The debris
Too Many Ravenous Rabbits This Year!!!
I'm usually picking up hundreds of pine cones and black walnuts out of this bed.
In the photo there is a normal spruce cone. The other is what one looks like after a vole's been at it. There are 100's of these in the bed. I recognized it because when I first moved here, I made a beautiful display on the front lawn with Gourds, Pumkins, Indian Corn, Scarecrow and Mums. When I went to take them down, the voles that live under the river birch had eaten the gourds and pumpkins hollow from the bottom up and the corn had every single grain removed. At that time, 3 years ago the voles were only living in that tree and in my front shrub bed. I put so much repellant and poison down there, that they've left the river birch and made ruts through the grass leading to my other beds.
They do eat bulbs too, so maybe they are why the cannas, glads, and dahlias didn't come back. Friends here are able to overwinter them. My tulips and hyacinths in the badly infested areas keep diminishing too.
This is how badly they've girdled a Maple. It goes clear around the tree and the bark has separated from the tree up to about 12'
I can't believe voles do so much damage! sheesh!
I made "pots" out of the hardware cloth... turned a rectangle into a cylinder, used wire to lace up the side. Then cut a square that fit the bottom, turned up the corners and used more wire to lace it into place. Time consuming? Yes! But all the nice hostas that I planted at my MIL's last summer are still there... none fell victim to the local voles (and she loses others each year). :-)
Thanks Critter. It will be a nice project for DSO while TV watching!!!!
Hart, A 3 legged turtle??? Did he eat your plants?
Thanks, I used to have keep a nice herb bed in a large dish planter on top of a big tree stump about 20' in front of the deck with others planted in dirt around it. I often work late and would end up cooking in the dark and would find myself out at the bed with a flashlight.
So, I opted to forgo the pansies in my deck planters and filled them with herbs. There are also pots of parsley and rosemary on the deck floor. Not as pretty as the flowers, but much more usable. I suppose I could have mixed flowers in with them, but I didn't buy any annuals this year.
Those purple, silver and varigated sages sure would be pretty in the flower beds. I try to keep the edibles separate, because I use some chemicals on the flowers that I wouldn't with anything to be eaten.
Sally, Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, castor beans are on Pa.'s invasive species list. But maybe I could find or make a spray from some of the oil.
This topic has certainly made an impression on me. I dreamed about moles and voles last night. ha-ha Those boogers in my dream were the size of ground hogs and had invited themselves inside of someone's house who was holding some sort of fancy tea party. They have just come from Stormy's place because they were nice and roly poly fat.
I laughed at the three legged turtle too. Sp, he went from tomato to tomato taking one bit out of each. I would have been mad as heck.
Anyone needing Castor Beans just let me know. I supplied a great many fellow Dave's Gardeners with them several months ago. We didn't plant any this year but have about 35 or 40 volunteers.
Ruby
Ruby, That's too funny!!! I dreamed about them too, twice!!
Hart should tell us what became of the turtle. Was he too fast for anyone to catch?????????
Now I know why the beans are a no go here!
Yep, they don't have a problem with re-seeding, that is for sure.
On a serious note, gosh I hope that you can find a remedy for these critters that are causing so much damage to your place. I would be ready to pull my hair out in frustration.
Ruby
Thank You, Ruby. I keep my sense of humour about it and it's really not such a bad thing. Just as long as they stay OUTSIDE, no tea parties please!!!!!
You are a real cutie Stormy. Hey, you could have much, much worse problems to deal with in life. You have a good attitude.
Ruby
The three legged turtle got relocated down the road to the creek. That rascal. I wouldn't have minded sharing but ruining every tomato within reach was a bit much.
Can't say that I blame you one bit Hart.
Ruby
I had actually found him up there the day before and felt sorry for him because he only had three legs. Dumb me - he devastated my tomatoes in one night.
And, by the way, I had about 35 tomato plants up there so I'm not talking about a few tomatoes.
This message was edited Jul 17, 2008 11:48 AM
Oh no!!!! Didn't you feel dumb after he did that? ha-ha Sweet, sweet Hart.
Ruby
Yes. Especially since my mother had told me the night before, "You'd better get him out of there - he'll take one bite out of every tomato." LOL I don't know how such a little critter had such an appetite.
LOL+++your mom hired somebody to make sure those tomatos got bittten, t prove her right! (at least, I would have done that!)
a 'rampaging three legged turtle" was an interesting way to describe him. would think it took him a l l n i g h t to get to all those tomatos..slow and very deliberate destruction.
Sally, I don't mind telling my mom she's right when she's right. LOL He certainly must have been very busy that night. And with only three legs I don't know how he reached up as far as he did.
Something, probably a stupid squirrel landed on top of my non-stop begonias in a pot on my front stoop...this is what they used to look like
I can't bring myself to take a pic of what they look like now.
I couldn't find that snake away at HD so I bought this stuff called critter ridder, doesn't work, found chewed up and spit out heucheras this morn.
Oh, Jen. I'm so sorry about your begonias. You can get the Snake Away at Walmart, Tractor Supply or Lowes. I don't think it works on flying or leaping squirrels, though.
Oh Jen, I'm sorry, they have snake repellant at Agway. I never had any luck with those other animal repellants. Snake-a-way keeps the squirrels off of the property. The two active ingredients are Napthalene & Sulphur.Good Luck, I loved your Begonia.
Jen, sorry to hear about your beautiful Begonia :( We had something similar happen a few weeks ago although our plant wasn't as gorgeous as yours. Have no idea what got it, but we had a bird nest in a huge Pepperomia that was hanging on the side of our house. One morning we came out and something had climbed or "slithered" up there to get the eggs and almost completely destroyed the plant. The hanging pot fell on top of my favorite Plectranthus and also smashed that one but fortunately didn't damage it too bad. Honestly, this is third episode we've had this year with "something" stealing the eggs from bird nests! The other two episodes, first one - eggs were snatched and no damage, second one, a little more upsetting :( After the first episode, I carefully placed obstacles around the nest since it was in a shrub only a foot off the ground - what was the mother thinking? Kept watching it and last week finally saw two baby birds - my joy quickly took a change for the worse when I discovered the babies missing two days ago. Nothing disrupted, no damage, like they were just plucked from the nest and I was devastated. Sometimes Mother Nature can be so cruel!
oh jen, that was so beautiful! snif snif, there there........
rcn- raccoons?
Don't ever get Gerbera daisy with chipmunks. It hunts the down to eat the flower buds, I swear, no kidding. I should get Snakeaway for Mom.
Def going to try Lowes or Walmart. Thanks for all the kind words. It's so sad when the helpless little birds get stolen/eaten or whatever.
We have a flycatcher who nests under the roof of our back porch every year. Here's the babies last week, a couple of days before they fledged. Last year she had two babies but something got them before they fledged.
This shows the nest a little better.
My bird story is not about a predator. Last year a bird built a nest in the Xmas wreath on my front door. It got so, we would pound on the glass before we opened the door, so there wouldn't be any occupants when we opened the door. When I went to take down the wreath, I was carrying it and a bird flew out of the nest right at my face!!! Of course, I threw it up in the air while swatting the bird away from my face (shades of Alfred Hitchcock). When it landed, all of the pretty blue eggs fell out and smashed. Did I feel bad. Stormy murderer strikes again!
I once lived in a high rise on the 13th floor. Every year a family of doves would move into my flower boxes hanging on the balcony railing. They would stay there all season. From the living room, I would watch the parents giving the babies worms. It was so cute. They would kick up such a fuss if I went anywhere near the balcony. My airconditioning unit there was vented by a series of 4 x 6" Screened spaces between the bricks. They were always full of birds in their nests. Chirp, chirp, chirp all day long. When the Canadian Geese were on the move, they flew so close I could almost reach out and touch them. Boy, did they make a lot of noise.
Finally, I put in 3 Azaleas today to replace those eaten by those vile voles. They are safely enshrined in vole proof "pots". Critter, my DSO would not follow your instructions in their creation. A little testosterone at work there??? He had to reinvent the wheel. Wait till he finds out that I need about 30 of these for my new Hosta!!!! And another 20 or so for Laurels, Rhodos etc.
Critter & RCN, I stopped at a nursery yesterday to look for something to treat vine weevils. They had a pet safe product there that was "guaranteed" to keep away the Groundhogs. I tried to remember the name, but can't so I'll call them and get it for you.
I'm off tonight for a weekend in Atlantic City, NJ. Have tickets for the "Elton John" concert!!!
Sweet pics of your "babies" hart :) That's why I was watching these nests so closely - I wanted pictures! May still get my chance - discovered another nest yesterday in a Dogwood when I was watering at the nursery. I have no idea what kind of bird yet, the mother scared the heck out of me - she immediately flew out of the nest when I got about 2' away from her and sat in a tree squawking at me until I left! At least this time the nest is about 5' off the ground so hoping no 'critter' gets them and maybe this time I'll get my pictures :)
They are some sweet tweets Hart. That new camera is doing a great job with close ups.
Stormy, I had to laugh and read aloud your bird stories to John. Have a great time in Atlantic City. We will be there for a week in October. Haven't ever been there to stay during warm weather, so have missed the beach goodies of the City. The gambling and shopping are fun though.
John is talking to me as I write this. He saw a gadget in a catalogue that we received this week. It is called a Solar Mole Chaser. Ad says that it chases away burrowing pests in minutes. It emits a sonic tone every 30 seconds and covers 6,000 square feet. No electricity needed. All of this for $10.79. ha-ha He said it is worth a try. You may find this and other handy-dandy cool gadgets at HarborFreight.com.
If anyone tries this product, please report back on your findings.
Ruby
Actually, I've made some cages by bending over all the little wire ends like that... it's a neater look, but heck, it all gets buried... it's easier to "lace" the edges together with another piece of wire! :-)
I've got a battery operated sonic mole chaser... worked for a while I think, then they stopped caring about it... maybe it's time to dig it out again and see if it still buzzes, since this generation of voles probably doesn't remember it!
Stomyla told me to check Mid Atlantic gardening out. Thanks Stormyla. I learned so much tonight. I have trouble with voles, rabbits, moles, groundhogs and deer and after trying so many things, I think a black snake moved in and vole, mole and groundhog damage is almost non existent. but then again all the tree frogs are gone and the snails and slugs are going a little haywire. But there is stuff I can apply for that problem. Still having problems with rabbits. But the deer don't seem to bother most of my plants (thanks to Deer Resistant Plants.com) and liguid fence. I have one more problem that I have to figure out how to handle. How do i keep the neighbors goats away?
Ha ha ha- it's a never ending battle.
Welcome to MAG, Roserairie. I guess we'll have to find you some Goat-Away. ;>) Maybe a trail of tin cans leading away from the plants?
Ruby, I love Harbor Freight. It has so many cool things and great prices. Another catalog you need is Lee Valley. They have so many nifty doodads.
https://www.leevalley.com/home/CatalogSelect.aspx?c=2
Hi roserairie--that does look like a challenge! I like goats theoretically. I've never lived with them.
Ok, a goat story. Mom took me to the zoo, they had a section for childern with a petting area, I was having the time of my life, love animals. This goat came up to me and before I knew it he was eating my admission tag that hung from the button of my shirt. I was so upset, first because he would not let go, thought my shirt was next and 2nd would they kick me out of the zoo cause I didn't have anything to show I was paid for. Dumb goat!
Goats?????? I'm glad that I live in the burbs. I hear they'll eat anything. Roserairie, guess you'll have to play Bopeep. Get leashes for them all and walk them on over to your neighbor's house. Knock on the door and politely hand them the leashes. I suppose the costume would help. If nothing else, you'll be ready for Halloween.
Roserairie posted about her critter troubles on my thread in the shrub forum. I think she should share her solution here.
Ruby, I had 2 of those sonic emitters. As I saw no decrease in the vole population, I assumed they were using it for break dancing!!
Hart, Those photos of your birds are awesome. How did you get so close? Is your zoom that powerful?
Critter, those are my sentiments exactly! But will he listen???? Maybe after making another 10 he will.
Roserairie, I don't know of anything other than snake-a-way that will keep the bunnies at bay. You wouldn't want to chase away your snake as I don't know of anything that will keep groundhogs away. What did you mean that the slugs are going haywire?
Something has been eating my parsley. It's in a pot that is 2' tall.
Today, I put down the diatomaceous earth in all of the beds that touch the house. I'm trying to cut down the ant & grasshopper populations there. I don't know whether it works on spiders or snails. My deck is always full of spider webs. I may try it in my hosta bed. Does anyone have any experience with it?
A large toad has taken up residence by my front door. Everyday, it's a challenge to make sure he doesn't get inside.
Toads eat lots and lots of insects. Make him a little house with an old pot by putting it upside down and either knocking a hole in the rim for a door or tipping it up with a rock about an inch. Those spiders are helping keep the bugs down too.
My camera has a 12x zoom but the birds were close. She made the nest up under the roof of the back porch.
Dagburnit!!! I was just starting to get some good fill in my really tough sun bed, when SOMETHING came along & ate the leaves off of my first year Hollyhocks!!!!!! Do you think they will still flower next year? I don 't think it was bunnies. They seem to usually eat the stalks too. The leaves were atop 1' tall stems and only the leaves are gone. Even though I haven't seen one, I did hear a groundhog noise the other day. I am quite miffed!!!! I have still not seen an animal, except those vile voles, here in a month.