Stem being eaten

[NCCowboy]

Anyone ever seen this before and know whats doing it ? not sure if the pictures are good enough for you to see what I'm talking about but the stem from where it leaves the soil and about a 1 1/2 to 2 inches up something has eaten the outer layer of my stem in complete circle, any ideas on what did this? Thanks in advance for any help

 

[Waira]

Holy poop tea! bastards! .... I'm not sure mate, I've not seen this before,... it ate all soft tissue, skipped the xylem,... I'm leaning toward some kind of "worm", usually a caterpillar, or bettle larvae, pretty mobile,.. snacks and then hides,... hopefully somebody else will have seen this,..I'll look into it myself too! The plant is a goner though, that layer of conductive tissue is the same as on a tree, which if your strip down to wood in a ring, will kill it,... sugars, proteins, etc are carried by this tissue (phloem)..... I'd set out a bait plant, something bugs like a cheap annual or something,...lay sticky traps around it at the base maybe,... a rodent, I don't think they'd bother nibbling away at the outer layer like that,....

 

[Cannablissman]

Wouldn't sprinkling dried powered egg shells on th top of soil permanently balance the pH and provide calcium to the plant too

 

[Cannablissman]

dont completely crush them as they prevent ants n other crawly insects from coming too close to the plant. when they do the sharp eggshells cut up their underbelly. so u know just how much to crush.

 

[Rev. Green Genes]

rodents?

perhaps voles? or maybe a caterpillar type insect. I have seen simmilar once before, but it turned out to be a water mold. You might try a bottemless solo cup collar for the stalks, you could even put vaseline or something on it to catch insects and see what you get. Many larger things like slugs, snails, or catterpillers will not cross an busted eggshell barrier. They get cut up, and it also will add calcium to the mix over time.

 

[Heavily Medicated]

Could this have been a late stage damping-off problem? What has the weather been like lately?