Hello, old friends and new--after a long winter, I've finally thawed and resurfaced, along with my daffodils--I just hope nobody decapitates ME! What is going on? I live in the middle of New Haven, next door to a well-trained German Shepherd, so it's highly unlikely there are deer tromping through my back yard... Could squirrels be nibbling the buds? I dug I don't know how many holes last October to plant bulbs, and now somebody's eating the fruit of my labor--it looks like a killing field back there, with lots of yellow buds and flowers lying on the ground... so whoever it is doesn't even actually *like* the taste, apparently!
Any thoughts? And of course, the next question: what can I do to prevent this?
What's eating my daffodils?!?
Wow, beats me, Meg. They are usually the no-brainers among the bulbs. I never had any damage at all to them. Wish I could help. Good luck!
=Meg, that is strange, just like Victor says, I never had damage to my daffodils, I can't say that for other bulbs though, but it does sound strange. Try trowing dried blood in your beds or moth balls (If yo love their smell LOL) , i have had success with that in regards to squirrels and rabbits. Good luck, I hate to loose plants, blooms to predators. When I see that something eat my plant I feel frustrated and like crying! I feel for your hard work. If it rains, you must reapply the dried blood, the rains washes it off. Hope it helps, Clemen
Hi Meg! Good to see you!
Could it be kids? If you had nothing at all, I would say critters were digging up your bulbs. That is strange. easter bunny gone psycho??
geesh- daffodils are supposed to taste bad- but i guess they weren't really eaten- i just think squirrels go nuts sometimes- Today I found a hellebore with some buds lying around it... who wants to eat them??- actually, they weren't eaten, just decapitated. I'm blaming it on squirrels. The rodent repellent that i just got with hot pepper in it does seem to be working.....
Yes I caught the squirrels doing this to daffs. They don't eat the flower but they eat any nectar there is. This decapitation bit drove me crazy a couple of years ago until I finally saw a squirrel do this. They all go to the other side of yard now and steal from the bird feeder.
Wow - I never saw that.
I sent my Copo (doggie) outrside to chase those squirrels 'cause they do decapite my bulbs!
Hi Meg!
Happy to have another New Havener reappear!
Here we have squirrels, woodchucks, moles/voles, wild dogs, and college students - so what gets to my stuff is often a mystery too.
Wait - you have daffodils blooming?!? i must have late ones...
: P
amy
*
Yeah, I think it must be the squirrels. Our compost pile is right near the bed of bulbs, and, well, the compost "bin" was built for me by my husband as a birthday present a couple years ago, and, well, it's still not exactly finished... So, the point is, the squirrels might be foraging for stuff in the pile, and then get all excited and have at the flowers.
I will try the mothballs--as a squeamish vegetarian, I don't think I'm up to the dried blood! Too bad the red pepper stuff doesn't seem to work. Has anyone tried those sprays that supposedly contain predator urine? Sounds a little gross, but if it works (and doesn't stink), I'm up for trying it at this point.
Or maybe I should take the compost idea one step further, and set up a feeding zone so they leave the flowers be!
Meg, I have tried everything, sprays (No they do not stink) and even if you are a vegie, vegie, vegie person, the dried blood, works. Just put some disposable gloves on, and put it in your garden, besidesm it is a good fertilizer! Clemen
Alas it is the tree rats. They just love raising heck. Have sawed off a bunch of wisteria clusters here and left the beautiful flowers on the ground. They are like bored children. Whatever catches their fancy at the time. Got to keep those teeth going. That's why we have recipes, not forums, for them down here :-).
Laurel
New Haven gardening vegetarians unite!
^_^
My daughter is a recent graduate of Smith and, I can attest to the fact that as weird and wild as Smithies can be, I've never heard of daffodil eating. Perhaps the Yalies that start drinking on Thursday and stop...when(?) are responsible. Now lets all gather for a nasturtium salad. I'll bring some homemade tofu. Thai/peanut dressing or honey balsamic reduction?
Laurel, I think you nailed it! It's Yalies pledging for frats. I think they speak French too. ;^)
I'll bring the red meat.
OMgosh! y'all are so hilarious. I needed a good laugh just now too.
Just to add another critter to the conspiracy...bunnies will do the decapitating thing too. I have some Crocus they hit...but at least they did eat the stems, just left me the blooms lying there looking pitiful...and it's about 12 inches from where one of our dogs does her "business" just on the other side of the fence. No one has hit my daffs, tuplips or hyacinths...and if they do it may mean WAR!
On the thought of setting up a "feeding station" for them...that's a bad idea. I asked about this a few years ago on the wildlife forum. I was told it would just bring more in and that they'd eat anything and everything that was in sight.
Maybe your best bet is to cut the flowers (just stems) and bring them indoors to enjoy. Or a very well feed and docile outside kitty (if s/he'd be safe)...we had one once and I never ever had a problem with any critters in the yard, but he never hurt any of them, just kept watch. I miss my Buddy, he was a good garden cat...but that's another story for another time! :-)
Um, here's the problem with the cat idea: we have two (indoor, still-clawed) cats, who HID IN THE CLOSET the one time we had a rat in the house. It's embarrassing.
Francophone Yalies pledging for frats or secret societies: my house is just far enough from campus that they'd probably be too scared to come here (even though my neighborhood is safer than downtown), so unless the fear factor is part of the pledge, I'm blaming the "tree rats"! :)
maybe if we had a picnic in my backyard, WE'd be enough to scare off the squirrels! ;)
Maybe pledging for rats??
i'm not going there.
OMG, I can't believe someone else posted this. I was going to ask the same thing. I was really close to blaming the neighbors (don't like them any way ;-) For years the daffs have been bulletproof. They are my go to spring bulb. This year some have been chomped. A select few, the ones I love most, of course, are buzz cut -- leaves, stems, buds and all. More like deer damage than squirrel, but you never know. I though you all would get a kick out of this article on the nasty tree rats printed last year in my local paper:
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071029/NEWS/710290315/0/COMM11
That article is hilarious...I've felt that way at times, but here it's usually birds dive bombing or dropping things on me as I'm in the garden. Glad to know I'm not alone. Maybe the tree rats and sky rats are conspiring together? Do we stand a chance?