Doomed tulips?

After our very cold and snowy weeks of winter it's suddenly several days of 50's here in IL. So, with the ground showing at last, I went out to see if my poor tulips were fooled into coming up too soon. Last fall I planted a bunch of pink ones under the redbud tree because the tree itself is a bit wimpy. There are about 5 of them poking up from the soil. And the rest were lying on the ground with bite marks out of them, their holes still there with an occassional acorn top in some of them! The squirrels had dug them up! I immediately put them back in their holes and covered them with a little dirt. Every year the squirrels get every single peach and every single pecan before I get them. They dig up my potatoes and leave me nothing. And now this! Can these tulips be saved at this point. Between the weather and the squirrels I feel like giving up.

Why not dig them up and then pot them up. Keep them in the garage with only a dribble of water now and then. By late March transfer them inside and allow them to grow and just begin to bloom in a sunny window, safe from the dreaded squirrels. Once you see the bud gaining color put them in an east window to prolong the blooms. Do not overwater.

I have heard of people laying chicken wire over the bulbs, an inch or two below the soil surface, or maybe on the surface, with mulch on top. The tulips will grow up thru the wire, but the squirrels can't dig thru it. I have not had to do this myself however.

Chicken wire will help because it stops the digging but the squirrels might still eat the buds if the deer don't get them.

They don't like daffodils so I inter-plant them with the tulips. The chicken wire helps also.

I hadn't thought about potting them up, Pirl. I may have to go that route. I had reburied them yesterday and today went out to add a little more dirt on top. They had dug up about 1/2 of the ones I'd reburied. And to add insult, they put them on my front porch. It was like that scene in "The Godfather" where the guy finds his horse's head in bed with him. I think they were sending me a message.

I grow onions and garlic in between my bulbs and hosta and daylillys. Read here that would keep moles away. Seems to work with squirrels and deer too.
Vickie

I have two big pots of tulips just so I can control where they are to protect them from the squirrels and the wretched deer.

Perl, Do they do well in containers? I had'nt thought about doing that. How close do you plant them? Do you fertilize them much?
TIA
Vickie

I'll find out how well they do this spring, Cando. It was too upsetting to see the tulips in the ground beginning to bloom and see them all gone the next day after the deer feasted on them.

I planted them very close and had bone meal mixed in with the soil.

They should do fine, pirl. But after blooming, they will need some fertilizer to make them grow until the leaves turn brown. Then it's nap time until fall.

Thanks.

Our 35-gallon containers did a great job with the tulips last year. I wasn't as pleased with hyacinths and fritillaria, but not every container received the same amount of sun. These containers were on our deck. When they finished blooming, we used a few for tomatoes. Like everything else, these containers needs a number of holes drilled to provide good drainage.

Not a single one of these tulips bloomed. I thought I saw a bud, but nothing doing.

This message was edited May 7, 2011 8:51 PM

Blood meal works like a charm!!! The squirrels in my apartment complex are evil geniuses - in years past they've dug up my planted bulbs and replaced them with peanuts! However, this year I put blood meal aaaaaall over where I planted my tulips and every one came up!

so someone tell me what's up with this!? our yard is new to us, but my fiances great grandma had a flower bed hasn't been tended since forever ago, but we decide not to mow, too see what comes up. tulips. lots of leaves, no sign that they'll bloom though.... you think the deer or squirrels would come dig those up for me?! no! lol so there are like 6 little sets of tulip leaves just poking out of the grass and weeds. lol

I'd wait a while to see what else pops up. You might be very much surprised.

i should retract my earlier comment, it seems the squirrels read my mind... they didn't eat the tulips but they decided to dead head my peace rose for me last night and leave the brand new buds in a little pile....

Need squirrel recipes?

serve them with a nice fava bean? ;)
actually i found a good chipmonk trap on 'pete's Hydrangeas' web site. basically you fill a bucket of water, float sunflower seeds on the water with a plank leading to it, maybe even with a trail of seeds, and they fall in and drown. maybe that sounds extreme. but if i don't get any roses this year it'll seem pretty tempting.

I know someone who's family makes "squirrky" aka squirrel jerky.

I've actually had luck using crushed red pepper all over the plants to keep the squirrels away.

Does anyone know if onions and garlic repel rabbits as well? We have a whole herd of ravenous bunnies in my neighborhood.

Sprinkle on the Blood Meal to keep the rabbits away. It works for me and my hundreds of lilies.

blood meal and pepper flakes it is! :)

Hi everyone.

Muttlover, I swear by "Liquid Fence". We have Deer, Squirrels, Ground Squirrels, Rabbits & tons of Birds. We love them all and, yes, we feed everybody. So naturally the critters have come to the conclusion that the whole yard is a buffet put out just for their enjoyment.

I try to grow lots of plants that they don't like, but I rely on Liquid Fence for the ones that they do. You spray it once a week for three weeks, then once a month thereafter. If there's an extremely hard rain I might spray again, but the idea is that it trains the critters to think that those particular plants don't taste very good.

I buy the gallon-size & transfer it into a smaller spray bottle. You can also buy a large concentrated bottle to mix with water, but I would start with the smallest size to make sure it works for you. The first day it stinks, but after that it fades, although the animals will still smell it. It's non-toxic & you can also use it on food crops like tomato plants.

It's cheaper if you don't buy it at a nursery. I buy it at places like Menards, Farm & Fleet or Meijer's.

Some other ideas for tulips so Squirrels don't dig up & eat the bulbs . . .Wrap the bulbs in a piece of Steel Wool before planting (Squirrels don't like it) or make a small cage out of chicken wire or spray with Liquid Fence once the bulbs are in the hole.