Moles/voles eat Lily bulbs??

these were mine this year. The voles got a few of them. I was not a happy lady...lol

Stormy~

I love your American Journeys!
Beautiful...absolutely beautiful.

Ah, the joys of Orienpet lilies!

Beautiful Lilies, Marie...miss summer already!

Marie, Those are pretty! Do you know their name?

Thanks, Babette, I added those ones that I got from you down the remainder of that fence. There are now 3 every 6 feet. Let's hope those nasty voles don't get them!

No I dont sorry. They were left overs from easter on year. They had them marked down.

I'm taking this Mole/ Vole / Gopher issue seriously and any new lilies I plant now I hope to protect them. We are in an area where the gophers are active all winter, since the ground never freezes here. About 5 years ago I ordered a whole batch of hybrid tiger lilies from white flower farm. I built a cinder block edged raised bed and put nice sandy loam in there and planted 6 different colors of tiger lillies, 5 bulbs each color. The first summer I had a beautiful display. Then winter came.... Next summer, no lilies...nadda, zero, zip...

I noticed all kinds of piles of soil and tunnels leading up to the raised bed and I could see where they had tunneled under the blocks to get in. I had no idea gophers would be so nervy. I got discouraged about Lilies and didn't have any for a while. Then I planted a few in an old clawfoot bathtub that used to be a horse watering trough. It is slighly sloped toward the drain, so that actually works. No gopher has dared to climb over the side and go in there yet.

The bathtub is full, however, and I want more lilies, so I'm reading everything I can about gopher control. I got a bag of Chicken grit and I did plant a few surrounded by chicken grit. Time will tell on how that is going to work out.

Meanwhile I was looking online for those wire cages that have been suggested, and they are all sold out now that it is late fall and planting season is ending. So, back to the drawing board...

I'm thinking about other containers and I thought about plastic. Where do I get them? Again I go online and google plastic bulb pots, they were either too shallow or all sold out. What else could I use? Well, then a light bulb comes on in my head and I thought, I'll check the goodwill, or the dollar store. They might have something and I don't want to spend a 'bloody fortune' on something that is going to get buried in the ground.

So here is what I came up with. I bought a bunch of these containers at the dollar store. Then with the electric drill and a pair of tin snips I cut all the bottoms out of them. I then cut square pieces of metal 1/4 inch hardware cloth slightly larger than the hole I cut out and fit that down inside the pot. The 'pots' are 8" deep and we are in a zone 8 climate, so again, I'm not concerned about the ground freezing or heaving.

I tried this today, each bulb gets it's own little protective chamber. It was really easy to dig and plant this way. Only thing is as they grow and expand, I'll have to dig them up and subdivide them as they get crowded. So there are some drawbacks, however, some of these bulbs are expensive and If I can keep a gopher from eating them for another dollar, I'm thinking it might be worth it.

Another close up

Creekside, They look good, just make sure that at least an inch of the basket stays above ground, better would be 2 inches, but I don't know if that would leave the bulb planted deeply enough. You could just leave an inch above ground and fill the top inch all with chicken grit. Good luck!!

WOW what a great idea

Creekside, that is brilliant!