Something is eating my bulbs

[solay]

I was wondering if anyone has had trouble with something eating Cym. bulbs? I found one plant all chewed up today. Just the bulbs not the leaves. I have a couple of chickens but they've never eaten any of the bulbs before. Maybe a squirrels or possibly a rat? The plants are in the yard.
A co-worker of mine had the same problem but only the fragrant ones were eaten.
Any advice? I would hate to find more plants eaten. I've grown Cyms. for 4 years now and never had a problem until today. Thanks.

[articuno75]

When placed mine outside for the first time, I had found a squirrel digging in mine. Grrrr. Of all the nerve, he stuck a buckeye in my pot and chewed my roots . Didn't touch the bulbs though.

I'd say squirrel. (sorry Anton )

[made4engineering]

I just have to say - I would be so mad!!! I would be waiting... waiting until I found out what it was .. then, Kill! Death! Kill!

[sandra]

solay, have you checked for snails? I'm sorry, 'snails', a very dirty word around here but you should check. There's a beer bait receipe somewhere here on the forum. A search should bring it up.

[fred]

solay
I have just moved this thread out of the Section - Suggestions, Feedback and Questions and moved into the Orchid Care Cultivation Section.

Back to the Topic ( Something is eating my bulbs )

[norris]

I would also say snails, slugs, or earwigs are more likely the cause, but hey, squirrels have to eat too, maybe you have one with really exotic tastes

[solay]

No,it was completely eaten. Plus no slime trail. Kinda like dime size bites. It was a larger creature. How do I get rid of it? Poisons? I'd hate to kill it if it was a squirrel. A rat is not a problem. I can put out a trap.
I will go through all my plants tomorrow and see if it got to more than one plant. I will really be mad if I find more chewed up bulbs. Then it will be WAR !

I will post a picture of the poor plant tomorrow. In the meantime, any animal repellent home remedies? Thanks.

[brookn]

Pepper spray. I used to use this really hot pepper sauce mixed with water, and a couple of drops of dishsoap to keep the cats out of my flower beds. Anyone know if that would hurt to spray onto the bulbs??

[berkeleysgr8]

I'd go for cayenne pepper! I've been told it is a great deterrent to keep deer from roses. We have a health food store here that sells cayenne that is marked with the Scoville Heat Units... so you can buy more mild cayenne or the super-hot kind! Go for the hottest pepper powder you can find! I would bet that one dose of super-heat would keep the critter away!

[solay]

I will try the pepper. I just hope I don't find any more in the morning. Cross my fingers!

[solay]

Here are the chewed up newly forming bulbs. Sorry about the blurry pics. I'm not good with a camera.

Thank god there weren't anymore today. Still, I will spray this weekend with the pepper just to be safe.

[solay]

OFF WITH IT'S HEAD!!!! OK, now I'm really mad. I went out there to spray with the cayenne pepper and found 4 more plants all chewed up and the tender new growths eaten! My husband thinks it might be squirrels. Does anyone know how to get rid of them? I sprayed the pepper but is there anything else? I'm even willing to kill if the pepper doesn't work.

[berkeleysgr8]

Let us know how the cayenne pepper works! I think one fiery dose will keep the critters away! That would be maddening to see your tender new growth eaten! Grrrrr

[norris]

If it's happening at night, I wonder if it could be an opossum.

[solay]

Do you think it's a possum? Maybe. How would I know? Is there a way to get rid of a possum?
I went and sprayed most of the new shoots with hot pepper mix. I also found another 10 plants chewed up!!!! I'm just fuming.
We have been hearing a critter under the house in the crawl space and was wondering if it was squirrels too. It's kinda creepy. I think that's the same thing that's eating the bulbs. My husband is going to see what he can find to kill it. I hate to kill anything but enough is enough. All else fails, I will have to call in the professionals.
I'll post if and when this is resolved. Thanks everyone.

[kmarch]

My experience with opossums, having lived most of my life in Michigan where there are lots of them, is that they're kind of scavengers eating bits of garbage and stuff like that, at least around areas inhabited by people.

By the looks of the pics, I dont' think it is an opossum, I think you have a gnawer at work, maybe a mouse or rat, possibly a squirrel.

I bet the pepper stuff will work, and I agree the stronger the better.

[BillC]

Hi solay, some months ago there was a similar thread about sqirrels eating orchids,and the final conclusion seemed quite straitforward; prevent the squirrel from damaging the plants by fencing off the area in which the plants are situated from the area in which the squirrel inhabits. It does not require much; a frame with a wire mesh small enough so the animal cannot penetrate. Hence plants inside-sqirrel outside! Outcome, happiness for Geek. Always providing that the culprit is not one of Anton's giant 'roaches.

Bill

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

OK, I live in a pack rat infested area. $1500 damage to one of our vehicles and now poison is a standard decoration of all our engine compartments (don't think squirrels like venturing into engine compartments. I have 3 pots of day lilys that I keep rolled hardware cloth around. About 3 feet high and no cover on these as the rodents aren't smart enough to go over the top. All my out door orchids are now behind a frame of hardware cloth and shade cloth up against my GH and inside a small yard to keep the javalina out. Will get pictures today and update this thread. The rest of my garden (vegetables) is behind a fence to keep out the javalina, and additionally have the rounds of hardware cloth for each plant to let them grow above the reach level of rodents. I even put a fence around our bird bath to keep the javalina from carting off our bird block. It took me several tries to get the vegetable garden fence javalina proof. I gave up on the border in front of my house until I have time to get the electric fence working. I'm thinking wouldn't it be great to put a rodent/javalina proof fence around my entire 1 acre of chaparral? But I would probably still have the deer jumping over it. Good thing this ground is so filled with rocks that only chaparral will grow here and that I am not into gardening big time. Use to be before I got a greenhouse 30 years ago. Now I am happy to have chaparral that takes care of itself leaving all my time free for my orchids.

[solay]

Cynthia, now I don't feel so bad. You seem to have worse critters than I. I wish I could put up a fence but that won't work for me at all.

I went out there today and yet again it ate a few more. I think The pepper spray was not effective cause it was hard for me to get every plant sprayed. I have too many.

So today I paid $25 for a repellent for almost everything under the sun. Including but not limited to, dogs, cats, raccoons, rats, and squirrels. The brand name is "Havaheart: Critter Ridder". Too funny.

Suppose to keep the critters away for 30 days. It really just smells like rosemary and lemon salt to me. I was told by the salesperson that it works well.
Tomorrow will tell. If I see more eaten shoots, I will have no choice but to get some traps.

[patlee]

Solay, I posted this yesterday, but it seems to have gotten lost in the missing-post-thing What I said might be repeated here, and if you have seen it, please ignore this. A couple of years ago we had a wood chuck/ ground hog that took up residence under our bay window. They are supposed to be voracious eaters and can demolish a vegetable garden in short orderThey can also take down a larger dog, so watch out if you have one-- After numerous attempts to stop his nibbling, my hairdresser told us to cut an onion in half (very similar to a cym bulb,no?) and get a Hav-a-hart trap. We put it inside the trap and caught the critter the next day. We took him to a wooded area with a stream and have had no problem since.

Let us know if you do find out who is chewing on your bulbs...

[solay]

Thanks, yes now I have my husband out looking for a trap. My husband found poison but I didn't want to use that.
I found more chewed leaves and bulbs today. Seems the repellent didn't do the job. It may be a squirrels since it is able to get the the second shelf without knocking anything down nor smashing any leaves in the process of feeding. It is a small critter anyhow.
More update later once I catch this thing.

[cattlover]

I'm willing to bet that you van catch the offending critter using a mousetrap. Mice can be very devastating to orchids and new growth. Have you noticed any little droppings around any of the plants ? I'm betting it's a mouse or a rat , especially since it only happens at night .Squirrels and chipmunks don't come out at night . Mousetrap with peanut butter or a larger trap for a rat. john

[solay]

I'm not sure if it's at night or in the morning since I only check them in the late mornings. Didn't see any droppings but I'll take a closer look. Either way, I think the trap will catch it. Thanks.