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  • What kind of critter eats flowers?

    From LAS14 LAS14@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jun 20 11:53:04 2020
    Over the course of the last two weeks something has bitten off the stems of the flours on four different plants at about 4 to 8 inches and then bitten off and removed/eaten/dragged off the flowers from the other end, leaving the severed, beheaded stem.
    One plant was an anemone robustissima. The other were some delphinium that I'd bought this year and which bloomed before they were two feet tall. The stems were very thin, so it suggests a small critter. I've wrestled with woodchuck problems over the
    years, and would expect much more devestation if it were a woodchuck. Any ideas as to what this might be and what I might do about it? I'm going to set out a have-a-heart trip with a bouquet of the remaining blooming delphinium in it as bait.

    tia
    las

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  • From Leon Fisk@21:1/5 to laslaslas14@gmail.com on Sat Jun 20 17:22:48 2020
    On Sat, 20 Jun 2020 11:53:04 -0700 (PDT)
    LAS14 LAS14 <laslaslas14@gmail.com> wrote:

    Over the course of the last two weeks something has
    bitten off the stems of the flours on four different
    plants at about 4 to 8 inches and then bitten off and
    removed/eaten/dragged off the flowers from the other end,
    leaving the severed, beheaded stem. One plant was an
    anemone robustissima. The other were some delphinium that
    I'd bought this year and which bloomed before they were two
    feet tall. The stems were very thin, so it suggests a small
    critter. I've wrestled with woodchuck problems over the
    years, and would expect much more devestation if it were a
    woodchuck. Any ideas as to what this might be and what I
    might do about it? I'm going to set out a have-a-heart trip
    with a bouquet of the remaining blooming delphinium in it
    as bait.

    My culprits were deer and rabbits. Fence was the solution. Deer only
    have incisors on the bottom. So they have to tear stuff
    off leaving a ragged stem torn on the top side. Rabbits nip stuff off
    clean like shears. Deer will try most anything and step on lots of
    stuff in the process...

    --
    Leon Fisk
    Grand Rapids MI

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  • From David Hill@21:1/5 to Leon Fisk on Sun Jun 21 00:07:54 2020
    On 20/06/2020 22:22, Leon Fisk wrote:
    On Sat, 20 Jun 2020 11:53:04 -0700 (PDT)
    LAS14 LAS14 <laslaslas14@gmail.com> wrote:

    Over the course of the last two weeks something has
    bitten off the stems of the flours on four different
    plants at about 4 to 8 inches and then bitten off and
    removed/eaten/dragged off the flowers from the other end,
    leaving the severed, beheaded stem. One plant was an
    anemone robustissima. The other were some delphinium that
    I'd bought this year and which bloomed before they were two
    feet tall. The stems were very thin, so it suggests a small
    critter. I've wrestled with woodchuck problems over the
    years, and would expect much more devestation if it were a
    woodchuck. Any ideas as to what this might be and what I
    might do about it? I'm going to set out a have-a-heart trip
    with a bouquet of the remaining blooming delphinium in it
    as bait.

    My culprits were deer and rabbits. Fence was the solution. Deer only
    have incisors on the bottom. So they have to tear stuff
    off leaving a ragged stem torn on the top side. Rabbits nip stuff off
    clean like shears. Deer will try most anything and step on lots of
    stuff in the process...

    Squirels and mice can do that as well

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  • From David E. Ross@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jun 20 16:21:27 2020
    On 6/20/2020 11:53 AM, LAS14 LAS14 wrote:
    Over the course of the last two weeks something has bitten off the stems of the flours on four different plants at about 4 to 8 inches and then bitten off and removed/eaten/dragged off the flowers from the other end, leaving the severed, beheaded stem.
    One plant was an anemone robustissima. The other were some delphinium that I'd bought this year and which bloomed before they were two feet tall. The stems were very thin, so it suggests a small critter. I've wrestled with woodchuck problems over the
    years, and would expect much more devestation if it were a woodchuck. Any ideas as to what this might be and what I might do about it? I'm going to set out a have-a-heart trip with a bouquet of the remaining blooming delphinium in it as bait.

    tia
    las


    If, as suggested in other replies here, the problem is either deer,
    rabbits, or squirrels, I have heard a suggestion. This might even work
    for mice but not for raccoons, oppossums, or rats.

    Make small cloth bags (old bed linens, underware, or other fabric but
    not mesh). At a plant nursery, buy a small amount of blood meal (a fertilizer). Put some blood meal in each bag. Place a few on the
    ground and hang the others from nearby shrubs or low branches of trees.
    Squirt them with water just enough to wet the bags but not enough to
    make them soggy. Occasionally, wet the bags again.

    Deer, rabbits, and squirrels will not go where they smell blood.

    By the way, blood meal is a great fertilizer when making potting mix.
    It is high-nitrogen but mild. It will not burn roots.

    --
    David E. Ross
    <http://www.rossde.com/>

    Who would you trust to provide accurate information about
    COVID-19? Doctors who have studied viruses and treated
    patients for years? Or a TV actor who tweets "cofefe"?

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