A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum bunches of bulbs

A bunch and I mean a bunch of bulbs are missing. Did the squirrels go grocery shopping in my bulb beds? All the freesia are gone. All the tulips are gone and most of the daffodils are gone. This is terrible.

Moles eat mine. They dig holes in tunnels so you don't see damage to the ground.

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I don't have issues with bulbs, except that I did learn that freesias aren't hardy in Idaho. DUH. I know people who get animals that eat their bulbs, like deer.

yep. TK--at the farm I could not ever keep many bulbs much-- MY moles seemed to prefer tulips (ate 12 yellow & 12 black tulip bulbs) and thatq was just for a start--all I could ever raise, bulb wise, was a few yellow tulips.

I could not fight them, seeings as how we lived in the middle of 4 fields, so I only planted what they did not like.

I am so sorry----

Thanks for the kind words.

I am going through the same. It's so disappointing! They only left the Alliums, i guess because of the oniony smell. But tulips gone! Do squirres smell the bulbs? Because i planted them deep. I even followed a diagram as to how to plant them to get the most in spring. About a week after planting them i saw all the holes. :(

Me too, I blamed the squirrels and chipmunks for all the holes in my gardens. I don't think I will really realize till next spring when I have no spring flowers. I didn't think they ate the daffodils though. Thought those were safe.

leola. I think moles are not too fond of daffodils--they were the only ones safe out at 'the farm'. no other bulb ever survived.

i've heard that you can plant them in chicken wire "baskets" to keep them from being eaten, and i know they do get eaten, but i've been lucky.

I have planted my lilies and tulips in wire baskets to help protect them. I bought wire waste baskets at the dollar store and buried them with a couple inches above ground. Those bulbs have been safe so far.

glad i'm not nuts. i can't plant tulips here, it doesn't get cold enough for them to rebloom, and i'm not digging them up. too lazy and too much else to do!

me either, Jiffy--
when I was young my Aunt & Uncle bought gladiola bulbs..all red & lined their extensive vegetable garden.--they were berautiful. In the fall they dug them up--but then they put them in one of their out buildings & left them--they ALL froze---so no bulbs that have to be dug up for me---I would be sooo sad if I went through that & still lost them---

but the basket idea sounds promising----

I get rebloom here, Jiffy and I'm even warmer winter zone than you are. But they only last a few years and are gone. They certainly won't multiply. I won't dig things up either. If it can't survive, I don't need it.

i might try some then tina.... when i move my bulb garden. need to do that before spring.

You can get special cold hardy Gladiolas now! It gets cold here and I never dig mine up and they've always come back up...knock on wood, might just be luck. Now my neighbor digs all of her tulips up each year and she has tons, I'm too lazy and mine have rebloomed since I planted them---not quite as much as they first did but enough to make me happy and not dig them back up.

I'd be so mad if moles ate my bulbs.

I had a bad mole problem. I pound glass in the soil and surround my bulbs with allium and dafs because critters do not like them. The glass cuts their bodies. I do not lose any bulbs.

I use my bare hands in my soil most of the time. The glass idea scares me. I have also surrounded with daffs and society garlic. That is a great deterrent.

Loz, I don't dig up my tulips either and they rebloom............and it gets extremely cold here. I hate digging up and storing bulbs.

I know daffofils are deer resistant (that's wh ythey can naturize so easily...so vesseys says) i know for sure alliums ar nt touched, but so far nothing seems to be have duggen out (grammar?) i left some dutch iris bulbs, and a whole bunch of tulips lying on the lawn for a week or so until I finally remembered to get them planted, and they were all there, and we have a big squirrel problem, i guess its just luck. try sprinkling some ground cayenne peppers over the bulbs and make sure they'r covered with leaves or something so it doesn't look like the ground has been freshly dug, thats what my uncle told me when he gave me his tulips

There is a plant that if you plant it it will keep moles away from your yard because they do not like it at all my great grandma has them all over her yard They are a somewhat pretty plant but they also have flowers and multiply which is good i will ask her wht it is called and post it on here

Yikes!! I was outside yesterday walking around the yard with the dog and noticed that the daffodil bulbs are coming up. This warm weather we are having is fooling them and I guess I'd better find some leaves to cover them with. The COLD weather will return. Last year this happened and I did not get many blooms.

the plant is castor bean plant and yes it is pretty--but is also poisonous

I planted it one year, but I worried as the kids were young--My Uncle used to swear by the plant, though

Crown Imperials are also suppose to do that. But they are very expensive bulbs and they reproduce slowly.