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goldensmom_gw

Any bulbs that chipmunks won't eat?

goldensmom
18 years ago

Well since the chippies have eaten all my tulip bulbs that I planted the other day are there any bulbs out there that they won't eat? I planted them under chicken wire and put moth balls on top of the soil & under the mulch but they still got to them and ate each and every one.

Comments (11)

  • blueheron
    18 years ago

    Supposedly, nothing eats daffodils. (And, please, please, don't use mothballs in the garden. They are little toxic waste dumps!)

  • lindac
    18 years ago

    Camphor mothballs aren't "toxic waste dumps"....but the para ones are...
    I second planting daffodils and other narcussus.....all parts of the plant are poisionous.
    Linda C

  • KatrinaG
    18 years ago

    I had read on here to put talcum powder in the hole with the bulb and then sprinkle crushed red pepper on top of the ground to discourage critters from eating the bulbs.

    Katrina

  • rfink
    18 years ago

    Alliums, as per The Complete Garden Guide" (Time life books). I have no direct experience, though.

    Good Luck!
    Renee

  • geoforce
    18 years ago

    Colchicums are all exceedingly toxic, and remain rodent proof. Nice reliable fall bloomers.

    George

  • oldroser
    18 years ago

    Alliums, daffs, hyacinths, wood hyacinths, snowdrops, snow flakes, squill, chionodoxa. I've also had good results with crocus tomasianus but they will eat regular crocus.
    Your problem is that you picked their absolute favorite for a first try!

  • linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
    18 years ago

    I planted tulips last fall; dug each hole deeper than recommended, put the bulb in, then squirted each bulb with diluted tabasco sauce. I think sprinkling with red pepper would have been easier. They did dig up and eat all the crocuses I planted; perhaps because they were not as deep. I saw digging holes in the tulip area, but I think they gave up before they got too deep or when they smelled the tabasco.

    Then when they bloomed I had to go out every day and spray the flowers with tabasco again; plus send the cat out to patrol. It was a lot of work. If I do it again I will stick with daffodils.

  • ego45
    18 years ago

    I don't know what to think.
    Over the weekend I moved a lot of plants and for sure dug out some of the last year tulips. Some bulbs were blooming size, some were small splits, but since I treat them as annuals anyway, I decided to give everything I harvested to chipmunks and squirrels.
    I simply made a pile of them and left on a top of the rock.
    They still laying there untouched as of now!!!
    I could only guess that such huge acorns crop as we have this year keeps animals uninterested in tulip bulbs, even if they don't have to dig them.

  • haweha
    18 years ago

    No mammal will feed on bulbs of amaryllids plants;
    That is narcissus, galanthus, Leucojum as representatives of hardy bulbs and, for tender bulbs: Amaryllis belladonna, crinum, cyrtanthus, habranthus, hippeastrum, Hymenocallis and ismene, lycoris, nerine, sprekelia (Jacobean or Aztec lily) and many others...
    These all contain bitter tasting and poisonous amaryllidacean alkaloids.
    On the other hand these alkaloids do not hamper other potentially far more terminators of this kind of bulbs: The narcissus bulb flyhref>.
    These can erdadicate entire plantations in one season.

    Hans-Werner

  • goldensmom
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Thanks everyone .... guess I'll try again with all your suggestions.

  • gardenfanatic2003
    18 years ago

    Don't plant hyacinths! Chipmunks ate mine last year, and enjoyed them so much they decided my flower bed was an excellent place to camp out. They now have an extensive tunnel system all throughout my flower bed. I never had a problem with them before I planted the hyacinths.

    Deanna