That *$#@! Bunny!

Well apparently there is a bunny living fat and happy on what was... my tulips, in a bed planted about 200 feet from my house. I know you are supposed to let the leaves die down until they turn brown to store up for the next year, but there are no leaves since they were just freshly mowed down. My question is: I am not going to know where the holes are that all the bulbs are in. When can I relocate these bulbs without digging up the entire bed to find them all? Can I do this now or do I have to wait? I so greatly appreciate your answers to my unfortunate question. sniff sniff. Thank you. Andrea

Mmm...that sounds like a lot of tulips! Maybe a deer got 'em?

I will be interested to hear what others advise about your bulbs, but I guess I would start over with new bulbs somewhere else. Tulips generally don't reproduce well after a year or two anyway.

I agree with tabasco that sounds like deer ate them off. Tulips are unfortunately favorite food of lots of different animals. Since leaves are gone bulb won't be able to replenish itself. I'm with tabasco on your best bet being to plant new ones.
I have had some success using the spraysfor repelling deer and rabbits that contain putried eggs and cayenne. Most stores that carry garden products have it. Key is to spray when foliage just starts coming up before the animals started munching. Also spray several feet around the plants. The product really smells bad but you won't smell it once it dries. Repeat after heavy rains and as new growth immerges. I have sprayed it right on the buds right before they open and again after they openned. I can really relate to how you are feeling. The first year I had tulips, deer waited until the day the tulips blossomed and then ate off every blossom. Fortunately they left the foliage. Since then I spray.
I live in area with heavy deer population so can tell you first hand that unfortunately picking a different location in your yard usually doesn't make much difference although a few people claim that they have had success with planting close to their house. Deer have eaten off flowers within 20 feet of ours so I am skeptical.

It is my understanding to that some kinds of tulips live a little longer than others but first couple years usually the best. Suppose we could say that the deer have great tastes but that would be a bad joke.

Well I know it's not the turkey. He just keeps trying to peck his way into the basement. The deer usually contain themselves to the backyard treats. Thats why I planted these closer to the road. I saw a bunny in the area and I was gone the entire weekend so I assumed... But, you're both probably right. All my animals were in and the wildlife knew it. I thought some of the tulips I planted were the ones that perennialize themselves. Thats why I wanted to know about digging them up and if there was any saving them. I never bought alot of tulips for just that reason of having to replace them all the time and this was my first attemp at it. It was only about 30 or 35 bulbs. I'll buy more and plant them in a better location (with alot of rotten egg and hot pepper of coarse). Would I just be putting dirt under my fingernail for nothing, or is there a chance of saving some of them? I have a hard time with plant defeat.

I would place a marker, of some type, just to see if the bulbs develope, what do you have to lose..I too have a deer problem, in that they are increasing in number, and until last year, I couldn't grow a hosta, but then I noticed hostas where I forgot about them, and you will never believe how I detered the deer.I planted paw paw trees, because I love the tropical folage, and deer won't go near them, even to eat the hosta.Paw paw have to grow under a canopy of shade for best results, but I have some in dapled shade, and even half day sun, just love the folage.Mike

Up here, our tulips are just coming up and the early ones are forming buds. I've noticed rabbit damage in some gardens in the area. It seems that there's a surge in the rabbit population this year.

I'm using a product called Liquid Fence, which comes as a ready-to-use spray and a concentrate. The smell is nasty, but it does seem to dissipate quickly. I've shared a sprayer of the stuff with some friends who have rabbit issues. I am eager to see how it works for us.

We had some rainfall last night, so I need to get out and spray today.

Forgot to mention earlier that animals don't tend to bother daffodils so if you give up on the tulips or want to add other bulbs that animals don't bother as much that is another option.
We have wild turkeys in our area too. Only problem have had with them is wanting to scratch around in new beds as figure something good in there and I don't plant any seeds that aren't in fenced in area for that reason.

You could try growing low-growingTulips that the deer might overlook. A lot of species Tulips have leaves that lie flat to the ground, and a short flower stalk. For example: Tulip batalini, T. linifolia, T. vvedenskiyi (?). I grew these OK in a deer-infested garden in Pennsylvania.

Love that pic of the menacing-looking turkey at the window. Spooky!

Guess turkeys have no idea when November is, tee-hee.

R.

i guess I'll place some kind of marker and remove the mulch around them to try to get some sunlight to them. They were the short ones. They (the deer) must've had their new tulip radar on. That turkey has been trying to get into my basement for days now. he keeps pecking at the window. he must see himself in the window because he keeps yelling at himself and puffing his feathers up and chases his girlfriend around. What a sight.

That explanes it!!He has a girlfriend, and your basement window is a chalenger, but it hapens to be just as big and bad, LOL, what a show!! Mike

Love the wild turkey photo!

Interesting about the low-growing tulip idea. Hadn't thought that the deer might not be too interested in kneeling down to have a snack. Maybe so, and worth a try! At times they do come up the steps to the porch to eat from the urns by the front door, though.

For deer repellant, I trade off between Liquid Fence and Deer Scram. My garden bloom count did improve, too, when the rangers had a 'controlled shoot' this past winter in our park forest, but that seems a bit harsh, really. Besides more tulips this season, there were many fewer car/deer accidents on our road. I think there were 14 accidents last year and only 1 or 2 this year.

I just read that wild bunnies can reproduce up to four times a year. That would make a lot of diners for the bulb and hosta patch, too.

Does anyone know if Muscari can survive the critter buffet? I planted loads of them last fall and only about 25% have bloomed. Wondering if the voles/moles destroyed them or maybe some animal that nipped off their greens. Or maybe this weird weather just killed them off. I thought they were impossible to mess up.

Liquid fence is very good, last about a Mo.

We're lucky so far with our tulips. Bunnies have been watching me watch tv all winter from the basement window. They've eaten the bark off of a small Italian plum tree that was here when we moved here in September. But the tulips are so far fine. It might be that there is a lot of food around right now (we're near a conservation area) and that has kept them preoccupied. I'm crying for your tulips!

Muscari are supposed to be critter-proof. Maybe mine have formed a shield around some of my tulips keeping bunnies away? Sort of like a Star Trek force field *laughing*!

Wow! What a beautiful line-up of muscari! That is what I envisioned for my border , but maybe for next year! (always hopeful gardener)

I used Liquid Fence for a couple of years and it worked pretty well, but now I use Plantskydd and it has LF beat hands down.

what is Plantskydd and where do you get it? I wish all my Muscari were critterproof too, they ate all of those, along with the tulips, bit off a few daffs and even tried to sample the fratillaria (don't mind all the spelling errors, please). I need something good to spray.

This message was edited May 13, 2007 11:50 PM

I get it at a local nursery, you might try calling around to those near you. It's also available online at http://www.plantskydd.com/ Look for the 'dealer locator' at the bottom of the page as there are many retailers in your state. Good luck!

BTW ~ it smells dreadful but not much worse than L.F. :)