I'M MAD, AND I'M NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE!!

I began in April of this year starting seeds of many varieties! I did everything right, gave them all the TLC that I had.
After putting them in the ground they were hit by rabbits, chipmunks, insects, u name it!
Needless to say, I was heartbroken. I have 1 lousy zinnia to show for ALL my hard work!
I am not one to give up! I will devise some sort of protective barrier next season to cover & protect my seedlings. Whether it be chicken wire, mess screen, cones, I WILL PROTECT THEM!!!!!!
I'M ON A MISSION!
Any comments or ideas welcomed! ;-)

Take a shotgun after the critters!

Won't do much for the insects but a heavy duty slingshot and a coffee can full of ripe acorns (the preferred ammo) or marbles will do wonders on the little furry vandals... Many times, you don't even have to hit them as the commotion of a high speed object hitting close by will make them wet their proverbial pants while scurrying off to find a safer feeding spot.
Both types of ammunition are environmentally friendly too ;o)
Steve in TX.

You can make arches out of a lot of things, then use the arches to support different materials.
~Clear plastic in the spring to make a warmed area for an early start, and in the fall to extend the season a few weeks or a month
~Row covers to protect plants from insects.
~Mesh covers to allow sun and rain in, but keep out livestock. (There is a black plastic mesh with a grid of about 1" x 1" that is almost invisible)
~Shade cloth to reduce the hot sun in the middle of the summer.
~Tie on strips of mylar or other flashy things to discourage birds.
~Stabilize a trellis for vining plants.

I have arches made from 1/2" PVC pipe and from 3/8" rebar.

Look at Home Depot /Lowes for a sprayer on a sensor that sees body heat and kicks in the sprayer. Even deters neighbors cats... Havahart has them as well as the name scarecrow.... That wont work on bugs, but the 2&4 legged dears will get surprised. There are several youtube vids on these...

Yes, those motion activated sprinklers will scare a lot of critters.

I am afraid to leave my hose turned on, because I went on vacation three years ago, inadvertently left the hose on, and while I was gone the hose ruptured and made quite a mess, plus wasted a lot of water, and ran my summer water bill way up.

There are more pressure resistant materials that are better to use when the water would be left on like this.
Run PVC pipe to wherever you want the motion activated sprinkler.
Install a ball valve in a very handy location if the sprinkler will be activated by people or pets. You can then turn it off during the day, on at night.

Practice with the hose, try different locations until you figure out the best coverage.

Irrigation tubing can take a lot of pressure, 24/7.

"1/2 inch tubing" actually has an ID around 0.6 inches. It's capacity is 4 gpm = 240 GPH

"3/4 inch tubing" has an ID around 0.83" it's capacity is twice as much: 8 gpm = 480 GPH

Of course, then you might worry about the connectors or fittings blowing out. Mine never did that except for when i tried to screw m10/32 threads into soft vinyl 1/4" tubing. Pop goes the fitting!

I bought a slingshot online once, thinking to chase away #@!!^##!!! deer and squirrels. I started with acorns, thinking, they aren't very dense, how much could they hurt. Well, I turned out to be too soft-hearted. I tried a few times with squirrels and missed. Then I felt bad and shifted to pine cones - they CAN'T do any harm. Miss, miss.

I never did have the heart to shoot at a deer. So much for Rambo-with-a-slingshot.

"HALT! Halt or I'll MISS!"

We might as well go running into the gardens, waving our arms and singing loudly. It might scare them, or make them die laughing.

My cat Toby was very proud of himself, that he could "herd" wild turkey hens around the lawn while they hunted for bugs and worms. He was pretty embarrassed when he had to scoot away from Mr. Tom Turkey, who wasn't even walking fast. I would have teased Toby for running away from Tom, but his record with wildlife was better than my own!

Get a good quality hose. Cheap ones eventually rot - weaken.

Hello, all gardener buds,

I live in Brandon, FL., a small suburb about 15 mins. from downtown Tampa. In July, I planted three, two-gallon containers of coral honeysuckle in front of a wonderful trellis that my boyfriend made for me. It thrived and started to climb onto the trellis and was blooming.

For the past eight weeks, we have had severe thunder storms with lightning and I have not been able to continue the new landscape of our front courtyard. I weeded in the rain but would not work with severe lightning.

Two days ago, I inspected the new plants that I have planted so far. The coral honeysuckle leaves have been eating by aphids. Aphids are not visible to the naked eye, but more than 50% of their leaves have holes (big) in them and the edges where they have eaten the leaves are outlined in a rust red color. Some have small red rust small spots on them. I did a very thorough research on the internet with my favorite plant sites and it states that coral honeysuckle does not do well with humidity and that it will kill aphids. None of the other plants near the H.S. have any indication of insects. I have looked at night in the dark for slugs and have not found any.

The leaves are curled and are a reddish brown. I cannot find any live insects on them. The curled up leaves are a very common sign of aphids. They are not visible to the naked eye.

The results of my research indicated that I should cut it back but it did not indicate how much. With the amount of the H.S. having leaves that aphids have eaten, I would estimate it would require to cut it back to about at least one-half of its size, but in reality, three quarters of its size in order to remove the leaves that have been affected. I do have some vines of it that do not have eaten leaves. I do not believe the aphids are alive due to the severe storms that we have been having. We are supposed to have no rain tomorrow and did not have any rain today.

If anyone can advise me on how much to cut back, to save my H.S. I would welcome your advice with open arms.

Thanks to anyone who can offer me help.

Mona who is a disappointed avid gardener.

Hi Mona,

You should start a new thread instead of adding to the end of this thread unless you want to add to the topic.

That said, aphids are visible to the naked eye. Maybe you are thinking of spider mites? Aphids are typically on the underside of the leaf.

Aphids do not chew the leaves but rather pierce them and suck the sap out. The leaves may take on a sickly look from all the aphid damage (aphids multiply like crazy). Aphids also secrete honeydew which attracts ants, wasps, yellow jackets, and other sweet eating insects. The honeydew also sets up a perfect environment for black sooty mold to grow and flourish. Neither the aphids nor the sooty mold should kill the plant but will leave it weakened and unsightly. If it is aphids you should be able to spray them off with a blast of water or spray it with a solution of soapy water or something like Neem.

I've never heard of honeysuckle not doing well in humidity and that humidity kills aphids. Can you post the link that states this? Mildew and other molds find high humidity to their liking though.

Slugs can chew leaves but you should see dried up mucus trails if that is the culprit. It sounds more like caterpillars, grasshopper, or beetle damage from your description.

The only reason to cut back your vines would be 1) if they are dead or 2) to control the shape and size of the plant. Cutting back to control insects doesn't really help get rid of pests. First thing to do is ID the pest and then take appropriate action. You could spray the entire plant with some kind of broad spectrum insecticide and follow directions on applying it.

Ditto:
New thread.

Take some pictures: the whole plant, and several close ups of the damage. Some early on, just starting, and some further advanced.

Parts missing and no bug sounds more like something that hides on the ground during the day and feeds at night, munching the leaves. Not a sucking pest.

Going back to the original subject of this thread - I've been having good anti-rabbit luck with a product called "Rabbit and Groundhog Out." It's a spray. (I ordered from Amazon.) In my experience, it works better than the sprays that smell really, really bad. Lots of peppermint/lemon/garlic smell to it; and if there's a little bit of rotten egg, it's pretty well disguised. I mixed up a bottle yesterday and went out to spray as many young oaks and such as I could find, on my 9 formerly farmed acres that we're trying to put back into native Minnesota forest. I also use it in my yard in the spring, to encourage rabbits to just stick to the woods, where nobody will bother them and for goodness sake there's plenty to eat!

When researching possible deterrent products, I actually called the company that makes this. They also make a couple of other products - Deer Out and Critter Out - that work for listed animals. But R&G Out has everything that's in Deer Out, *plus.* Which is why I think it will probably work for both short and tall varmints. That's why I took it out to the farm trees.

I've always heard that once rabbits/deer get a start, they're creatures of habit, just like the rest of us, and will keep coming back, in spite of escalating levels of discouragement. It's better to start your deterrence methods early.

I'm a huge fan of physical barriers though, like Diana suggested. *Way* more reliable, and really quite practical if you only have to shelter your seedlings until it's time to move them. Rabbits did eat right through my 1" plastic mesh a few years ago, to get at my shrubs. But I suspect that was largely because they already knew those shrubs were delicious, and if I'd put it up (or used spray) before they moved in, it would have worked.

That is a really good point, no matter what pest, and what control you are using.
Get started early, before there is a really major problem.

BLOOD !!! And hair!!! When I lived in VA, I always had a fabulous veggie garden in the country....and I swear by using a perimeter of blood meal (applied regularly on the perimeter of what you're trying to protect) and, the most important part....Human or Dog Hair! Yes, it's really weird. I used to shave my Aussie shepherd and spread her hair around during the summer...but the garden got too big. So....I started asking for the hair from my stylist's sweepings...they didn't think it was that weird...I wasn't the only one asking, I guess! Anyway....I didn't have a single nibbling from squirrels, deer, etc. Never had moles, chipmunks...not even a mouse. I'm sure the barrier of blood and hair was just disgusting enough to keep them away. I swear by it!

For the first time this summer, I had a young rabbit in my garden. It lived on grass but I was not going to take any chances with my plants.

Bought a trap on Ebay, set it baited with goodies like lettuce and carrot. Went to the store and when I came back home, the rabbit was in the cage. I took a trip with the cage and rabbit to the prairie where I let it loose.

I rarely have any problem from wild life. Most of what I grow, deer and antelope don't like when they take a trip down from the mountain.

Any of you live near a zoo. I am willing to bed spreading some lion poo in your garden will keep just about anything away. Animals have an instinct that warns them even if it is only poo.

That's the idea behind blood meal and hair....and human hair is much easier obtained than lion poo ;) but I bet it would work pretty darn well!

Feels sorry after reading this. It is heartbroken when your seeds are infested by some pests. Yes, you should try to protect them. You can take help of some professional like Pest Control Ridgefield CT( http://www.yalepest.com/ridgefield-pest-exterminators ) or can also try some DIY methods or can pesticide your seeds as well.

I think that insects are a problem of any garden owner and it is probably impossible to absolutely not have them in their most natural environment.

My wife is a gardening hobbyist and she has once had the same problem where her newly planted seeds got hit by various insects the names of which I can't even remember (our pest control guy has mentioned several such breeds and varieties).

The bottom line in our case was that only the pest control magicians were able to solve the problem and they have sprayed our garden with several special formulas which were all green and not harmful to humans as well as the flora.

There's also quite a lot of articles on the subject on their website here.

https://s-hadbara.co.il/

The thing is that we need to do that each and every year.