Shake-away

I just ordered some Shake-away to get rid of whatever varmint is eating my seedlings and tearing apart the bigger plants. Anyone else have any experience with this? Does it work?

Last night my strawberries got torn up and lifted right out of their pots. My moonflowers got torn up, and a newly sprouting potato just isn't there anymore. Now a few new zucchini sprouts are emerging, and I really want to save them. I've lost an entire packet of zuke seeds to this varmint, one by one. I'm about ready to sit out there all night with a shotgun!

Hi White - I used to live near you - unincorporated Arapaho County. Loved it! I'm trying to remember what varmints we had there.... not armadillos. That would be my major suspect here. Skunks? It sounds like a critter looking for insects in the ground, around the roots. Not eating the plants themselves. Rules out deer and bunny rabbits. I have something that digs up newly planted plants. Apparently the smell of the fresh soil makes it think that something is down there. So the day after we plant, we go out and replant. We used to use composted chicken manure, and I think it was trying to get the chicken down in the ground! We had to replant several times then - until the smell went away.

CEEJ,
Maybe its that cute little persistent chicken hawk that is always after Foghorn Leghorn, re: trying to get to chicken in the ground, lolrof.

Best;
bluelytes

Gophers? I had one in my back garden at my old house, and every so often an entire plant would just disappear, or I'd see something wilting mysteriously and go check on it only to find that the plant and its roots had become separated. I've heard that castor oil will drive them away (toward your neighbor's yard). You can also plant stuff in the ground inside wire baskets to eliminate damage if that's who's causing it.

Gophers! That's probably it! My mind went blank on little furry things!
Man, that would be a lot of wire baskets!
CJ

This message was edited Jul 5, 2006 10:32 AM

I used snake-away while living on St. George Island,Fl. I was told that when a snake slithered over it it would burn the snake's belly. Only problem is you have to re-apply after it rains. RAIN...whats that?! I seem to recall that it's wet stuff that falls from the sky? LOL
Ginger in sun parched Fountain,Fl.

Watched the fireworks last night under an umbrella. Sure wish I could send some your way. I think we've already had the wettest July in history. Maybe not... It started in the middle of June, and just keeps going, with a day or two off here and there. LOVE IT! We're way below our norm. Way.

Whatever I have both digs and chomps. I've had zucchini sprouts simply disappear the day after they pop up, torn right out of the ground, and emerging potato plants chomped right down to ground level. Lettuce sprouts don't last long. But I also see very obvious dig marks, and squash seeds have been dug up and, I assume, munched on. I'm thinking squirrels. They'd dig. Would they eat plants, too? It might also possibly be rabbits. Even though I'm in an urban/residential area, I still see bunny rabbits from time to time. Back then I thought they were cute! Now I'm thinking breaded and fried. ;-)

I've been spraying with hot pepper wax, and it might be doing some good (knock on wood). My zucchini sprouts are still alive, and one popped up overnight that I didn't even know about. But my varmint was here. He knocked over a strawberry plant on my table and bit off a leaf. Didn't eat it, though. Maybe he got a taste of pepper.

Well, my bunnies just nibble the stuff to the ground. Especially the new stuff. A mower couldn't do it better. I have to cover new stuff just coming up in the spring, so the bunnies don't get them at night. I use wire cages (there's those wire cages again) and those black pots that plants come in from the nursery. In the morning I go around and uncover them, then recover them at night. But I only have to do that until the plants get some growth on them. Your bunnies may be different than my bunnies.

I have clear "garden cloches" on order. I figure I'll put them over where I planted the seeds and put a rock or brick on top of them. The plants'll get light, and it would take Superbunny to knock the thing over to get at them.

If it's eating them from the top down and there are signs of digging then it's not gophers, they eat from below and sometimes the overall effect of their damage can look similar, but many times I found they just ate the roots and left the rest of the plant alone. So I think this is probably rabbits or something else.