After reading this the other day I went out and bought some Irish Spring to see if it would keep the neighbor's cat out (so far I count 4 broken off lily stalks from this culprit). Of course I had to try it on my own cat because because I know she hates strong fragrances. Here kitty kitty... she comes sauntering over and nuzzles right up to the bar. Well, oookay!
Oriental Lily question
This is just an opinion, but I think the cats only come into the gardens at night to hunt. If you can get rid of the mice and squirrels and rabbits, the cats will go wherever the prey goes. My biggest problem in the summer is the mice. I feed the birds, so I get the mice. I stop feeding the birds and the mice go away, but I also miss the birds. So I feed the birds, which attracts mice, which attracts the neighborhood cats, which drive my dog insane. Speaking of which, I lose at least 4 plants a year to man's most faithful friend. Periodically, he decides to start digging and he digs and he digs and he digs. I use to think he was also after mice, but now I think he does it just because he likes to dig.
And that reminds me of the year I was planting tulips and had them all laid out just so in the color pattern was going for, and after planting for awhile, all of a sudden I was out of bulbs. The dog was taking them and burying them under his favorite shrub for napping. There went that year's color scheme!
That's a hilarious story about your dog burying your bulbs in his own area!!
I have 3 or 4 neighborhood cats that come into the yard because of all the birds we have. I don't mind the squirrels as much. They get fed at the very back of our yard, and I use safflower seed for the birds because the squirrels won't eat that. I have a couple of feeders hung up under the eaves of the house that are on pulleys so I can get them down to refill them. I use regular bird seed mix there because the squirrels can't get to those feeders.
I'll have to try to soap pieces in a few different places and see what happens. It's still amazing to me. I'd never heard about it before.
I hadn't heard of this either. One of the wonders of Dave's Garden. This tip alone was well worth the subscription cost.
I'm still not sure how effective this is. I haven't had anymore damage and I haven't seen any critters and others are saying it appears to be working for them. But I think the real test will be next year just as the lilies and tulips are emerging. If I can get the soap down beforehand and there is still no munching, then I'll be pretty convinced.
Same here Beaker. I still don't have enough guts to put down the soap and take the cages off my new lilies! I've already had losses this year and I'm not willing to risk more. I will put the soap around 'citronella' though which has been there a few years and see how it goes.
Steve
I only found two lillies that looked nibbled - one is toast, top is nipped right out. The other looked scruffy for a while but you can hardly see the nibbles now. First year that I've ever had them nibbling the lillies. Usually it's the tulips I lose. They only nibbled a couple of them, maybe they're trying to branch out and have a more rounded diet? lol
I saw a baby bunny at work today nibbling on a hosta 800 times his size. Awfully cute in someone elses garden...
The rabbits drive the guys in our building department nuts. They keep live trapping them and moving them out and then there's another new batch a few weeks later. And of course, everyone tries to tame them and feed them and such. Obviously, these people don't garden. The year they stripped my roses of every leaf, was the last straw with me.
I've never had bunny problems, which I guess is a bit odd as we live really close to water and I've seen them around. It must have to do with all the cats. I do have a pet rabbit though and she can chow down those greens pretty fast. So I can see how she'd do alot of damage in a garden :)
Well, today I was out sitting in our courtyard for a bit just soaking in the sunshine and taking in a bit of nature. I was looking at one of the gardens where they have a whole slew of Pinks planted and all of a sudden, a Pink just disappeared. I wasn't sure if I actually saw what I saw. Then a minute or so later, another one went down. I walked over and there he was. That cute little baby bunny just chowing on down on the Pinks.
I can just see him sitting there munching away on those yummy flowers/plants!
Oh yeah, I seen it in my own garden with hostas ~ stem and all. Looked like something out of a cartoon.
It's so funny watching them eat a leaf/plant, cause it just keeps going in till it's gone.
I'll try to keep that picture in mind the next time I see a missing lily stem or rose leaves...how it's so funny....
Ok. So you can probably tell I don't have bunny problems in my garden.
I have seen them around though....
I like to watch them eat dandilion stems. If only that was all they ate.
Oh yes, my bunny loves dandilion. I think she'd eat almost any plant though if I let her. They say domestic buns can't tell if a plant is poisonous or not.