Mystery Cucumber Disaster

[megfitz]

Three healthy cucumbers, ( variety Bella,) up to waist height, with flowers and some baby fruits growing very happily in growpots in Growbags in my greenhouse when I watered and shut the door on Monday evening......Tuesday when I opened the door two cucumbers had dissappeared completely the third was hanging to the support, dead and shrivelled with a chunk out of the stem. Aargh!!!
So I go and buy three( much smaller plants) from the garden centre yesterday , stand them on the bench to acclimatise, this morning one of them has been destroyed!!
I'd put mouse traps down and barricaded the entrance . What is doing this to my potential prize winning cues. and how do I stop them???
Any advice /suggestions gratefully received.

[Eve.]

Do you enter them in competition? No chance of some jealous rival? Could any kind of creature realistically get in to the greenhouse?

[lcg]

sabotage, meg....or a furry vegetarian?

[Mojo-Jo-Jo]

Have you checked for slugs and caterpillars? My brussels sprouts were once decimated overnight by caterpillars. :s
Maybe a cheeky squirrel? Is there any way in through the roof?

[megfitz]

IMy garden is fenced all the way round, and the roof vents close automatically,my two spaniels would see off any cats etc. Will check in daylight for caterpillars although the Tomatoes and peppers were not affected.

[boxtops]

Sounds like snails or slugs to me, not rodents. Put slug pellets round the plants and see what happens.

[Ann]

Definitely snails! Happened to mine regularly in greenhouse ......... now I plant in pots and place the pots in the middle of trays of gravel, and they generally stay intact! Buy cheap round trays from Poundland.

[SpikeyBush]

It is not a year for cucumbers. They rot very easily if it is too moist. For that reason I didn't bother planting any this year.

The runner beans love this weather though. I can almost see them growing.

[megfitz]

Thanks for those ideas, I had them in growpots in Growbags...you know the pots with the outer watering ring ,didn't think snails would get over those but they're obviously Hampshire mountaineering snails!!

[Ann]

We put grit in the outer watering ring meg, as our snails could conquer Everest! :)

[megfitz]

Brilliant idea Ann86,I'll beat those varmints yet.