I live in central Indiana. Last week I bought a few potted things (three of each variety) from the garden store: heuchera, physostegia, foxglove, etc., and planted them in my garden; others were to be planted the following day. The next day, I was horrified to find that two out of three plants had been dug out of the garden and scattered in the garden area. In some cases, the plants had been torn apart. I replanted them immediately, and watered them in again.
Following day, same thing, but not as many plants were attacked. Sadly, the foxgloves look awful. Their leaves are turning black The other plants have responded better, but I continue to hold the plants that did not get planted, hoping that someone can tell me what critter did this, and how I can prevent further damage when I plant the ones I'm holding.
It appears to me that the critter (nocturnal, or a very early riser) looking for worms in easy to dig soil, or maybe attracted to the fertilizer I mixed into the soil.
I have had this happen in other gardens, but never like this. I want revenge, but I don't know what I'm fighting! HELP!!!
Help!!!
Sounds like a cat to me. They just love newly dug areas. I guess they think you made them a new litter box just special? I think I'd test by planting a few new holes with a weed or something and put sticks around it. Just small sticks from a refuse pile for a few days to break up the wide open space.
Tell me are the holes about 2 inches around and about as deep as your finger. If so my bet is on a squirrel. Matter of fact I will about give high odd on it.
My bet is on squirrel too. They love to dig up new plants and then sit there and laugh at you while you replant it.
I agree on the squirrls, they have dug up lots of mine this year,I planted canna bulbs went out and tey were laying in the yard. Yesterday I caught one in my potted plants, he got a scolding.
This message was edited May 29, 2007 9:17 PM
LOL. My squirrels don't get a scolding. They get lots of BBs. Doesn't hurt them much and it's kinda funny watching them jump and run. :~)
I just eliminate most of the problem when they start on me.
I love the squirrls, and do feed them, usually they don't bother anything but once in awhile I get a frisky one.
Well, I've got the same thing going on. All my newly planted Four O'clock peat pots were dug up and spread around a bit. I think mine was a mole, he left me those lovely mole trails all over my flower bed. I went out to Worms Way and bought "Molexit" and spread it all over. Seems to have worked - they left for my neighbors yard - yes, I'm terrible!
I've got squirrels too. I'll be keeping an eye out for those booger's. Plus, I have been finding a few canna bulbs here and there. I thought I had just dropped them when finding spots to plant them. Now, I know!
Oh, and I've got insects too. ERRRRR! Plus - a blind, deaf and senile dog who loves to trample through my flowers - fixed that with those cheap little metal green fences from Walmart - she bumps into them and just going around them.
Oh, and can we talk about poison ivy and sumac? LOL
(sorry to get on a role, I do love gardening) LOL
This message was edited May 29, 2007 10:24 PM
I have seen damage big time from squirrels areounf here and I am talking in the range of many thousands of dollars. They do a lot of damage to weekend homes and summer homes. when those homes cost from at least 1/4 million up it is time to control the population.
Someone on another thread recommended getting a fake owl to scare the squirrels -- someone says Home Depot has a battery-operated owl that actually hoots. Also blood meal (also available at HD) will scare them away, I'm told. I'm going to try both because the squirrels around here love it when I season the birdseed with cayenne pepper -- "ole' ole' gracias mamacita! muy caliente! muy delicioso! necesitamos mas!" Smart alecks!
LOL. Good luck!! I actually enjoy the squirrels. It's a good excuse to practice my aim on the BB gun. I can't hit the birds but I can hit the squirrels and get a good laugh out of their antics. They also drive my cat nuts. They have a spot they like to sit on and they yell and throw things at my cat while he is trying to sleep. Sometimes he ignores them other times he sits there staring at them with a hungry look on his face. Very funny to see.
If you put pepermint oil on cotton balls they will leave things alone. I did this in other pots they bothered and they left them alone. Be sure it is pure pepermint oil not extract, I get mine at the amish store.
I go along with Pepper. It will be kind of an expensive owl to have chewed up by those little grays. About the only thing of benefit I can see is one of the devils might chew a wire and eletricute itself.
Bzzzzzzz!!! LOL.
I HATE squirrels - my DH live traps them and then deports them to a local park. But they still damage plants in my containers. I am definitely going to try the peppermint oil. I wonder if moth balls would work . . . Can you still buy moth balls?
Yes, you can.
Thanks! They are so smelly, they might even keep me away from the plants :-)
LOL. Don't want that!
A raccoon did the exact same thing to my newly planted hostas...and left his dirty paw prints on my door after doing the damage. 3 nights in a row then stopped. Maybe the fish emulsion smell was gone by then.
Birdiegirl---- Raccons suffer as badly as squirrels from ingested shot.
We have a raccoon or possum that tears open the screen to our patio and poos on the concrete then leaves several times a week. I think he's overdue for a pellet,but he's smarter than me about getting caught in the act.
masgard they are real real easy to trap in a wire box trap of appropiate size. Traps like that might cost you about 40 buck I guess. I think Lowes has them. They are the worse suckers in the world for cat food.
Ozarkian, I think you're right, we're going to have to trap the little varmint. It probably finds cookie crumbs and tidbits from my grandkids so now I'm on it's regular rounds.But I don't understand why it thinks the patio is it's personal potty.
It's a message that says what it thinks of you. LOL. I would do the live trap too. If you can do it safely, meaning no other animals can get to it, I think a dish of antifreeze will do it in and a very nasty way. But you must be very careful with it. It will kill anything that drinks it.
I often place refrigerator or freezer racks, pieces of poultry wire, etc. over the new plants and bulbs. My beds are full of them as I have just planted annual flower and squash seeds.
Leaflady the last time I tried to poison something it cost me $1200 because my dog found it. I didn't have the money so I put the emergency vet bill on a credit card and between the guilt & the payments I'm still paying. I love your comment of what he thinks of me.LOL.
A old sow coon in a live trap is to be handled with care.
Like with a loaded gun.
Guns out of the question for me -- illegal to discharge a firearm within city limits. I don't mind squirrels per se but I do object to their eating the birdseed and my tomatoes. Can someone explain why the birds are picking leaves off the marigolds? They've stopped pruning the snow peas and those are finally blooming, but now they're after the marigolds.
I've heard that mothballs are a myth, that they don't keep critters away. Many years ago I had a possum under my garden shed; I dumped an entire box of mothballs down there, and as far as I know it enjoyed a serene and flea-free existence after that. If you're going to try them, please report!
I am not into killing or trapping anything. I am going to be more judicious with my use of fish emulsion if that tempts the critters. I figure we humans have altered the environment for our benefit and the animals adapt as they can.
Birdiegirl, I understand your sentiments, but in altering the environment, we have also eliminated the natural preditors. There are no hawks or owls, or any other creature to keep the squirrel population in check. And surprisingly few are road kill here.
If my DH did not live trap and deport them, this urban city block would quickly be overrun. Squirrels are essentially tree rats with fluffy tails. No one want 12 rats on the front lawn. And I don't want 12 squirrels either. It's happened. We counted - that's when we got the trap. Personally, I would like to poison them, but they carry off their treats - so there is no way of controlling what else will contact the poison.
Obviously, shooting them is not an option in an urban environment either.
What would REALLY help is if people would stop feeding them. I understand that some places have laws against feeding wildlife. I wonder if this is ever enforced?
My dogs keep the squirrel population under control here. I live in the country so we can shoot if we need to. A friend of mine uses a sling shot since she lives in town and can't shoot.
A live trap and removal to another location far away seems to be your only answer. Have you tried hot pepper & garlic solution sprayed on your plants. If all else fails, feed them so they don't feel the hunger pangs & eat your plants.
It's not that the squirrels eat the plants; the squirrels dig them up trying to bury the peanuts the neighbours feed them.
Trapping and relocation or some kind of barrier over the plants - like rings of wire with tops on them or gently pulling them thru very fine wire, etc. seems like your only options. As I have said, I have those barriers all over my yard. I also pull up little black walnut trees all summer because the squirrels forgot where they buried them.
Last spring a mole dug into my new corydalis. I thought I was reallyahead of these "dumb" animals by putting what was left of it into a clay pot & planting the pot . The next morning a squirrel had dug into the pot & ripped it to shreds.And my unfavorite neighbor has a walnut tree, so I know your pain, Leaflady. Those suckers are hard to get out.
Even pots must have barriers over them. I have learned that the hard way. For me it isn't just squirrels, I also have digging poultry, cats and dogs. All seeds & bulbs MUST be covered with something or they will be dug up over and over again. Once plants get fairly good sized & well rooted I have only the ducks and geese to protect them from unless one of the digging dogs thinks it notices some kind of movement under the ground. Like a grub or large night crawler moving around. LOL I think they have pretty well run off the warm blooded vermin.
I planted some seeds last week and noticed a few were coming thru the soil already. I had an 18" fence around the area but that didn't stop someone or something. In a few hours I had depressions scratched, dug, rolled or something and few if any plants left. So I laid the fencing flat after replanting and weighted it down in several places. That should help keep the seeds undisturbed for a while at least. I may need to put a fence up around it too if the ducks and geese decide they like the taste of the plants. It can be hard to have plants and all these critters too.
It sounds like a zoo at your place,Leaflady.Your dog sounds about as useful as mine.
Masgard---- It surev ain't Caseyville. Leaflady is a farm woman lives out there with all the critters. When her and Pepper come down here later this month I have some good questions for her. I want to use a lot of her home remidies.
And we want your hosta. lol.
Ezgroonly, your digger sounds like raccoons to me. They are what dig up and scatter my newly planted plants. I have caught them in the act. They are searching for grubs. Some of the potting soil I buy is espacially bad to attract them.
We have lots of squirrels here, but I do not think they are nocturnal, and most of their digging is to bury nuts, or dig up those that they buried. Around our yard they do that out in the grassy places, not in flowerbeds or pots, and they do it in the daytime.
Skunks will dig for grubs also.
We have always had cats, and have never had them dig in my flower pots, or dig up newly planted things. Now,back when I planted seeds in the ground, I have had them dig in the freshly tilled soil to use it for their potty, but I always covered the rows with screens to prevent that.