Hi all, thanks in advance for any help. I went to my clients house today to find 9 of the Lucifer crocosmia bitten off at ground level and then savaged/shredded. Whatever it was, seemed to be eating the inside of the plant. They were also moved quite a ways from where they had been chewed off. I think it might be squirrels but am not sure. Is there any way to deter them from doing this? It's heart breaking to see them lying on the ground... dead. Thanks so much!
Hi, thanks for your reply. We don't have moles/voles in this area. It's like they were opening the stem for the inside tenderness. I had raccoons do that years ago with corn, but I don't think it's them, I do believe it is the squirrels, and wondered if anyone else had the same issue.
I didn't have exactly the same problem, but knowing squirrels ways I would say it looks very much like them. I don't see how you could protect your garden from their activities other than by helping them to relocate to the less populated area.
There's no disturbance in the flower beds which are tightly packed with plants. Something as big as a raccoon would surely leave some sort of damage. Whatever is doing this, also pulled up clumps of crocus's this spring and dragged them far away from the bed, same thing though, chewed off at ground level. It's really annoying to not know what it is and how to combat it. You wait all year for certain flowers to bloom, then whamo, gone. Thanks for your interest and help...Colleen
This dragging things away is very characteristic to squirrels. I find my strawberries in the most impossible places, like for example, on tree branches, and my hazelnuts in my flower beds. They are also very skillful with extracting what they are looking for from the rest of what they are dealing with, like the seeds from the new, still green, Fir cones. They cut the cones from the branches, let them drop, pick them up from the ground, take them to their favourite eating spot and eat all the seeds, leaving only cone cores and scales. As for Crocuses I had them razed to the ground, too, but I am quite sure it was done by rabbits, not by squirrels.
i'd agree with the squirrel theory - or rats which are so increasingly prevalent at the coast. i wish the squirrels would eat my darn Lucifer - it is a weed for us. then they could start on the morning glory oh - and esp the stupidest thing I have done - plant alstromeria - ouch. Please, have at it squirrels - the little "tubers" look kind of tasty tender. (then go after the neighbor's Knotweed that he hacks down and "disposes" on the opposite side of our country road - holy heck.) goat herds being hired for weed-eating ---- now squirrel herds for high up locations? ;)
