Caladiums leaves...gone, leafless stalks! Deer or what? (growing, Forsythia, grass)

[easilydistracted]

My backyard caladiums(fenced) are glorious, so we couldn't resist an outstanding sale to put more in the front yard(no fence). 2 days later more than 50% of leaves(especially tallest, 18-24" above ground) are completely gone with only a stalk to remain! Boo-hoo! I'll be on lookout for deer tonight who so rarely come out of adjacent multi-acre parkland except every night in winter!
Q1:Any other culprits more likely? AND
Q2:Should I remove the stalks or let them die back naturally?

[qtbrye]

Rabbits ate some of my caladiums, so that's another culprit to add to your hit list. And mine did put out new leaves.

[LoriNJ]

Caladiums send up new shoots during the growing season, so I would leave them be and see what happens. If the remaining stalks get soft/mushy, though, I would clip them off because that will be an attractive growing environment for fungus. I love caladiums and planted over 100 of them this year.

[Gerania]

Deer, rabbits, groundhogs. I've lost almost everything edible in my yard several times to the hogs. Eating from the top is probably deer.

[mawipafl]

easilydistracted ... I had the same surprise one day. I'm in northeast FL. Although there are deer here, there have been none sighted in my neighborhood, and I don't live anywhere near the wooded areas where they may be. Same deal with wild pigs - they're in our area, but none sighted by anyone.

All I've seen are a fox (not a suspect), raccoon (not a suspect), armadillos (potentially), ducks (not suspects), and geese and squirrels (potentially, but probably not since neither is nocturnal and leaf disappearance happened during the dark of night well before dawn).

Stems are neatly cut about 5-6" up from the ground. No evidence of the cut stems and leaves remain - completely gone. My thought is that in my case it's a small mammal, one that's "timid", because the attacked caladiums were only the ones surrounded by larger vegetation (elephant ears and philodendrons). The caladiums in a more open garden were (and have been) left untouched.

I've never seen a rabbit here, but I'll bet they exist. However, wouldn't they cut a stem a bit lower to the ground normally? Um, maybe not, maybe 5-6" is the right height.

As for what to do, I agree with LoriNJ - a wait and see. If anything becomes mushy which might affect the plant's health, cut that back.

[bigbear99]

you're lucky to be able to grow them. We just moved to New Hampshire, which doesn't have a very long or very warm summer. I'd need to start them in pots (or a tray) inside with added warmth to have any. Even then, wonder how they'd do with our frequent summer days in the 70's? Oh well. Much we can grow here that warmer folks can't. Lupines. Delphiniums. Sweet peas in summer and such.

[karenhaire]

Keep your caladiums away from Rabbits, Deer, squirrels.

[mawipafl]

Originally Posted by bigbear99

you're lucky to be able to grow them. We just moved to New Hampshire, which doesn't have a very long or very warm summer. I'd need to start them in pots (or a tray) inside with added warmth to have any. Even then, wonder how they'd do with our frequent summer days in the 70's? Oh well. Much we can grow here that warmer folks can't. Lupines. Delphiniums. Sweet peas in summer and such.

Yup, envious! Let's add forsythia and hollyhocks. I grew up in MA and I keep trying to grow New England plants here in FL just because.

[bigbear99]

forsythia is funny, though. Used to live in Minneapolis. Only part that was yellow in the spring was the part buried in snow for the winter, sometimes only the bottom few inches!

[eiddam]

It seems someone in the neighborhood doesn't like my pampus grass.I had them on my property and something was poured on all eleven of them.They r dead looking and all white.Is there anyway to bring them back if I keep the roots very wet?? We have a camera installed now in a hidden place.