet potatoes are a part of the morning glory family. Sweet potato stems, vines, leaves, and sweet potato peelings are safe for chickens. 
What’s eating my sweet potato vines?
When the sweet potatoes (Ipomea batatas) you planted and nurtured fall victim to animal pests, it is quite discouraging. The main vertebrate threats to sweet potato vines, which grow in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 9 through 11, according to North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension, are voles, gophers and ground squirrels.
What kind of bug eats potato leaves?
Quick facts – The Colorado potato beetle ( Leptinotarsa decemlineata ) is a major potato pest throughout North America.
Adults become active in spring, about the same time potato plants emerge from the ground. Larvae and adults feed on leaves and can completely defoliate plants. Many pesticides are ineffective because of pesticide resistance of the Colorado potato beetle. A combination of pest management tactics can reduce Colorado potato beetle numbers.
Adult Colorado potato beetle
What is putting holes in my potato leaves?
Flea Beetles – Flea beetles usually don’t damage tubers, but their feeding does result in many small holes throughout leaves. These small “shot holes” can make potato plants susceptible to bacterial and fungal diseases such as Verticillium wilt and Fusarium rot.
What do you spray on sweet potato vines?
Insects to watch for Sweet potato whitefly can be controlled with Year Round Spray Oil (spray under the leaves in early morning when it’s cool), bifenthrin or Malathion.
What causes holes in sweet potato vine leaves?
Holes in Leaves – Holes in leaves are the sign of an insect feasting on your sweet potato vine, likely tortoise or flea beetles. To get rid of beetles, shake them off into a bucket of soapy water. Spread diatomaceous earth around the plant. You can also apply neem oil to the affected area.
- Are sweet potato vines easy to care for? Sweet potato vines are easy to cultivate, maintain, and keep alive for many years as long as they remain inside or are temperature-controlled during periods of freezing temperatures.
- How fast do sweet potato vines grow? These plants are fast-growing vines that can grow up to 10 feet long in a single growing season.
- What’s the difference between sweet potato vines and sweet potato plants? Sweet potato vines are the same species as that plant that grows sweet potatoes. The ornamental vines are cultivars that are grown for their beautiful-looking leaves and not their tuberous roots. Ornament sweet potato vines have tuberous roots that are edible but are not sweet-tasting and are rather bitter.
- Can sweet potato vine grow inside? As long as you have a sunny spot or a grow light, sweet potato vines can grow well indoors.
Do squirrels eat sweet potatoes?
Vegetables – After seeds, vegetables are the most important part of your squirrel’s daily diet. Sweet potatoes and corn are popular choices and also very nutritious for your little pet. They provide key vitamins and minerals that seeds, nuts, and other foods don’t offer your squirrel. A nice chunk of a vegetable will also give your squirrel a natural water source and add some variety to the diet.
Do deer eat sweet potato leaves?
Deer Love Sweet Potato Vines –
If you have sweet potato vines, whether they are ornamental or grown for the tubers, you will likely have deer problems. These vines are very attractive to deer. Deer are problematic around sweet potato vines because they can cause extensive and frequent damage to the plant. To save your plant from becoming deer food, you need to protect both the plant and your garden from the pesky invaders.
Do mice like sweet potato?
Potatoes – Potato is one of those foods that is considered as a dangerous treat for pet mice. The only safe one you can prepare is sweet potato. You can cook it and then it becomes a pet mouse-friendly food. What makes it bad for pet mice is that raw sweet potato contains compounds that are potentially harmful.
Once the potato gets in the belly of your mouse, those compounds start to turn into cyanide, which is incredibly toxic. Potatoes are not particularly nutritious for mice anyway so it is not even worth to experiment with them. Moreover, potato chips are completely out of the question because there is a lot of salt and artificial seasoning on them.
Your pet mouse needs to eat something more natural.
Are potato leaves safe for rabbits?
Can Rabbits Eat Potato Leaves? – The leaves, vines, and flowers of the potato plant are poisonous to rabbits. The same is true for all other members of the nightshade family. Rabbits wandering around gardens and allotments may come across potato leaves and vines.
Can rabbits eat ornamental sweet potato vines?
I know we have said before that other Landscape Spotlight plants, like Daylilies and Astilbe, were our favorites, but with so many beautiful plants in the world, we just can’t narrow it down to one! These plants are our favorites for so many different reasons, and the sweet potato vine definitely joins this elite, and seemingly ever-growing, list.
Just one look and we guarantee you will fall in love. Why, you ask? Well, funny thing is, this plant isn’t grown for its flowering ability, especially not in NEPA. While the sweet potato vine will produce flowers resembling its cousin Morning Glory in southern gardens that experience hot daytime and nighttime temperatures, we know this beauty for its foliage! Varieties come in a few select colors, but all are standouts within the landscape.
This winner can be found in stippled brown, bronze, variegated pink and white, near black, purple and chartreuse. The leaves vary but range from thin and finger-like to hardy and heart-shaped. Being that this plant is known for its leaves rather than its flowers, you can enjoy it all season long, rather than watching it go in and out of bloom.
As one of the most versatile plants around, sweet potato vine can be grown in the sun or dappled shade, in container gardens, as border enhancers or within your garden or trailing down a rock-sloped landscape. Our favorite application, without a doubt, would be as a filler plant for containers. This classic “spiller” has long vines that seemingly spill over the edges of containers and resemble organic waterfalls down the sides.
Imagine how impactful a long and flowing chartreuse cascade could be at your home’s front entry or welcoming you into your backyard outdoor living space! Introducing this draper into planters with other complementing yet diverse plantings will surely give your space a designer feel.
We suggest pairing the sweet potato vine to act as a cover up for the “bare knees” of plants such as canna lilies, into planters that you use for vertical interest with plants such as elephant ears, or mixed in with plants of similar growth requirements like impatiens or marigolds. However, whichever variety of sweet potato vine you select, be sure to pair them with their stark color opposite.
For example, match the electric lime green vines with plants that have purple foliage, and pair the nearly-black variety with anything that is bright! The contrast will be dramatic, but exactly what you are looking for when you are going for the wow-factor.
- Let’s get into the conditions that make this landscape spotlight happy, shall we? As mentioned before, this plant thrives in areas of partial shade to full sun.
- While not being particularly picky about their immediate environment, it does require that the soil be well-fertilized, well-draining and it will also need enough room to be itself.
A typical ornamental sweet potato vine will grow to 6 inches in height and 5 feet in length! We told you that this plant is dramatic, yet so worth it! Side note: being as resilient as it is, if the plant does happen to get a little too out of control for you, don’t be afraid to prune or clip back the foliage, it can take it.
What is the best food for rabbits?
What do rabbits eat? – Rabbits should have a daily diet of mostly hay, a smaller amount of fresh vegetables, and a limited number of pellets. Hay is the most important part of a rabbit’s daily intake. Unlimited, high-quality grass hay, such as Timothy, orchard or brome, should make up the bulk of a rabbit’s diet.
- Grass hay is high in fiber, which is critical to maintaining a rabbit’s healthy digestive tract.
- While young, growing rabbits can eat any type of grass hay, alfalfa hay is not recommended for adult rabbits, as it is too rich in protein and too high in calcium.
- Timothy pellets can be offered at approximately 1/8-1/4 cup per 5 lbs (2.25 kg) of bodyweight.
Over-feeding pellets to adult rabbits is a common cause of obesity and soft stool (caused by an overgrowth of abnormal bacteria in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract), as pellets are generally low in fiber and high in carbohydrates. In addition to hay, wild rabbits eat a lot of other fresh vegetation.
- A pet rabbit’s diet should be supplemented with a variety of leafy green vegetables every day.
- Rabbits can consume as many vegetables as they want to each day as long as they do not get diarrhea and as long as the vegetables are not high in carbohydrates, as carrots and potatoes are.
- Variety is important.
Introduce new vegetables slowly and in small quantities, and monitor for soft feces, diarrhea, or signs of gas pain. “Carrots should be fed sparingly, as they are very high in carbohydrate and may upset GI bacterial flora.” Particularly good vegetables include the dark leafy greens like romaine lettuce, bok choy, mustard greens, carrot tops, cilantro, watercress, basil, kohlrabi, beet greens, broccoli greens, and cilantro.
Some leafy greens, such as collard and dandelion greens, parsley, kale, Swiss chard, and escarole, should be fed in limited quantities, as they are high in calcium and may contribute to the development of calcium-based bladder stones if fed in excess. Other acceptable vegetables include broccoli, green peppers, Brussel sprouts, endive, wheat grass, radicchio, and squash.
Iceberg or head lettuce should not be fed, as it is mainly water and contains few nutrients. Carrots should be fed sparingly, as they are very high in carbohydrate and may upset GI bacterial flora. A small amount of many different vegetables is much better than a large amount of one food item. Young rabbits, under approximately 7-8 months old, should be fed alfalfa pellets and alfalfa hay free-choice; they need the extra protein and calcium as they grow. They, too, can have a variety of vegetables. At approximately 7 months, they must be weaned onto an adult diet, as described above, since their growth slows down.