my forsythia was massacred!

I just relocated a small forsythia bush to a sunnier spot 2 days ago. This morning it was fine, but this evening I was shocked to find that the poor thing had been dismembered, branch by branch , to become a bare twig sticking out of the ground! The branches are scattered all around it in the garden bed. Who/what would have done this? I don't think the fact that it is/was a forsythia is really relevant, though nothing else in the garden was touched and I planted a few new shrubs over the weekend. Animals I've seen over the years here are pretty much the regular ones: squirrels, a skunk, cats, birds, raccoons. I live in the middle of the city, so the variety of wildlife isn't huge.

I'm thinking it's most likely a squirrel, though why this poor little bush, why now, and why so thoroughly, I'm at a loss to understand.

I suppose that my two main questions, now that the shock is starting to wear off a bit, are: is there any hope for this little 2 inch twig (no leaves)? and is there any way to stop this from happening again?

I really appreciate any light anyone can shine on this.

I'm not familiar with your zone, but here in the south, it's hard to kill forsythia. In February, shortly after it bloomed, I had to cut some down to the ground and it has already sprouted shoots four feet long. The stem I cut was about 1 inch in diameter.

How big was your plant. And do you know what variety it is?

Wow Fitsandstarts! Bummer!
Could it have been the animal known as "young punk vandilizing disrespectful humans"? I don't know of any other animals that would or could do that.

How big was the plant? If it was pretty small and didn't have too many branches, then something like a raccoon walking through the garden could have done the damage, they're pretty clumsy and broke branches off things in my old garden all the time. Otherwise if it was a big plant or had a ton of branches then my thought would be a human as well.

Hi fitsandstarts, do you have deer around your place, or any other grazeing animals, what you have discribed and what I find here in UK is that any young plants that are still in twiggy state are attacked by the young deer, they rub their ears and snouts on these plants and yank the tender shoots off, are the leaves still around, if not then the deer have eaten the leaf by running tounge from bottom to top of the branch and spat out the woody stems, Sqirells also do this but they normally gnaw at the stems still attatched, whatever it was, you can help your transplanted shrub to get going again by giving it some protection, I sometimes have to errect a little cage useing chicken wire and garden canes, place 3/4 canes around the plant with a little room to spread its branches as it sets up growth, tie or weave chicken wire onto the canes and leave in place for a couple of years till the plant is bigger, then remove this cage and it will be able to withstand an odd gnawing from whatever did this, if you dont like the sight of the cage, plant something close to it and it wont stick out like a sore thumb, you asked why this plant???? maybe it was the weeker of your plants, maybe it was in the way of the passing animals usual walk, maybe just plane old tasty bits, who knows why animals take a fancy to our garden. hope you have some luck as this is a lovely plant that starts off our spring display and lets us know that better days are to come after a long winter. hope you can restore it, prune of the tips of any raggy ends on the stems and if you have not already fed it, do that also, I feel sure it will send up new shoots this year, these new shoots are the ones that will flower for next year. look on it that it has been HARD pruned,hope this is a little help. Good Luck. WeeNel UK.

Thanks everyone, for your support and suggestions. I think the forsythia is/was called Fiesta -- smaller than other varieties, with variegated cream and green leaves so that it would be still interesting after spring. It's about 4 years old, and a bit straggly as it was almost dead when I got it. It seemed pretty healthy, though the main stem is still barely a 1/2 inch and it wasn't getting enough sun in the spot I had it. It was only about 18 inches tall and perhaps 2 feet across.

The thorough and seemingly systematic process by which this poor thing was dismembered does suggest a human hand, or perhaps a deer nibbling, but it's extremely unlikely. I live in a block of old semi-detached houses with barely a foot between even those that are detached, and our back gardens join the back gardens of the next block of houses. All the gardens are fenced -- typical inner city neighbourhood, really, though it's old and established with mature trees and lots of greenery. Definitely no deer. Punks would have had to hop fences, and the damage happened during daylight. Could have been around suppertime, which is when the raccoons typically emerge, but this wasn't clumsy animal damage with branches broken halfway along.

I'll try putting cage over the very hard-pruned stem (good way to think of it, Weenel) and keeping my fingers crossed. Can I fertilize if I've just transplanted, though?

I went out last night and got mothballs to put around the mountain laurel I planted at the same time, I hate to use chemicals but the mountain laurel is for my daughter, Laurel -- I can't let this plant be harmed! That being said, are mothballs bad for mountain laurels? I'll get a cage for it, too, but it would be nice to know what I'm trying to protect against.

Was it Sherlock Holmes who said something about once you rule out the impossible whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truth? So deer or clumsy animal damage I'll put in the 'impossible' bucket. I'm not sure which is the less improbable of vandalizing punks or a psychotic squirrel, though...

Thanks again!

Yes Fit's, you can fertalise this plant as it is a couple of years old, and not a tender new plantlet, when I transplant any plant, my best feed is Fish/blood and bone meal as it has no chemicals at all and with watering/rain the roots get it quicker than the slow release granual feeds, I only ever use them when I am doing a general end of season tidy or when plants are well established and hoe them into the top inch or so, but they are very slow to get to the plant roots, and the goodness released over longer period. your plant will come good I feel and reward you for your trouble, good luck. WeeNel.

It sounds like finger blight to me. If there's room between it and walkways/alleys/etc., consider planting a real stinker between it & the kids' walkways, something with really vicious thorns; or invest in some barbed wire. If it's idle vandalism and you make it difficult, they'll find an easier target elsewhere.

Cant see it being finger blight as you would have seen footprints/muck on pathway etc, why would this happen to this plant when there were others to choose from, it has to be 4 legged, but which one?? there lies the question, in daylight too, I still go with wandering animal on the prowel, Now if only we gardeners had eyes in the back of our heads!!!!!!, good luck, WeeNel.

Another one!!!! My dogwood!! Something is really mad at me and/or my garden all of a sudden! Same MO -- dismembered and stripped branch by branch, leaving only bare stems sticking out of the ground, sometime mid-morning and suppertime. The dogwood was bigger than the forsythia, so these stems are about 2 feet high. Also a fairly young bush, with even the main stems less than half an inch in diameter. This one hadn't been moved, though, and has been in place for about a year. I've now thrown mothballs, blood meal and bone meal all over my garden in some random attempt to protect the mountain laurel.

It's not impossible that it's a person, but really improbable. My backyard is surrounded by other backyards – no paths or sidewalks, no simple access for strangers – so it would have to be deliberate. And now twice?

So what has changed over the past couple of days that may have enraged something? I put some edging pavers down in the back corners to define one existing (with the dogwood) and one new bed (with the mountain laurel). I shrank another bed and planted a climbing rose close to the fence and moved the forsythia into it. That bed has been there since I moved in 5 years ago, and surrounds a mature honey locust and a smoke tree. I've always just filled it with impatiens each spring but decided to try something different this year.

Until I get the cages put up, is anything that I'm doing going to harm my plants? I already managed to kill one mountain laurel a couple of years ago through ignorance (usually it's haphazard attention that does my plants in) -- the label said nothing about needing acid soil, and it simply never occurred to me. The garden centre person thought that it was too obvious a point to mention, so I'm a little nervous about trying to figure out where my gaps in knowledge are. Besides the mountain laurel, dogwood, forsythia, and climbing rose, I have a pagoda dogwood (though presumably what goes for a flowering dogwood would go for a pagoda dogwood?), bleeding hearts, astilbes and hostas in the beds where I've strewn the mothballs, etc.

Thank you so much for your help!

You are discribing animal damage for sure, Rabbits, squirells or the like, this is a busy time for all these as they need YOUNG new soft shoots, if you dont have wild rabbits, could it be an escapee, the times you are talking about the damage taking place is when they are most actively feeding, any chance setting up a trip wire with a small bell or the likes so you can watch out for the culprit, it has to be animal looking for low, new, young tender shoots, any sign of tiny footprints or scrapeing close to the plants as they would sometimes want to MARK the spot, Keep trying and watchful eyes, you will get there in the end, good luck, WeeNel.

Thanks WeeNel. My mother says rabbit, too -- it's very strange for a squirrel to do that, I think. I know that squirrels will bite off tulip flowers, but I've never heard of them dismembering a shrub. I've never seen rabbits around here though, and the height at which the dogwood was chewed would have been tricky for a rabbit to reach, I would think.

Either way, at least it's been narrowed down -- thanks everyone for your helpful suggestions. Perhaps I'll also source a fake owl, as was mentioned in another thread :) More environmentally friendly than mothballs!

Definitely a bunny attack - apparently your shrubs are the new local delicacy!!
They stand on their back legs to reach higher, I've seen the nasty buggers do it.
Try Chili powder sprinkled on and around the shrub - one nibble and they won't be coming back for seconds. Seems to be working alright for me, and I'm in the middle of nowhere with a yard full of bunnies and deer - and many baby shrubs to protect!!

Thanks so much for your help. It seems to have quietened down for the time being. Not much wildlife in my garden at all these days, possibly due to the heavy odour of mothballs, lol. I think I'd better start switching over to chili powder or flakes and keep my eyes peeled. Wow, what a bizarre experience!

fitsandstarts, go to canadian tire and get some bloodmeal. sprinkle it around your shrubs. Whatever creature it is will be turned off the smell of it.

Hot pepper powder will stick to the leaves better if you mix it in a little water and a tablespoon of dish soap. Spray your plants with the mixture.

You don't need a fancy sprayer...just an empty glass cleaner sprayer, (windex) or similar. Wash out, fill with water and pepper powder, shake well then add your soap and shake gently. The soap allows the pepper to adhere to your leaves better.

Fits
You can verify whether it is a rabbit that has damaged you plants by checking to see if the twigs/limbs look as if they have been cut with a sharp knife which is the rabbit 'trademark' My back yard is a certified wildlife habitat and I always enjoyed the rabbits in my back yard especially the little ones darting around. I often referred to my yard as a wildlife rabbitat until they started eating my plants and bushes. Rabbit access to my backyard is now blocked!

Hi again fitsand starts, dont be fooled by those fluffy little squirell, they can strip the bark off trees, they have ferousious teeth, if they can bite through a wallnut shell, believe me, thats like bubblegum to you and me, I get a lot of damage to our trees as I have some woodland, between them and deer, it is an everending battle, if I plant new sapplings, I have to put up tree guards for a year or so till they get older wood and then they can survive the odd nibble.
I feel you have an escaped bunny from the neighbourhood if you have no other rabbits in your area, so keep hunting for the culprit, you will have the last laugh eventualy. Good luck. WeeNel.

It has to be a rabbit, I think. My neighbour's had an attack now -- a mature hens and chicks in her rock garden. One of the rosettes/heads (whatever they're called) was decimated. Not the ones further into the garden, just a big one beside her lawn. A squirrel wouldn't do that -- unless it truly is psychotic. My mother said that she'd had a young bush taken apart by a squirrel sourcing nest material, but I don't think a hens and chicks would be particularly comfortable... :) Strange stuff. We've both put cayenne around now!