Biting off the heads of tulips?

neilberry

I don't think I'm the only one to have this problem, although I've seen so many theories it's hard to know what to believe.  I have pots of tulips that for whatever reason (and it usually seems overnight, or it's just that I'm looking at my garden in the mornings) the heads of the my tulips seem to get bitten off.  More often than not the tulip head is somewhere on the ground or close by - so frustratingly it's not eating them. I've lost at least 15, whatever it is seems to go for all of them before they flower. And just the tulip heads. No other flowers in my garden get the same attention.  Cat, squirrel, fox, bird? 

My only thought in figuring out which might help me figure out best course of action to protect it next year....(or do i give up !)  Argh.  

josusa47

I recently noticed that something had snipped off some flower buds on a hardy geranium, and left them on the ground next to the plant.  Today I caught the perpetrator, not red-handed but pink-footed: a herring gull.  Since their usual seafront diet of stolen chips and half-eaten takeaways has dried up, they are hanging around our homes and gardens a lot more than usual.  Maybe they're biting at anything in the hope it might be tasty and/or nutritious.

LG_

That has happened a lot here, though not this year for some reason. So frustrating, when you've watched the plant grow, seen the buds emerge, anticipated them opening... then they get lopped off in their prime. I thought it was foxes, but then caught a squirrel in the act.

wild edges

Maybe it was Ozzy Osbourne.

neilberry

Thanks all - while I'm not ruling out Ozzy Osbourne, I'm thinking it's either a fox or squirrel as well.  Very well could be a squirrels they're so active in the tree above. How to discourage them though? Netting.  Maybe i just can't grow tulips. 

Norfolkpine

We have numerous squirrels who frequently and blatantly gorge on peanuts from bird feeders. Tulips in pots have remained untouched, maybe we are just lucky. Muntjac apparently also like to eat tulips!

Buttercupdays

So do sheep!

LG_

I honestly don't know why it hasn't happened this year (though my Queen of the Night are still out so there's time). I never figured out a method to deter them that wasn't unsightly. The squirrels are still plentiful, so I expect we'll be back to business as usual next year.

B3

I've seen squirrels doing it too