Rodent-proof bulbs

I'm putting in daffodils and frittilaria soon. Both of these are "rodent-proof" so the friendly neighbourhood squirrels will pass them by. Daffodils are poisonous and frittilaria apparently stink as far as our furry friends are concerned.

What other varieties of bulbs repel rodents?

Those are the only two that I know of JanetR.

"eyes"

Maybe allium varieties eg. garlic , onions,etc. John

This message was edited Saturday, Oct 6th 4:48 AM

Janet
If you lay chicken wire on top of the ground for about a month over the bulbs you should't have any problems.
Be sure and make some U's out of a coat hanger to hold the wire down.
I've been using this method for a couple of years with success.

If I decide to move on to crocuses and tulips I'll pretty well have to. But I figured I'd start with less complicated things. I am going to attempt some muscari and erythronium and see what comes of it.

Daggone squirrels dug up my muscari and just left them on top of the ground, didn't eat them. Little stinkers. If I plant a few daffodils with each other kind of bulb, would it repel the squirrels?

I want to plant crocuses on both sides of our path to the front door... what would protect these individual bulbs? Can't put daffodils on the sides of the path.

Planting snowdrops, squill, and other tiny bulbs, a mouthfull for a munching squirrel. Anything I can put around them to discourage the critters, something smelly but harmless to plants?

When planting bulbs in the Fall and the ground starts to thaw in the Spring sprinkle mustard powder onto the earth. This keeps the squirrels from digging up the bulbs. It does not hurt these critters, it just bothers their noses. This has saved lots of my bulbs from becoming someone's dinner.

JanetR ... here is link http://www.gardenguides.com/flowers/flowers.htm hope that will help u & everyone. i do not use bone meal, i use Superphate instead. i like using superphate on all my plant, give the plants that extra umph! superphate in my opinion does a better job than bone meal.. hope that helps

Thanks Schmetterling (keep your wings dry *grin*) and MaVieRose. I'll add these to my bag of tricks.

Well, I'm a novice gardener but this worked for my Asiatic and Oriental Lilies but it's disgusting ... I mixed a tub of dirt with dog poop and mixed it in the planting holes and around them ... like I said it is disgusting and be sure to wear gloves. The dirt where the bulbs are planted needs to be replenished with the poop mixture every one to two months or so (just rake it lightly in on the top). I wasn't sure what was digging up my bulbs (we have skunks, squirrels, raccoons, etc.) But, this worked (and it was free). The hot pepper mixture I first tried had no effect at all. And the poop had no ill effects on the plants. It also worked on all my other plants that were being dug up. For the bulbs, I've heard that a fox urine mixture is effective ... finally found some on the net but it's pretty expensive. Hope this helps.

Before you plant bulbs and do this late in the afternoon or early evening, take a good look as to how the ground looks like.....then after planting, make sure it looks exactly the same. If yu use pine straw or another mulch, make sure you water it doen...the bulbs need it as well. If you do not use any type of mulch, rake the whole yard, pretending there are bulbs everywhere. Since only the female squirrels go out and hunt for "stuff" and they are curious by nature, they also know when to give up when they see a whole yard that could have a surprise everywhere.

Then put out a plate with some raw peanuts and put some one once a day. This will leave the other stuff alone. Then after a few weeks they are at peace with their curiosity and leave everything alone.

It worked in my yard.

I would also suggest the use of wire. While they won't eat your daffodils, rodents will dig them up before realizing that they don't want to eat them.

This message was edited Aug 28, 2005 11:42 AM

About five years ago I had planted 650 spring flower bulbs. I too was worried of the critters. I heard that they didn't like steel wool. I put a small amount around the bulbs then planted them. It did take extra time but when spring came my yard was so beautiful. The critters left all my crocus and tulips alone. We moved two years later and here we go again.
We live where there are lots of deer also so I found RepelleX bulb tablets. It's a systemic that creates a barrier against bulb damage and deer and rabbit damage from the flowers. I haven't planted my bulbs yet so I can't give a testimonal at this time. Just some ideas for you. Good luck

kathyvm -

What was your method? Did you use grocery store steel wool cleaning pads? Did you wrap them around the bulb or just place them on top?

I got just plain steel wool from the hardware dept. with no cleaning solution on it. You can also find it at the dollar stores at times. Get the coarse grade. Tear a small piece off and wrap it loosely around the bulb then plant it. That's it.

I have walking onions in my garden and I plant them wherever I have bulbs. I haven't lost a bulb yet!

Hyacinths are also rodent proof here; I think they're toxic to critters to.

Wow, this is an interesting thread for me. I was just about to post one concerning gophers and bulbs. Will the steel wool trick work for gophers too, do you think? I sure would love to plant a bunch of bulbs this fall but the gophers here are big and hungry critters.

stellapathic, I wouldn't guarantee it but it did work for the squirrels and chipmunks at my house. There is also a bulb saver that is in a liquid form. Just look where they sell the flower bulbs. It's usually around the same area. You can soak the bulbs before you plant them. This however, is good for only one season. This is why I also used the steel wool. The bulb saver also helps against basal rot and decay.

Thanks for the response, Kathy

I'll probably just try a few with the steel wool, see how it goes. These are new grounds for me and I'm planning on just watching what comes and goes for a few seasons, probably until spring. Whoever planted all this did a great job. I'm not sure of the identity of a lot of stuff in this yard so I'm cautious about digging and "weeding." So a trial bulb patch will fit right in with my plans and give me something "mine" to get excited about. I think I'll plant the daffodils somewhere other than the other bulbs I want, so that I know that it's the steel wool doing the job (or not) and not the daffodils.

If you're not sure on some of the things growing in your yard you can post a picture on a thread and ask for identification. If you post when it flowers that will help a great deal. The people on this site have been quite helpful. I have only been a member since July of this year and I have learned so much. Don't be afraid to ask questions. There are many people that are more than willing to help.

That's one of the reasons I'm waiting, so these things can come into flower if they are going to. I did post one lovely little tree on the ID forum, but so far haven't found anyone that can give me a name. We'll see if it flowers in the spring and then maybe that'll help. I've also found a lot of them just by haunting the local nurseries. I figure if they are growing here they probably were bought around here and I'll see them again. It's pretty exciting having all these new things to learn.

What interesting suggestions! Thanks to all. Squirrels are our bane here, but our customers deal with all sorts of wildlife problems, including armadilloes. Here's a link to the Planting and Care section of our website where we list bulbs that are reputedly rodent resistant along with our suggestions for protection: http://oldhousegardens.com/howToFall.asp . Scroll down to the section titled "Protecting from Animals." I hope you'll find it helpful.

Thanks so much Scott, that's a great site and I bookmarked it. Really helped me to identify the bulbs that the gophers "maybe" won't go for.