Midnight muncher Round 3 With the score 112 to 28 in favor of the muncher the home team has some serious catching up to get ahead of the game. A recap of the efforts: Round 1: Planted next to trees, the crocus of years past enjoyed a free pass from the whirling arms of the lawnmower. As the trees were removed and the stumps succumbed to the giant blades of the grinder the crocus population declined. Then, two years ago I supplemented the dwindling crocus with 60 more. Several bunches of blooms again ushered forth to announce spring. All was well in crocusville….or so it seemed. Enter the midnight muncher. A nocturnal denizen of the nighttime shadows. It systematically dined on each new group and before I realized the creature was there. POOF!!! The crocus were gone….except strangely, the yellow ones. ??? What?? The yellow ones were not tasty enough? Round 2: Last fall I again planted more crocus, 80 of them but this time I encircled them with a protective shield of chicken wire. Take that you muncher! This spring flags of purple, white and yellow waved in the springtime breezes. The crocus again announced the spring. You can here this one coming, can’t you?? The midnight muncher struck again. With a precision nose it located several bunches of crocus. With deft paws the chicken wire served only to slow down the culprit. I quickly dug up the remaining crocus. The 25 survivors were evacuated from the devastated populations and spirited them away to a cool dry location for the summer. Round 3 Having weathered the winter hibernation the 25 survivors joined the 80 new batch New kids on the block The new creature barrier Bending to shape Preview of coming attractions What the muncher will meet up when it digs To be continued next spring or earlier if it sticks its nose in the wrong place Jerry
EWWW! I hate it when that happens! I cant tell, but is there a wire bottom to your bulb "basket"? if not you might find the same thing again... missing bulbs, if they get under the basket. You might want to try putting a few castor beans in each basket or pouring some castor oil around each one. If it is voles/moles it will help repel them.
Hello Jerry, What a tale this is. Gad the loss of those crocuses are just terrible. I am not understanding a thing or two though: Does the Muncher eat the flowers, flowers and stems or the bulbs? Does the beast dig them up before they bloom...at any time of year? I wonder what it is. It sounded like you may now know what it is...is that true? If so--tell. Carolyn was alluding to the fact that you may well need a top and bottom "basket"...or perhaps even a cage, as it were--top, bottom and sides. Pity that you don't have one of those movement-sensitive infra-red camera that you could place near the crocus patch. I have been thinking of getting one for a while now.
I chose to leave the bottoms open as the crocus if they do not like the depth they are planted at, can break out the shovels and start digging. Hmmm… maybe I should find the shovel story….. Anyway I’m 95% sure it is a raccoon that eats the bulbs. With chicken wire it was able to work its paw between the wires and pull the bulbs out. Last spring the bulbs were being eaten at the end of the bloom cycle. Two years ago the crocus were eaten sometime in the summer, the ’new’ hole in the ground was the first sign something was was not right in crocusville. I did make additional screen barriers for the bottom but I hope the present effort is sufficient. The chipmunks have done several ‘I smell something good’ holes. They are of no consequence. However, I am sure the muncher will locate the crocus if other food sources become scarce or unavailable. Jerry
That would be an odd thing for a raccoon. Are they digging from the top of the ground down? I think I would borrow a few gopher/mole/vole traps. We have gophers and moles here but they don`t really bother anything that I can see except the soil. Of course the only bulbs I have are spider lilies. Maybe they just don`t like those. Need any spider lilies ?
I see. Well, it really is a sad and frustrating thing for you. i hope that your latest idea will put an end to this.
Mart, the entry excavation is quite visible. I would think the subterranean variety would not be so blatantly obviously. The scope of the muncher covered a half acre in less than 3 days and was extremely precise. If moles were that good we are in trouble. The last gopher in the area was 8-10 years ago. They would be fair game for our local coyotes which is perhaps why we haven't seen one in years. My seed money is still on the raccoon. This may become moot if the hardware cloth works. Jerry
While the night shrouds garden activities of nocturnal creatures the removal of about an inch and a half of soil was probably the muncher. Chipmunks dig small investigation holes, distinctive in their depth and diameter. Soil about 3 inches in diameter was removed exposing the protective screen. The animal gave up and for now has not located any of the other newly planted crocus. ( photo / image / picture from Jerry Sullivan's Garden ) It's working!! Jerry
Well done! That's what I call, "A result".Well, its early days, but the first attempt was thwarted. Chapeau.
Well done, I can detect joy of victory here ... a Victory Dance for you!!! [youtube]2AIRQZAgtaE[/youtube]
