Can anyone tell me what EATS Lily bulbs....

I have a lily that is already budding and something appears to have gnawed the stem off of the bulb and eaten the bulb...there is a nice large hole where the bulb is supposed to be....I have never had this happen before!

The dreaded dadburned voles. Of course a rabbit could have bitten off the stem and then a vole got the bulb! Ditto for a nuisance Groundhog. Sorry.

I have never seen either one...are they in every state? I do not know anything about either...aren't groundhogs rather large?

Hey there Janet! Good to "see" ya- I saw something growing in the garden the other day that had me thinking of you :-)

It sounds like voles (dreadful monsters they are!) to me too, I've had the very thing you describe happen. In my old garden the soil was so friable the tunneling critters could practically backstroke in it! A whole clump of 'Orania' OT lilies were completely gone one year! Do you see mole tracks in your yard? Voles often use the same tunnels and devour roots and bulbs the moles have left exposed.

I have 6 cats now, so rodents don't present much problem any more. I've also inoculated the lawn with milky spore to get rid of grubs, which in turn keeps moles from hanging around (and hopefully lowers the number of Japanese beetles!), and therefore no tunnels for the bulb eaters to use. Come to think of it, I haven't seen a single grub in my digging this spring! I assume moles and voles are present throughout the south, but not sure about that.

One of my White Henryi's seems to be missing. So I am thinking if a vole got it. I just knew when I saw that hole out there a few weeks back it wasn't going to be a good thing!

Here ya go Janet!

http://voles.com/

Hi Neal! What is blooming in your garden? I would love to see it!

EWWWW....moles are ugly! I hope it was a one time thing...nothing else seems to be disturbed this morning....voles are quite cute to look at aren't they....but I really don't want either in my lily bed! I have just been praying the deer would leave them alone and then I find another critter to be wary of....jeesh...gardening isn't for sissies is it! LOL

We have lots of cats roaming around...I don't own one, but it seems like almost all of my neighbors to...so maybe they have been keeping them at bay for a while. That garden area is very loose too, this is a new bed that I had built last year so the soil is rich and loose...hmmmmm.

Thanks for the info! I will certainly keep a look out and let you know if I have more disappearing like that one did....I brought the stalk inside and put it into water...don't know if the buds are mature enough to keep growing and bloom....anyone else know?

Janet, A vole wouldn't have sawed off the stalk. That's usually rabbits or groundhogs. Voles eat the bulbs. Squirrels can dig them up and toss them about too. Voles are not cute. They are evil satan spawn!!!

How big are the buds? If they're mature enough they could still open.

The buds are very small...so I have my doubts. :( Here is a picture of the gnawed stem...
there was a nice large hole when the bulb was...so I don't know...maybe a rabbit and vole got together for dinner...lol

Hmmm Janet, I've never seen that before. Looks ugly. Here's what groundhogs, bunnies and maybe even squirrels will do.

I have had some cut down by rabbits before I believe...I had just never seen one chewed up like this..lol

And that was above ground, right? Hmmm...mine were chewed just at the white part of the stem that attaches to the bulb, underground (after the vole incident).

Arrrrggghhh! Voles!!!! oh, the're awful. I just rescued my Fred Fellner seedlings (Why is it always the hard-to-replace ones that get nabbed????) . They were about the only asiatics that hadn't showed up yet. Whatever variation of evil satan spawn voles I end up with like to pull the bulbs down deeper into their tunnels and then start munching away-I think it's their version of drive-through. When I found what was left they were not at all where I'd planted them- and one of them had a broken 6" sprout, open and leafing, that was completely white-like it was being blanched. Just my luck-not only do the voles in my yard do drive-through, they're gourmets as well....maybe they're related to Ratatouille.....

I've had squirrels dig up lily bulbs and eat them, so it's possible-but the ones of mine that got eaten were discovered right after I planted them. I don't think I've ever had one squirrel-nabbed after it was growing. :( I had one entirely too smart squirrel that had figured out to go dig in all the pots with just dirt in them-he ate more than his share of lilies before I figured it out. He's gone now, not sure how or why, but he's not missed-LOL. Squirrel-eaten bulbs usually leave some evidence-a partial scale, a bit of root or two... :( :(

I'll get stem munches from slugs that look kind of like the broken stems stomyla posted. Evil slug lily loggers......I'd say what I really thought but I'd get in trouble...



This message was edited May 1, 2009 3:01 PM

Damien the Spawn of Satan Tree Rat luvs to eat my lily bulbs. He prefers them as an appetizer before they sprout. He gnaws the stems off the glads before he chows down on them as he prefers these as an entree.

LOL, dahlianut, let's hope our little gourmands never read dave's-I don't want to give mine any more ideas..... ;)

Oh Gosh, I hope there's none inside of my computer!!!!!

Oh lordy ~ they're probably hackers too!

In more ways than one!

LOL Hello Moby! You guys are too funny! I swear I hold my breath all night waiting to get up and see if the deer or some other "critter" has spared my Lilies...I have so many that are up and I so want to get to see them blooming this year!

Hi Janet! Have you tried spraying Plantskydd across the tops of your lilies to ward off the deer?

I have tried that for the last two seasons....it seems everytime I spray they will stay away for a while, then we will have some rain, and they sneak in and eat them down before I can respray.....this year we have had more rain, so I have seen less deer in the gardens here...I guess they have plenty where the graze with all of the Spring rain...I don't know, but I have lots of them up and I keep praying they will be there when I wake the next day...here is a picture of one of my Lily beds.

You all have a much better sense of humor over voles than I do! I am furious! For years I had gorgeous tall and stately golden yellow lilies - name lost but no matter- up until last year, when they reached 7'. This year....nothing!
The #$%!@* little miscreants got them ALL.

Never again. I'm planting replacements (Conca d'Or? King Pete?) in bulb cages (nothing fancy; small plastic buckets with little holes on the bottom and sides for drainage from the dollar store), and for good measure, I'm sprinkling extra hot cayenne powder around the cages and over the top of the soil.

Let them try to get through that! HA!

This message was edited May 4, 2009 1:47 AM

Here's what I lost. I'm heartbroken.

Wow, winterrobin, what $ store sells those? Do you have a photo of one? So sorry for your loss. This year they got my Iris. At least I don't have deer. One of the benefits of living near power towers.

Sniff, Sniff, There were indeed beauties. My condolences. I can smell them from here.

Ohh, those were really beautiful lilies, winterrobin. I'm so sorry.

Maybe Louis XIV from TLG?

I've developed a very recent fondness for Alliums, often planted surrounding my lilies. I'm also trying daffs around them..... Not sure yet how much good it's doing, but I feel better... ;)

O that is horrible news winterrobin :( Those were outstanding.

Thanks for your sympathies, guys. I know that those of you who have been growing lilies for a long time have lost more than this, but these were my first lilies. My fault, really. I knew we had moles, and I knew we had voles, because my kitty used to bring me one a week. I should have protected the bulbs.
Stormy, I will try to post a photo of my fortress...I mean, bucket.
Susy, I saw Louis XIV when I was online looking for replacements. Very handsome!

Thanks, Winterrobin

Until we put up netting, the deer pulled up a lot of tulip bulbs and at the tops of the buds.

A couple of years ago I was so angry that I put out lots of garlic cloves to thwart off some of the creatures. Cayenne pepper did nothing but make a mess. For the leaves and blooms, especially lily beetles, deer and that dang wabbit, I spray organics like crazy. The garlic is still growing. That wabbit ate the buds right off 2 lilies I put in less than a month ago! Cute doesn't cut it.

We've also taken to quite a bit of container gardening to avoid the underground critters (very large containers). We did it last year because there was so much sun on our deck and were very successful, and we learned from our mistakes. Because they are raised up, it's also easier on our backs and easy to water.

The voles got my lilies this year... I could scream. My Starfighter had 16 blooms on it last year. I am also burying mine in cages... was going to make wire with a ring of copper tubing around the top to get the slugs. Winterrobin, how did the plastic from the dollar tree work??? They have the baskets already so you don't have to poke holes. I thought of using my old plastic pots that plants come in, with the bottom cut out. Any other idea's??? I lost a lot of other plants also this year... they ate the roots right out from underneath. My feline passed away a year ago December... he always kept the yard clear... looks like they know he's gone... they've avoided the garden by his grave.

We have a dread cat hunter too. Now and then a deermouse but never saw voles as kill.
When she leaves chipmonks I say "Tell your friends this isnt the place to dine and find an apartment" Heh!!!

I've had a terrible time with voles here in NW PA. All the tulips, nearly all the lilies, Siberian Iris, gone. A young Apple girdled. Potatoes gnawed. I won't poison because lots of critters eat them here. YouTube has some excellent how-to videos on how to use mousetraps. I tried the "bait w/peanut butter and poke plastic traps down hole" technique with some success. Am now cutting the narrow side from short sections of rain gutter. Placed over the opening of a tunnel, unbaited traps facing both directions. Mousetraps [classic Victors] drilled so they can be spiked to the sod with a large nail so they don't waste kinetic energy flipping. I hope they work.

I've had chipmunks dig up and eat bulbs. They are cute but a pain in the butt. I relocated 32 of them last summer. I can't bring myself to kill them but some days I wish I could! Rotten creatures!

Good grief,what a infestation.
We moved here 3 years ago and had been informed the bunny problem was out of controle.
We have a stalker cat that discouraged the rodents and rabbits.