My "Don't Eat My Bulbs" experiment this year

Last year, all of my bulbs (not rhizomes) were eaten by bulbs. I had one bloom and when I touched the stem it fell over. To my suprise, there was nothing below the soil line left.
So, a new experiment thise year for me.
I have taken cans, the sort that dog food comes in, washed them clean and removed the peper on the outside. On the bottom of the cans, I made two partial cuts around the bottom of the can with the can opener leaving about 1/2" still attached on each side. Then, with a pair of pliers, I bent the lid portion of the opened edges outwards ebough so that roots could grow out of the can but not so big that baby voles could get in (between 1/4" and 1/2".) I put an inch of soil in the bottom of the can, added the bulb and filled the rest of the can with soil.
I am leaving to our new house tomorrow or Wed. and will plant my cans leaving the tops slightly out of the ground. ! think I will leave the soil in some of the cans uncovered, maybe cover some with shells, and some with pebbles. (no pebbles or rocks over there unless you buy them! Speaking of which, can you imagine paying $8.00 for a regular ole' rock about 10" across??.
Later this summer, I will know if any of these methods have worked to save my bulbs.
Has anyone ever tried anything like this??
Wish me luck!
BTW, female voles can become pregnant at 3 months of age, have 3-5 litters per year, with an average of 4-8 babies per litter depending on the species.
In other words, one female can produce on average... a LOT of voles!
We have had a population of voles in one small research area go from 8 in the spring to 320 in the fall (this includes males as well as females.) LOTS of voles!!!
deb

Someone on another thread told me about putting bulbs in cans. They said they do it to protect from moles, voles, gophers. I think I'll give it a try in my yard.

Oops! Guess this idea has already been thought of and no need for me to make it an experiment! Still "planting" my cans ASAP though! LOL!

I have a bad problem with voles this year. I never really noticed them in years past. This year my German Shepherd presents me with her 'trophy' about every other day. My yard looks like a mine field with all her digging, but we only have weed-grass anyway so I don't really care. Luckily I have my flower beds all fenced with 24 inch decorative fencing. She could jump over it if she wanted, but she knows she's not supposed to get in Mama's flowers. LOL

Its still a good experiment. Everyone does things differently. I hadn't thought about how to put holes in the bottom of the cans. I was just going to punch holes, but now maybe your idea is better. I wasn't thinking about how much root is on a bulb. Let me know how your experiment works, and I'll tell you about mine.

What about using 2 or 3 liter plastic bottles. I could but them in half, put drainage holes and plant them with bulbs and stick them in the ground. Do you think that would work?

What I do is to plant them in the green plastic berry baskets...not lost any since I started this.

D

I'll have to look at those too. Great ideas people. Lets keep it up and let us all know how we do.

I have 4 cats -- their favorite dish is vole, and I would imagine baby voles even more "delectable". I haven't seen a vole run for 2 years, but one of the cats does still present me with a "gift" every now and then. Their current delight is finding the baby rabbits!! (sigh). I know rabbits do a lot of damage too, but the babies are so cute. I rescue them when I can, but..... Voles are NOT cute and did so much more damage at my house, I'm glad the cats love the catch and eat them!

Sue - Zone 6a Kentucky

LOL!!!!

i having deer problem this year.eating the iris and my daylily.hheeellllppp...................gggggrrrr

When I was planting lobelia on Sun. I saw the tope of crocus foliage was nipped by sharp teeth. I don't know if it was a deer or rabbits. some foliage stil present so might increase. The bulb was not pulled up.

IrisMA - I have deer, rabbits, and MANY voles too. My understanding is that since deer don't have sharp upper incisors, that when they eat foliage, they basically tear it away -- so it leaves a rough "cut." But rabbits have those nifty big front teeth, so their bites make a clean cut. It's not always easy to distinguish though (to me).

Re: voles. I have tried planting in homemade baskets of 1/4" hardware cloth, but it was not great. The roots became so intertwined with the HC that you could not work with it to divide it later. That is, if the plant lived. Often, it seemed difficult to keep the soil packed well enough around the plant within the basket -- and the plants died.

I will try the ideas on this thread re: cans, bottles, and baskets.

I can empathize with everyone about the critters and thanks for all the tips because I need 'em too!

One idea that I recently read about might help a little, although I think the hungry critters would have to be a little lily-livered to be dissuaded by this technique: that is to plant (noxious) daffodils around your other more tasty bulbs. Some say this will deter some of the critters, anyway.

I did see a botanical garden that planted the cutest miniature daffs among their tulips for this reason and it really made a pretty sight.

Planted my cans 2 weeks ago while at the new house (just got home yesterday). The lilies (asiatic,orientals, and oripets...sp...) were all coming up when I left!
deb

I do not have anything that digs under the dirt. No animals anyway. Just tree roots. So many of my irises are planted in very large 42" x 8" fiberglass containers. They were very expensive but I think they will last a long time. Perfect place for my LA Irises. Good iris blooms to all of you. We have had high winds. Yesterday I was trying to straighten out one large stalk and broke it.

Spring in the Southwest brings high winds. But after what the South has been experiencing, I will never again complain about our wind.

These are snapdragons planted with irises I received from Sharon, Husker 11, last year. They are planted in one of the above mentioned containers. But I will have to find more space for them in September. They are growing and expanding daily. They are named but I do not have the names memorized yet. Sharon 3. Husker is confused. She is Sharon 2.

Another container, next to Husker's that are Dee's Irises I purchased.

I had another container I noticed was not looking good and checked it yesterday. Someone had turned off the bubbler in the container. I had that happen a few years ago. Guess it was to pretty for them.

Last photo for now. These are my tulips.

Just kidding. They are actually inside at the Bellagio Hotel. They have an indoor atrium. Flowers are in pots and changed as soon as they look bad.

I'd break someones fingers!!!! LOL

Sorry, one more. This is a painting made out of flowers and plant material. It is about 3' x 3'.

I could not determine what all the plants were.

very pretty