I can vouch for gray squirrels both eating and transplanting crocus. There are some crocus-filled lawns in my neighborhood that can only the the result of decades of squirrel work :D On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 2:01 PM, Stephen Putman <putman@pobox.upenn.edu>wrote: > I don't usually comment on these items as it gets me called nasty names. > More than 20 years ago I had a large native eastern (US) wildflower > garden in an urban setting, but adjacent to the "world's largest in-city > park" - Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. Not too much trouble with > rabbits except when I tried to establish a planting of nut bushes and > the rabbits kept eating them down to the ground before they could be > established. I finally shot and ate the rabbits. > > Later, I planted lots of Crocus in a "non-native" section of the garden > (which I could observe through an upstairs window). The next spring I > noticed some of that bed being scuffed up. Then the scuffs became holes > and crocus began being spread about on the surface. I looked out that > second floor window one day in time to see an eastern chipmunk digging > and eating crocus bulbs. Taking the law into my own hands, and as I was > pointing almost directly down at the ground, I used a .22 cal. rifle to > dispatch the chipmunk. In its cheek pouches there were over a dozen > small crocus bulbs. The garden was surrounded by a stone wall (much of > it laid up dry), and it was a chipmunk sex camp, because there seemed to > be an endless parade of chipmunks. I finally wound up trapping or > shooting more than two dozen of the little darlings. So long as I was > willing to do that each year both spring and fall, I had crocus. If I > quit for a year, the crocus would rapidly begin to disappear. > > For us gardening is mostly a pastime. For some animals the contents of > our gardens are a convenient source of food, and life. > > shp > > On 4/22/2010 1:35 PM, Adam Fikso wrote: > > Rabbits ate off nearly all the azalea buds I had (nearly 200 flowers by > > estimate). No other animal is likely as a possibiity in our area---nor > > birds, except, possibly a pair of cardinals.No woodchucks any more, and > the > > buds were too high. No deer close by. > > > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Jane McGary"<janemcgary@earthlink.net> > > To: "Pacific Bulb Society"<pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> > > Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 11:20 AM > > Subject: [pbs] Catching the frit eater > > > > > >> For the past two years my bulb collection has been ravaged by an > >> animal that crops off the flowering stems of Fritillaria, > >> Ornithogalum, Calochortus, and a few other genera, resulting in a > >> loss of seed crops, not to mention extreme anger and frustration on > >> the part of the gardener. I didn't know what was doing it. I > >> suspected rabbits, which have invaded the frames and eaten the > >> foliage of Crocus; but it seemed to me that rabbits would also eat > >> the frit foliage, and this animal was ignoring nonflowering plants. I > >> knew it wasn't mice, because the stems were bitten off higher than a > >> mouse could reach when the stems extended above the netting with > >> which I was trying to protect them. It wasn't deer, because it was > >> happening when the frame lights were lowered. Gophers are rare here, > >> and there was no sign of their excavations, nor were bulbs being dug > >> up. I considered the mountain beaver (Oplodonta), a genus and indeed > >> family endemic to the Pacific Northwest and present in my woods, but > >> it's a big animal (about the size of a groundhog) that would have > >> trampled plants as well as eating them. > >> > >> Finally, yesterday evening, I spotted it: a chipmunk. I immediately > >> baited and placed a live trap near where I had seen it exit the > >> frame, and this morning it was there in the cage. Today it's going on > >> a very long ride, and it won't have fun doing it, because I'm > >> combining the chipmunk relocation with my collie's vet appointment, > >> and Winnie the collie gets to stare at the little devil for a few miles. > >> > >> I had begin to suspect chipmunks after noticing one biting the > >> emerging foliage off a potted Japanese maple near the house. Possibly > >> they are attracted to plant material that's unusually sweet in > >> spring, and the nectar-rich liliaceous flowers and their succulent > >> stems would qualify. Interestingly, they did not take some of the > >> California Fritillaria species (section Liliorrhiza) or species in > >> the Imperiales section (F. imperialis, F. eduardii, etc.); perhaps > >> these contain some compound that is offensive to predators. Nor have > >> they taken many tulips in the frame, though deer bite off the stems > >> of those in the garden. > >> > >> I'm told that chipmunks are not common in urban areas, but if you're > >> seeing this kind of damage to flowering stems, watch for them. They > >> are easy to trap in squirrel-size Havahart live traps baited with > >> sunflower seeds (I stick the seeds to the trigger platform with > >> honey). Because they're a native mammal I hesitate to kill them; I > >> will have no such reservations once I move nearer the city and have > >> to protect my bulbs from the introduced eastern gray squirrel, or > >> worse yet from rats. > >> > >> Jane McGary > >> Northwestern Oregon, USA > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> pbs mailing list > >> pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > > > > _______________________________________________ > > pbs mailing list > > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >