Mystery Varmint Strikes Again

Second Citrus Attacked

The mysterious varmint that stripped almost all the leaves off of one of the small citrus trees out behind the  fence has now stripped the last remaining citrus tree in that location.

Just as in the first attack, most of the leaves and smaller twigs are gone from the plant, and the stems and branches appear to have been cleanly sliced, rather than chewed off.  That particular tree wasn't looking too healthy before the varmint attacked it, and we're not sure it's going to be able to recover from this attack.

The first tree, which we moved to the relative safety of the driveway in front of the garage, is looking better, with new leaves unfurling and even a few blossoms setting on.

I'm beginning to think we may have to absolve the ground squirrels for now.  Most of Cindy's Master Gardener friends think we probably have a deer in the canyon that's doing the damage.  Deer definitely like to eat succulent, tender leaves, but I have some trouble accepting this idea because we've never seen any evidence of deer in the area; we're surrounded by freeways and you would think somebody would see them if they were here.

Also, deer are not particularly light weight animals.  The ground in the area behind the fence is still pretty wet, and I would expect to see tracks pressed into the damp decomposed granite if there were any deer here.

Someone else suggested that it might be rabbits.  We know that we've had rabbits in that area in the past, although we haven't seen any of them this year.  The problem I have with this suggestion is that this would have to be a pretty tall rabbit; branches have been sliced all the way to the tops of the trees, which are at least three feet above the top of the soil in the pots.  None of the branches have been broken, they're all sliced.

Invisible deer?  Really tall rabbits?  Some neighbor playing Sweeney Todd with the pruning shears?  The mystery continues...