Who's the Culprit?

In this miserable heat, I planted 24 lilies, 16 astilbies and 2 ghost ferns. Something dug up 10 of the lilies and 10 of the astilbe and discarded them. One ghost fern had most of the dirt removed and the other one disappeared altogether. I have Ground hogs, squirrels and bunnies. Who's the culprit and what can I do about it? The lilies are in a different bed than the others. The groundhog lives right near the astilbe and ferns.

OH< Now the other Ghost fern is gone!!!

lol on the "ghost" fern disappearing....

Oh, I wish I could laugh! Today I found my new Rhododendron unearthed and laying on it's side!!! I can't get ahead of my planting with all of the replanting!! Grrrrrrrhhh!

I'm sorry, that wasn't meant to be hurtful. I know you must be totally frustrated with the situation. I would guess groundhogs, or here armadillos are the diggers....

I wasn't offended, just frustrated!!!!!!!!!!!LOL

And you never know what's visiting at night, like racoons. So hard to say, though I don't think I've ever heard of a shrub being dug up!

Evie, I've never seen any racoons, just groundhogs, squirrels and bunnies. When I first started this garden young Hydrangeas and Lilacs were eaten right to the ground. I think that I hate most seeing 5' tall lillies with 2" thick stalks, full of buds chewed off at ground level and discarded in the bed. Or, maybe gorgeous tulip blossoms sheared off right at the neck., If these guys would fill out their menu cards and hang them on my back doorknob, I'd have their breakfast ready!

I never saw raccoons either, but then one morning we woke up to the hummingbird feeder on the ground and drained. I looked it up and raccoon was the likely culprit, they apparently like sweet things. I've only seen 1 once, during the day and not venturing out of the woods. But I've seen diggings that don't match the skunk diggings, so I assume they are the raccoons. Which is totally why I want a night camera of some sort -- what is going on back there?! :) And then I'd know for sure.

So I mention it because you could easily have critters you don't know you have, esp when they're nocturnal.

Evie, Could very well be. I used to see them at my other house, but not here, not even any skunks here. I once had to leave steaks burn to ashes on the grill because a skunk got under it and wouldn't leave. Called out for a pizza instead!

I don't put out any bird food because I have 2 white mulberry trees and the birds have a feast with them. They don't even move away when I walk near them!!!!

Oh! now he dug up 2 Hostas and a Rhododendron that I just planted!

that bugger! He's dug up the dirt and mulch around 7 of my newly planted shrubs!

stormy ,

Not sure that this will work for you but what I had to resort to was ALL new plantings that I do I build circles of what is called "rabbit wire fencing " available at home depot and the like . The way I buy it , it comes 28" wide x 50 feet long . I build circles out of it to protect newly planted beds . I use hooked tent stakes to staple these to the ground where desired . Depending on the critter that you are dealing with , it could work for you . Here one roll of that fencing costs $17 or so . I can make 3 - 6 foot diameter circles out of one of those .

Sorry lonediver (like the name) Somehow i deleted my own thread from my watch list!!!!

Coincidentally, I bought the very thing you suggest earlier today. Tomorrow, DSO, who refuses to pee in the groundhog hole will give it a smoke bomb. One less critter, at least for a few months. Got to level the playing feld somehow. He won't use the cage anymore, since they keep peeing in his van. Why doesn't he return the favor??????????

I also bought some fox & coyote urine. Going to try that on the bulbs and root plantings.

Buggers dug up the aruncus I planted yesterday!!!! And more lilies. And someone just better leave that Magnolia alone!!!!!

If you are dealing with critters such as ground hogs or gophers ( I have been going caddyshack with some gophers myself around here lately ) the fencing will have no effect . I have tried those gopher gas cartridges and there are of such a short duration as to have little effect .

Here is some sites that the U. of A. has done on this ;

http://ag.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/gopher/gophercontrol.html

Here is a suggested device that you would have to make yourself but I think it looks promising . Utilizing highway flares that are longer burning and costs similar to the smaller " gopher gas " cartridges . The rest of suggested hardware should be easy to duplicate .

http://ag.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/gopher/experimentaldevice.html

Lonediver, Those are great links! Thanks. Sorry you're having so much trouble. I've been doing a Bill Murray too! One day a groundhog grabbed the rake out of my hand!!!! I never dealt with gophers, but yesterday I found 5 small holes in the garden. OH NO!!!!!!

Last night we used the smoke bombs . I'm going to follow up with coyote urine.

Maybe next we'll try using our old pickups exhaust!!!!!

New ones keep moving into the burrow. Some lady down the street FEEDS them.

I'll show DSO the device in the 2nd link. Are you trying it?

The bunnies are also busy too so the fencing will help there, maybe.

I will make on of those fan bucket cannisters before too long The gopher problems have recurred sporadically . The gopher gas cartridges last but 5 minutes or less apiece , depending on where you buy them I seem to remember that they are 5 to $8 for a 4 pack .
A highway flare which usually lasts some 15 to 20 minutes usually costs about $1.50 each . So much more bang for the buck , then with the fan dispering the fumes where desired . The fan bucket shoud'nt cost anymore than $20.00 or less to make I would think .

We really have seen Caddyshack once to often!!!!!!! I'm personally donating my body to science fiction. Yes, I already told DSO to add the highway flares on his next PEP Boys junket.

Rabbits most likely shear off the lilies and the tulips. In my yard, I have none of those, but squirrels do dig up shrubs. Small shrubs. Larger shrubs, they bend branches down to eat the leaves. They also dig up forbs and grasses I've planted. I have cages around a lot the shrubs and all but 1 large Fraxinus pennsylvanica and 1 very large Thuja occidentalis. They've broken off 2 of the Aesculus parviflora at ground level. Thank goodness it's regrowing from the bottom. They've broken my Cornus racemosa, but it also is re-sprouting from the ground. I couldn't even begin to name all the shrubs, forbs or grasses they've destroyed.

My guess is most likely rabbits doing the shearing and squirrels doing the digging.

Thanks Terry, I just bought some caging, but haven't installed it yet. I knew the bunnies to be busy last year. They ate an entire trough sized pot of parsley one afternoon. So what does the groundhog eat?????

Lonediver, Say it isn't so............... I found these today and some others that I filled in over the weekend. What do you think?

And lots of the shrubs were missing their dirt. One of these holes even still has a large leaf stuck in it.

Can you dig oh so gently, to see how far the hole goes over? Or open a wire clothes hanger and gently push in in to gauge how far the hole goes? A ground squirrel and a vole would make those kinds of holes. Looks too small really for a ground squirrel, but the right size for a vole. We don't have groundhogs around here, except in the zoo. I haven't a clue what they eat.

Terry, Is it safe? Don't want the bugger biting my finger! I'll check it out.

I would say if I was afraid it would bite me, I'd wear some thick work leather gloves and open up a wire clothes hanger. Any animal seems to sense your fear, so if you're afraid, then maybe it wouldn't be wise. I've never had voles, but some of my friends have. They always complain that the vole eats the plants roots. I have had ground squirrels and with them, their hole seemed to be only for a run. They come to our house via a hole underground from the neighbors house. If it's a forb that's planted right near the hole, either watch it or dig it up to see if something is gnawing on the roots.

You know what just dawned on me when I went to hit send? My husband found a hole very similar to yours. Our hole is from ants.

Terry, a hole that big from ants???????? What is a forb?

Yes! We didn't get a picture, sorry. A forb is another term used for a native perennial. Sorry, I'm used to saying forb☺

Ooops, spoke too soon! I did find a picture! It doesn't show any ants, but after my husband took the picture, he then took my little shovel and dug. A bazillion ants came crawling up and out!

Terry, I'm going to take my shovel and look for ants. No, it's a Currant that I recently planted. The holes are near shrubs and perennials, whether recently planted or not.

Did you find anything?☺

Terry,I was too busy with work, life and tracking down critter repellants to even attempt it. Tomorrow I play Stormy Garden Rambo!!!! A little vole or chipmunk ran over my foot today while watering a different bed!!!!!!

If they aren't disturbing, as in killing, any of your plants, I wouldn't worry about it. I have a lot of fox squirrels and they like to dig up or break, all my just planted trees, shrubs, vines, forbs, grasses. Uh, everything?☺ So, I put chicken wire around them all. Just waiting for some things to get some size to them so I can remove the wire from around them. With the forbs and grasses, even those get size to them and the squirrels leave them alone.

I'm guessing what you call a chipmunk, I call a ground squirrel?

Terry, I spent the last 2 days putting chicken wire up and putting down snake repellant. I've heard that snake repellant repels evrything. We"ll see!

That snake repellant stinks. PU! However, I spent the day in the garden on Sunday and saw absolutely no wildlife other than birds and bees. I have a black walnut and a mulberry tree, so my yard is usually full of squirrels who tear into my plantings. Not one squirrel today.

It's called snake-a-way and is available at Home Depot. Right now it's on sale at 50% off.

On all new plantings, I sprinkled "molemax" designed to keep all burrowing critters from scratching. It's just not possible to cage everything.

Well there still aren't any squirrels or rabbits. That snake repellent doesn't work on the voles. I figured out that's what's making the holes. Little buggers have their own website, vole.com!!!!

Spent the day filling vole holes with poison pellets and filling the holes with dirt.
It appears that there are at least 2 to 3 different colonies. It says one colony can be 14 to 500 voles!!!!! There's no way to kill them all so next I'll spray repellant everywhere.

I put ant dust down for the giant ant hills.

Hung the beetle bags.

Sprayed the crepe myrtles for aphids.

Sprayed the roses for beetles.

Put slug killer down at all of the hosta.

Nothing but genocide going on around here!!!!!

Mixed gravel in the top layer of dirt of all new plantings. Apparently the little rodents have very sensitive feet and don't like it.

The voles are tunneling in the ground on top of the Groundhog's den. There are holes everywhere there. I can see clear down into the GH den. They've eaten the roots of the red twig dogwood and it's lost all of it's leaves.

Well, I hope you don't mind if a squirrel eats the poison and I sure hope you don't have any dogs or outside cats that might also eat it. Don't expect any butterflies to lay eggs, see any caterpillars, etc. etc.

Here's my buddy. I call him Bucky and he comes when called for a peanut

terry, Right now there are no squirrels here. The snake repellant has kept them away. The poison pellets are buried in the vole holes. Neither I, nor any of my neighbors have any pets, except a woman down the street who feeds the groundhog. My garden is filled with butterflies.

The voles, groundhogs, squirrels and bunnies have done countless $ of damage to my gardens. They spread ticks and carry other diseases and are more suited to a rural enviornment as opposed to housing developments. I used to trap and relocate them until their population spiraled so far out of control. Now my township and surrounding communities have prohibited animal relocation. I prefer to eat my own organically grown produce, not feed it to the wildlife.

Terry, I too use to feed the squirrels peanuts. When I came home from vacation, every screen in the back of my house had been ripped from the windows. When I replaced the screens, they, even though I continued to feed them, proceeded to climb and hang and pull out every new screen. Finally, the game control had to come and poison them.

That's fine stormyla! I was checking to make sure you knew. I know squirrels dig, going after all their buried treasures. Squirrels to me, are a real treat. We lived in a house for 21 yrs. with no squirrels!! So having these guys, they've all become my pets..lol. The one above comes when called even! The squirrels dug up a lot of $$ in plants here also. So I put wire cages around them, and once they get big enough, I remove them. The squirrels don't bother them anymore.

The biggest reason I mentioned the butterflies is because my parents have me planting 3 existing beds. Removing all plants that were in there, and replanting with all native forbs and grasses once the beds were sufficiently prepared. They want butterflies. I have to get my dad to understand that his use of pesticide, is making it so they won't have butterflies or really, their ability to watch a caterpillar turn into a beautiful butterfly. It just isn't going to happen!

I'm also sorry if I came across as being B. I wasn't. I was in a hurry to find my bed! I'm really sorry if I came across as anything but only trying to help you☺

No, Terry, it's fine. I've always liked watching the squirrels, but they've become entirely too used to us. Some got into my attic and ate all of the insulation. Only the bare paper backing was left. That cost over $1500 to replace just for the material. The cable TV wires have had to be replaced twice as they'd been chewed so much.

But the worst was when I found my electric lead giving off live sparks against the house. The fire marshall had to come out and order the electric company to replace the chewed live voltage wires and cut all tree limbs away within 6 feet of the wires.

The insecticides that I use are all organic, but they are still poisonous to some living creatures, just hopefully not caterpillars. I have to use them as I'm one of those people who gets severe allergic reactions to insect bites.

My friend often comes down for her morning coffee to find squirells and chipmunks on her counter gorging on her fruitbowl.. They chew their way through her screens!!!!

I'm off to start applying the Milky Spore. My garden is so full of cages, DSO says it looks like I'm growing tin men!