Garden Pests and Diseases: Mystery Troublemaker, 1 by IrisLover79

IrisLover79 wrote:
Hi guys,

Well, we had a great thunderstorm last night, so I went out this morning to look for tracks. And didn't find any. ;( And it was really muddy... I had Frankenstein shoes by the time I was done looking, lol! I was disappointed, but I think that now the corn is ripped down, the mystery guest probably won't come back. But, you never know. He didn't eat the corn, after all. (Which I still think is really weird!) The lawn ornaments were still upright, too, so he wasn't back last night.

You're right, Lilypon, there is kinda a path to the corn, lol. The back hill, where the corn was, used to have vines and brambles and all sorts of things back there. My mom cleared it all out and now animals have easy access to yummy plants, lol. I've actually seen the deer and foxes look around when they get to our cleared out section, like, "Hey, this is nice." LOL! The vines are all around the edges of our clearing, but I guess there aren't enough. Well, the corn was just an experiment, anyway. We don't raise crops or anything. It just started growing and my mom left it there. When it started getting tall, my parents were kinda excited to eat the corn, though, lol. BTW, Lilypon, that's a nice veggie plot. You live in Saskatchewan (I know I totally butched the spelling, lol), right? I didn't know it got that green up there. Guess I always pictured it as really snowy all year long. Pretty cool.

GardenMermaid, no, the ornaments aren't new and I don't think they're in a migratory path. We have fences on both sides of our lawn and our house closes off the third side. The only free access animals have it through the back - by the hill. I have a little map of our garden in my garden diary, if you're interested. I think if you click my name you can get to it. I think whatever it is (which may be something different than the corn demolisher) is threatened by them or something. You really didn't scare me too much talking about mountain lions and bears and such. I think it's neat that we have animals like that in the US, I just wouldn't want to meet one face to face, ya know? But I have had nightmares about bears and wolves before, lol. Glad they are't around here. But I bet it would be really cool to see a large, wild animal, in the wild... as long as you were far enough away to feel safe.

Spartacusaby, you're right about the foxes being shy. The one I saw about a week or so ago wouldn't even look at me, even though I whistled to him. I know they eat mainly small animals, but they will eat some plants, too. But, I guess that's just if they can't find enough prey or something. Hmmm... maybe it was the foxes? Maybe they were curious, pulled the corn down, tasted it, didn't like it, and left it there? I dunno. I was pretty surprised some other animals haven't come and gobbled up the corn yet. Cause we just left it laying there. I did find a half-eaten, big mushroom by the corn, the first day some of it was pulled down. So, whatever did it eats mushrooms, too. Weirder and weirder. Maybe it's Sasquatch? LOL!

Lilypon, thanks for the Irish Spring advice. I knew there was a type of soap deer didn't like, but I couldn't remember which one. I thought it was Zest. I guess any one with a strong scent, huh? I don't think we have enough deer problems to buy Deer-off. But, if the mystery critter still comes around and starts eating some of our other plants, then that might be an option.

Thanks for all your help, guys. I really appreciate it. Like I said, the critter isn't causing a lot of damage, I'm just so very curious to know what it is... cause it's doing odd things. I'll let you know if anything else happens. And I'll be on the lookout for tracks, too. Thanks again.

~Kristy

(Here's a pic of the vines by the corn.)

This message was edited Aug 25, 2006 12:48 AM