Crocuses chewed off by squirrels/pigeons.
Peanuts3
Posts: 759
Underneath my magnolia tree, outside my kitchen doors at this time of year, I would normally be seeing my lovely crocus in bloom.
Instead this year, as the flowers all came out a squirrel bit off each flower and left it. Not one flower left. They have also chewed every crocus in my pots, where I planted a bulb lasagne in the autumn. I'm hoping the hyacinths will still survive, they dont like those.
I'm taking it this is revenge for squirrel proofing my bird feeders. I'm so sad, I love those crocus, the first sign of spring near the house.
Ever feel like you are trying to win a losing battle, the pigeons have stripped the leaves off my lilac for last two years and have killed that... I'm about ready to buy a very powerful water pistol...
Anyone else had this ?
Posts
Yes.
If you live in Derbyshire, as I do.
They dig up and eat the crocus corms too! Mice also like Crocus. The sparrow hawk is a good pigeon scarer. Sadly he does not come over often enough.
Know just how you feel - it's happened to me too, though not squirrels, but my goose.
I blocked off access from the yard where the birds all congregate, but the sneaky thing found another way in, that involved going all the way round the rear of the house and up a steep bank, not somewhere he usually goes. Bird-brained they are not! Ate the flowers but not the leaves and tugged up the new shoots to eat the corms.
Wouldn't hurt so much if we didn't have such lovely dreams, but we spend all winter waiting for our vision to materialise, don't we?
Oh Peanuts, shame! They would have been so beautiful. Are they Grand Maitre, lovely large purple ones? I feel sad when mine cannot open because of the weather, but to have them destroyed like that would make me very unhappy.
Maybe you will have to just do a deal with the squirrels, feed them and they won't destroy your crocuses.
If I were you I would remove all those flower heads so as not to be reminded all the time of what might have been. Works with me!
Because of damage to emerging bulbs caused by squirrels,mice and the likely weather at this time of year (a heavy hailstorm has only just passed by) and the fact that I only glimpse the bulbs during brief forays into the garden (my OH/BH doesn't venture into the garden at all in winter), decided to plant all our new bulbs in containers. They have overwintered in the GH and come into the house or onto the patio as they begin to flower.
I realise that this may be depriving early bumblebees of pollen, but with the rain, hail and freezing temperatures recently, the flowers would have been a sodden mass beaten into the soil. This year, we are going to get enjoyment from early bulbs.
keepitlive, those are beautiful! I wish I could do that with my crocuses, but the pots are just too large. However, I have decided that in future I will put small crocus planted pots into the GH to deprive the mice and squirrels, and then I shall enjoy them.
Thanks, Oneofseven. Unfortunately, not even a GH guarantees unmolested bulbs. Mice got in on several occasions over the winter and took a few bulbs. The losses would have been heavy if I hadn't put traps down (sorry to anyone offended by that).
In future, I'm going to invest in some small gauge wire mesh to put over the pots.
I had mice in my GH so I put humane traps down and then let them out about 11/2 miles away, as I couldn't kill them
Not a good day for me. I went out to look at the white scabious seedlings that I had grown last summer and planted out the other day. All well protected against slugs with copper rings. Not protected against pheasants though. Every single one nibbled down to earth level. Not a hope of any regrowing. Just wish I could catch them at it.
If you live in Derbyshire, as I do.