We'd need more information from you to limit your problem to some specific critters. Are there deer in your neighborhood? Have you spotted any excrement from animals other than birds? Have you noticed any paw or foot prints? How big are the plants attacked? Are they completely cut off, nibbled, "pruned"? Yes ,        there can be predatory birds, but they usually do not consume the entire plant. Snails and slugs can do a lot of damage, tearing great holes in plants, but again, they do not usually totally consume the plant. Most dog and cat damage  is caused by digging or laying in the plant, so the damage is very evident. Squirrels, rats and mice also prey on fruiting or berrying plants, but usually leave .ornamental plants alone. That leaves deer as the likely suspect. Is your property fenced? Fences or medium tall, wide hedges are the best defense again deer. There are some repellents, but deer quickly habituate to them--for example, wild animal urine-scented sprays are quickly overlooked when the deer learns that there is no coyote or lion in the area. Your suggestion of bottles to cover the plants would be a good one given a small predator. You might try one of the sprinklers that turns on automatically with a sharp spray of water when an animal crosses its path. Move it around two or three times a week, so animals don't learn a route around the spray. And, if you have any night owl tendencies, check your garden with a strong flashlight or outdoor lights two or three times a night to see if you can spot the culprit! Good luck with solving this problem.

I hope you"ll pardon a momentary lapse in my thinking: I left out the most probable culprit when plants disappear overnight into the ground.  Pocket Gophers are brown furry  rodents with two big front teeth, usually about  8 inches long with a short  2-inch tail and are notorious predators of both vegetable and ornamental  plants, especially young plants. Take a small trowel and open up the space where the missing plant has been. Dig down at least a foot and you will probably open up a tunnel, either at the bottom or along the sides of your planting hole. if you find this, your bandit is indeed a gopher. There are various traps available in nursery supply stores. follow the instructions  carefully, baiting the trap with some tender greens. Insert the trap into the tunnel you have located, cover the  area with a flat board, weighted with rocks or a watering  can full of water to keep curious cats and dogs away. Check the trap the next day. If, in the meantime, you see a mound of dirt appearing elsewhere in the yard, you may have an active gopher there. Dig out the tunnel, set another trap, cover the area, and hope you have solved your problem. Thank  you for using Ask an Expert.

I live in a neighborhood so my yard is fenced. I do not think it is a gopher issue because there are not any piles of dirt anywhere. I do know that I have mouse and occasional rat issues because I've done a bunch of live trapping. They are attracted by the bird seed in my yard due to the fact that I feed the wild birds. this latest plan that was attacked is in a raised bed on my back porch. I did not notice any footprints and it's not possible for any deer to get into my yard. They have demolished plants in the past in my vegetable garden and bird netting covering the area did not help because they chewed through that. Is there anything that I can spray around the plants that will deter them? If we are dealing solely with ravenous mice? We are talking about plants from a nursery that are probably only about 3-4 inches tall. Do you know of anyone locally that builds chicken wire type enclosures from predators on vegetable garden beds? I'm looking for something that will keep them out but that I can physically remove and take off of the bed when I need to work the soil. Thank you for your advice.

The lack of piles of dirt does not mean there are no gophers on your property. They could easily run tunnels under your fence from a neighboring property. So I think this is a possibility still worth investigating. As for the wire covers. i don't know of anyone local who manufactures these. it's a rather simple job to take a square of hardware cloth (wire that is formed into tiny 1/2" inch squares) and  cut and fold it ( using a piece of board to help) into  what looks like the lid of a box. If you have a box top from a gift package, look at how the corners are formed and follow the pattern. I have used this method to create 2 and 3  foot square protection devices in my garden. There are also commercial covers or exclusion devices available from mail-order garden supply companies. Check the web for "pest control cloches" or "pop-up pest barriers"or "pest controls". Mice (and rats) can be a problem, but I'm not certain they are into vegetables that much--fruits, definitely It may be time for some traps for them, however. Luckily, we do not have groundhogs in Oregon which can devastate gardens, but we do have rabbits, deer (I hope your fence is at least 7 feet high), and a lot of gophers. Good luck!