Ducks ate my potato plants!

[Canadian Wind]

I'd just gotten home from picking up my new duckling and found my garden decimated! The ducks (and the roosters!) destroyed pretty much everything, which was mostly squash, but also included a big potato plant. They even dug up at least one potato, the remains of which I found.

Now I'm worried they've poisoned themselves!

 

[ruthhope]

Potato plants are poisonous [although potatoes are not.] I suspect they didn't eat the plant but just broke it up. They seem to know after a bite whether to eat or not eat plants. I have common nightshade, Solanum americanum, a Florida native related to potato in my garden. The ducks have nibled but then not eaten the leaves and all lived with out symptoms for me to tell the tale.

Sounds Like your ducks had fun and the potato plant was a casualty but the ducks are unlikely to be

 

[Canadian Wind]

Okay, thank goodness. I'll keep an eye on them, of course, but this relieves me a lot.

Thank you!

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

Potatoes are good duck food. Boil them up and watch the feathers fly. But the little guys will eat your whole garden. I keep mine fenced out.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Potatoes are good duck food. Boil them up and watch the feathers fly. But the little guys will eat your whole garden. I keep mine fenced out.

Yeah, someone else mentioned their ducks got their squash, too. I thought mine were just more well-behaved. Fences go up for next year.

I'd read that raw potatoes were toxic. The flock is doing well though, so...

Upon inspecting the site of the crime, the plants themselves did appear to be more trampled than anything else.