Beginner Gardening: @#*! Robins, 0 by Ozark

Ozark wrote:
I've had to give up - won't be able to grow any sweet corn this year. I've replanted two and three times, used up 1000 seeds, and now have no more seeds to replant. It's a real shame because my corn harvest is an annual event for our extended family. Our two married daughters who live locally bring the grandkids, and we all work together harvesting, blanching, and packaging ears of sweet corn to fill the freezers of three families.

This morning, almost all the seeds have been dug up and eaten. I no longer believe it's robins, either. The pink, treated, hard corn seeds are shattered with pieces strewn around, and the muddy ground shows tracks of 3 or 4 claws on small feet. Maybe bird claws I guess, but I don't think so.

I'll show these pictures to the folks at our University Extension and to biologists at our Conservation Department and see what they think. Your opinions and guesses here as to what ate my corn are very welcome, too.

The best thing so far is that I read last night that American farmers have soaked corn seeds in turpentine since colonial times to make them unpalatable to varmints. That should work - turpentine is just pine tar and a short soaking shouldn't hurt the seeds any. NEXT YEAR.