I am so upset - I went out over the weekend and cleaned up my gardens a bit... and I found some of the worst evidence! I couldn't find any of my Trillium even poking up through the dirt so i began digging around a bit and found little tunnels going through the whole area - the voles ATE MY TRILLIUMS!! I am sooo disappointed! Then I go over to my Iris bed, after realizing the deer have found my Camellia and low and behold they have eaten my Iris's - deer aren't even known for eating Iris's! :-( I just wanted to cry, they found me! After 3 years of them not being in my yard, they found me (I already had rabbit's) - and its the deer that haven't read the books on what they like to eat and don't like to eat - so they are eating EVERYTHING! I know it is due to all the clearing around the area they keep doing - I can't stand the site of them clear cutting for all the new subdivisions, but that's another discussion. I'm not sure what I will have to do in regards to the deer... I am so worried about my hosta bed and everything else!! I might have to put up fences or move all my hostas... aghhhhhhh!! Ok, thanks for listening! I just needed to rant for a bit.
Needed to Rant - DEER invaded!
I have some good recipes for deer and rabbit stew .. sorry none for voles or moles. Got cat? They have good recipes for voles and moles I'm told.
I know exactly how you feel .. my enemies are squirrels .. last year they ate every seed head of 5 bush sunflowers I was nursing along just to get the seeds .. I even put a chicken wire cage around the last standing one with bricks at the bottom so they couldn't dig under and then went back in the house. When I came out again about a half hour later I saw the squirrel sitting on my fence eating my last sunflower seed head laughing at me. The Spring before they dug out the dirt in 50 pots and ate the sunflower seeds I had planted.
I know they aren't doing it to annoy me, they get hungry too. It's good exercise for my brain trying to figure out how to thwart the squirrels .. so far the score is squirrel 20 me 2
X
You have my sympathies too. This year the deer ate my amaryllis, agapanthus, a whole bed of Icelandic poppies in bloom, day lilies and I can't remember what else - but it was a lot, I was unglued.
I did hang a tiny wind chime in a rose standard they had been regularly pruning for me. It seems to have worked; when they touch the bush it makes a tinkley noise and they leave that one alone.
X - I completely can relate to the squirrels, they are the ones that ate my trilliums last year - I had 2 and left them in the pot until I decided where to plant them, not two weeks later when I went to plant them - there was nothing to plant. You are much braver than I - I gave up the battle on the squirrels and began feeding them - they seem to leave more of my plants and bird feeders alone - they are smart little buggers though!!
Last year I had a cat that lived in the barn behind my house - figure thats why I didnt have any voles last year... make note - need to find new barn cat! - ahh,but there is usually one that will move back in eventually.
ardesia - I am soo sorry to hear about your _____, well, all of it! They hit you harder than they have hit me so far.
I love the idea of the chimes in the roses... I have a bed of roses I am also worried about and a ton of old brass keys I was going to turn into 'wind chimes' - now I know what the purpose is!! Thanks!!
Thank you both for your support! I needed to get it out - it was soo upsetting that they were eating what they are said not to like... if they are eating those things then the rest of my garden doesn't stand a chance! But I have ideas now!! other then the idea to tie one of my dogs out front for a few nights... Lets see if I can deter them a bit with my other ideas - if they fail, I can still tie a dog out front for a few nights:-) I have 6 to choose from - just have to pick one that will actually bark at the deer and not just lay down and watch it eat my plants :-)
The squirrel battle will begin for me in about a month. Little rodents like my peaches when they're green. I've been seeing some enemy activity lately, I think they are just warming up and figuring out how best to stay away from the dogs. Scooter got a couple confirmed kills last year so my little squirrel friends seemed to have left my yard but they're back this spring. They don't seem t like any of my other fruit just unripe peaches.
Core - ROTFLOL!! I hate to hear they were killed in battle but I do understand! Watch out this year - youngins probably weren't around for Scooter last year - and they can be sneaky!
I put up line above the fence that I though the deer were jumping to get into my yard - I think it might have helped, I will not go so far as to say it is working... they will probably come at me a new direction and Ill have to try some more things...
Well I dusted off my slingshot and have started target practice. If the squirrels and their kids want a fight, I'm ready .. there are gonna be a lot of bruised behinds (I use dried beans for shot). My rate of accuracy is going to be directly related to the number of enemy combatants. The more I have to use the slingshot, the better I get.
X
Oh my goodness - ya'll have me rolling on the floor!
Well, if it is war we will have this summer - then it is war I will prepare for! "Dogs, Front and center! Cats, well... you guys know what to do."
OK, I know better but I planted potatoes last month. They should have been in the ground by mid January but I was going to try anyway. Things were going along nicely unti this morning when I stepped on a potato - no where evenclose to where I had planted them. The new shoots were obviously torn off. When I checked the area I discovered some evil critter had pulled many of the potatoes out of the soil. Squirrels? Raccoons? Aghhhhhhh
I had some little banana plants that got their leaves eaten off, still wondering what would like banana leaves???
I can't imagine a bunny invading the territory guarded by your canine guard critters.
No rabbits. Squirrels and a possum. Could be the dogs????
Yep Core - now you have your own dog against you in the battle - eating your banana leaves! ;-)
GardenNC - I can't imagine deer eating your bearded irises. they are supposed to make them really really sick
they "taste" mine. after planting time, they pull them out of the ground and then fling them aside when they discover the root is unpalatable. veryvery hard to keep labels on that way! this past fall I found a bunch of SDBs atop the ground in a jumble under the mailbox. I tuck them back in the ground somewhere and label them "deer removed". Once the roots take hold and won't come out of the clay, they nip the tops, but the nipped bits are on the ground. in bloom season I usually find hoofprints near any toppled stalks, too.
we have a dog that adores chasing them, but she sleeps inside at night. In years past I worked security and coming home in middle of night just about ran over does, fawns and one buck in the street one house down! am considering a tall fence in the back yard. but the best irises are in the front, oh well.
Ill have to take some pictures - I am fairly certain it is deer - dont know what else out there is tall enough to eat the camellia. The only thing i am certain of is my Camellia and my irises have been eaten - fresh 'bite' marks on both were spotted this past weekend... actually not much left to the Cam, and the Irises are all about half size now. Thankfully I have not seen any new damage in the past few days - I had put up a string with flags on it over the fence I thought they were jumping and I think it might have deterred them - MIGHT! I live in sorta an odd spot - there is pasture around me on three sides and a dirt road on the front side... I dont think there is a really trail or path - I think they just happened to find me... at least thats my current hope!
hang in there
:-) thnx
Not five minutes ago a doe walked through the yard and stopped to poop right in the middle. I opened the door to the deck thinking it would flee, they usually do at the slightest movement, but this one just sauntered away. On my way back into the house I noticed something had eaten several containers of geraniums I potted up yesterday. Aghhhhhh
:-( this is not a good start to the growing year...
you need a dog. not just a dog, a hunting type.
I have a hound - the type they use in hunts... he is def. a hound but not very trust worthy - he'd probably be the first one to eat all the plants - hehehe
I have a dog too but he is not too bright. We did think about letting him out to chase the deer but we were also sure he wouldn't come back when called. Then I would have the problem of finding the dog.
I completely understand!!! I know my hound wouldn't come back - and he'd probably get lost if he did ever decide to come home... out of 6 dogs I currently have, he is the dimmest light of the bunch... don't get me wrong - he is the sweetest dog anyone could ask for, he'll lay on your feet, sit with his body firmly pressed against you, or just lay as close as possible, and he'll do just about anything for a treat or lov'n unless he is out running then nothing seems to get his attention. . He just doesn't come when called, runs off when he escapes, and don't think he could find his head if it wasn't attached. I always say each of my dogs has some of my personality traits - together they sorta make up my personality (sorta) - I feel bad for him, he got some of my worst traits and none of the good ones, hehehehe
oh my!
well, Hope is mostly golden retriever and some sort of spaniel. she looks like a 40 lb golden with curlier hair on her back. She takes a bird dog stance even at the cardinals. she's on squirrels, bunnies deer (and cats). invisible fence she's gone when it's a deer. she comes back after she's had her fun. thank goodness for tolerant neighbors. (she's not a barker or destructive)
she sleeps inside, her muzzle is greying more each year. wish I could find a pup just like her, but she was a stray I found.
GardeningNC, my sympathies. I've been there....uh, and still am.
It's a pain to apply, but Liquid Fence does work well. You just have to remember to do it once a month. And don't spill it in the garage! You'll have to move out. That is for the deer....
There is no hope for the voles. I have about given up on shade gardening even though we're surrounded by trees. We tried live traps and caught 'innocent' mice. We won't use poison (although I WOULD if it was vole-specific) and the heavy leaf cover just makes a perfect vole habitat.
A fenced in garden with 1/4" hardware cloth 2' above ground 1' below is the only thing that has worked on the voles, for us. Here's a hug, though.... ;)
Bonjon - Hope sounds like a great dog! Picture, pls, if you have one?
cedar - lol, I couldn't imagine spilling that stuff... the smell while spraying is almost intolerable though I have coated most things out there with it but Im' sure if they are out there - they will find the one thing I missed!
I think I will have to try the poison - though I am not one for poisons, I am also not one for losing all my $ in plants either. I am very scared and cautious about using it, I think I will only use a tiny bit placed in one of the existing tunnels. Anyone else have experience with this? I would love others advise on this. I read on Plant Delight website they had to use poison but did it very specifically and applied it twice over two weeks...I've always avoided poison but I don't think anything else other than a new barn kitty is going to help, and I refuse to get a new cat just for the barn (it scares me, I would worry about it all the time!!, what if it went across one of the roads - it could get hit and so on and so on... Im a worry wort about my animals)
liquid fence didn't work at all for my sis, just thought I'd add that - she's just under Falls Lake and has a horrible deer problem.
bonjon, I think the deer have regional appetites. I had previously used Plantskydd and 2 others, maybe Deer Away and.....? Anyway, with not great results. Then when on a local MG garden tour, I asked one of the homeowners how he managed to have such a great garden with the deer he must (and did) have since he was out in the country like I am. He told me about Liquid Fence and I found it to work well. Just as with all the repellents, you do have to reapply.
The deer appetite thing is funny because you can see lists of deer-disliked-plants and realize that they eat some of those every day in your yard! Tricky big-eyed critters.
I have successfully caught voles with a trap using peanut butter and birdseed mixed. This is also a great lure for the furry tailed rats! Once in a while, a bird finds its way in, but gets fed and released. Squirrels get a very long ride, voles get to entertain the dogs...As for the deer? I have a neighbor who feeds the blasted things. Wonder who should get the slingshot treatment?!
well, I wasn't going to say anything. But neighbors are not pleased we let Hope chase deer. that's one reason we don't let her out too late at night and we don't let her stay out. several feed them. When I put in the invisible fence we bought, I may let her.
deer and rabbits eating the veggie garden is my excuse for taking all of it over with irises. if I let her out, what excuse will I use then? ^_^
Ready to go. Love deer but as I have seen, not so fast as deer. Enough to get the deer moving.
wish I still had my afghan hound Merlin. He was bred to hunt deer, faster, too. same color as these cuties!
I read part of this thread not all of it, how do you tell what animal it is that is eating your stuff? I planted 60 tulips last Fall and have 2 coming up now. I am guessing something ate them, they are completely gone, almost wondered if my neighbor came and stole them? No evidence at all just disappeared? It is infuriating. I had an idea, to dig out the bed, place a layer of small hole wire down then dirt, then plant the bulbs then put another layer of wire down then more dirt. Does that wound like it would stop the bulb eatting?
I am not real big ob flower investing but what I do buy I would like to keep!
I read that when you plant a new 'deer resistant' plant --- you still have to use a repellent until the plants are in the ground for more than a season --the reason is that the plants need the native soil to build up the chemicals and other 'offensive' components in the leaves and stems to keep the deer away. Nursery started plants won't have this in place yet.
Susan - not sure this is 100 percent accurate - but whenever we have had vole/bulb issues, I can usually see tunneling evidence from above ground... Maybe there are certain types of critters that don't tunnel that close to the surface and perhaps your soil is conducive to that. We have a lot of clay so they stick closer to the surface where the soil comes from falling leaves and is a more friendly tunneling experience for them.
Or, perhaps you just have to give your tulips more time and the two you do see are just early for the bed.
Our plan for the veggie garden is to rent a trench digger..(not expensive) lay dog wire flat in the trench and then bend and bring the rest out of the trench to form the bottom of the walls of the fencing for the garden. Then we will use Benners deer fence to go the rest of the way up (unless it is less expense to use more of the dog wire on it.) I just have to figure a way to get the gate/entrance configured so that the gate goes all the way to the ground with not enough room for 'burglers' --- I think the bunnies could get under if I leave more than an inch. (Guess I could always pole vault in and out --- that sight would keep anything away!!) I kept reading that to keep deer out of an enclosed space, the walls must be 8-10 feet and that is not standard for most fencing materials. But a friend has only used 6 foot Benners and has had no issues... he went around his entire property and attached to trees or added uprights where there was no tree. He has had no issues except for squirrels and Hope (his elderly female hound) who loves cherry tomatoes.
susandonb, my squirrels can redig tulips and carry off without disturbing anything. don't know how. they love to eat tulips. Deer love the bulbs, too, but I usually find a hoof print that gives them away.
This year is first that I've planted tulips and had most of them come up!
I like Afghans, smart dogs too. Not sure if you want to come back and dump a deer on your front porch? Any kind of herding dog will work to run off deer. Herding dogs don't like to be idle, they can be a handful if they don't get enough work to do.
as I understand it, afghan hounds were bred centuries ago to hunt deer, hunting in pairs. One would ram the deer's flank, 2nd would come, hit the neck/throat. Merlin's favorite game was running circles around the big yard, building up speed, then hit the jets straight at me and hit me a glancing blow at the hip that could take me off my feet, and he'd just keep trucking on, fast. He took down Blitz, our Ger. Shep/gold lab mix who outweighed him by 35 lbs, every time.
Smart? tricky smart, maybe. trainable smart, NEVER. Dumb as they come. and cat like, liked to sleep up high, where he could see - they are sight hounds.
I have heard that tulips do not do well here in the 'south'... Im not sure where I read it but I do know every person I know who has tulips in their yard never have flowers after the first year, usually only short leaves... does anyone else remember more? I think it was due to the heat? maybe...
oh - fyi - I have no evidence above ground that I have voles... just when I went digging where my trilliums were supposed to be - I found the tell-tale small tunnel :-(
dogs are our first defense against most of these critters, just their bark seems to at least make them look... I have one GS that loves the ramming thing, but she does it to my pit bull/pointer mix (no one else), quite a funny site! She slams into him and then he goes rolling... I dont think she could take out a deer but its still funny to watch!
After much thought I have decided I just cant do poison... I just don't fully understand how it effects the eco system around me. though I am not in the country I have a small piece of 'country' around me that I dont want to mess up... at least intentionally. I worry about what happens once the voles dies of poison, what if the poison can move through the eco system and how does it... so I am moving my hostas - if there are any left once I have time to do all the work... anyone nearby have pots I can bum for awhile to put the hostas in, until I can get their new home ready?
Down here it doesn't get cold enough for tulips I think there may be some more heat tolerant ones but I don't remember now. The subject comes up every year.
I think you are right - I know I have seen this question many times! I told my mom if she really wants tulips that she better put out fake ones - hers are the prettiest on the block and everyone always compliments her beautiful tulips! hehehehehehe, she actually only puts out the flower - her leaves come up short but they are real.