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linnea56chgo5b

Stupid squirrels ATE the daffodil bulbs!

I did a big planting of bulbs from my VE order: about 300 crocus, daffs, species tulips, scilla, and chionodoxa.

Most of the stuff I thought they'd eat (crocus, tulips) was protected with wire mesh. But the daffodils and things they don't normally eat were not protected. I ran out of mesh at the end and, crossing my fingers, tucked the last 30 or so species crocus under the overhanging leaves of some heuchera.

I planted about a dozen or 18 extra daffodils around a tree, about 10 feet away from the big planting. The next morning, half of them had been dug up: but not just dug and tasted and left, eaten! There were only the outermost layers left shredded on the ground. The holes were left open, so I knew how many were gone.

I then went over to the last unprotected crocus I planted: no disturbance!

Nyah, nyah, nyah....you ate the wrong thing! (visualize here a disproportionate amount of satisfaction) I trust that whoever it was had a huge tummy ache.

Comments (11)

  • vetivert8
    13 years ago

    Your wicked glee is entirely understandable. I'm actually surprised at how restrained you are :-)))

    Now, if only that squirrel lives to tell its children - you could be hassle-free for YEARS!

    The Eternal Optimist.

  • Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
    13 years ago

    Oh Linnea, that is almost unbelievable. I've never heard of such a thing. If it is really so, you might find some dead little critters here in the next few days.

    There were only the outermost layers left shredded on the ground.
    I'm wondering if they maybe took them somewhere else and replanted them and that you might find them in various places next spring, or in following years.

    Another GW member had daffs show up on her property that she had not planted, so I'm thinking they must have been 'brought on' by some critter at some time or another.

    Sue

  • luvahydrangea
    13 years ago

    I've never heard of that happening, but I don't doubt it for a minute. The rats, er squirrels got into my garage and ate a box of rat poison. Looks like they had a party with it, not a drop left and not a single dead squirrel could be found. They're indestructible.

  • linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    There were so many tiny chips that it was impossible to tell if any core of bulb would have been left. But if I see any Sundisc daffodils in a neighbor's yard, I'll know they're mine! :) They are minis and pretty distinctive.

    I did see a squirrel watching me from across the street as I finished up. Usually when I actually see one, I know there will be trouble. But I didn't worry at the time, because they were daffodils.

    When I planted the back yard a day later, I checked for squirrels watching first. There weren't any. This sounds like I'm joking, but I'm not.

  • linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Actaully, maybe the daffodils eaten the day before was the REASON I saw no squirrels the next day. Holed up with tummy aches? Are daffodils poisonous enough to actually kill them?

  • Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
    13 years ago

    Actaully, maybe the daffodils eaten the day before was the REASON I saw no squirrels the next day.
    I'm betting so, but still think they just 'peeled' them and then planted elsewhere. As poisonous as they are, they likely died, as opposed to just getting a tummy ache.

    Yep, I'm betting some little Sun Disc will be popping up somewhere in the neighborhood.

  • denninmi
    13 years ago

    Wow, that's discouraging -- one of the few things in my garden I consider rodent-proof, and my personal favorite plant. I have planted probably at least 5,000 daffs in the past couple of decades. So far, so good despite tremendous vole population. But, there is a first time for everything. I always considered Alliums vole-proof, too, until the voles ate over 100 of them last winter.

  • fieldofflowers
    10 years ago

    Why do I always find these posts in the archive and never the current year?! Do people still have this same problem in 2013?

    I just planted some in the back yard of an urban apartment complex. Anyways during a major rain storm, I came to check. Yup. A good number dug up, missing, eaten and shredded on the ground. I can't tell how many are left because the ground is so saturated and muddy. But I estimate a good 5 missing at least. I dug up two and moved them to another area, more highly foot trafficked by humans. Maybe those will be safe?

    Can squirrels become immune to the toxins? These may be the same squirrels that dug up and ate nearly all of the Caladium bulbs I planted in the spring.

  • westportalice
    5 years ago

    My sister says chipmunks are eating her daffs - I thought she was daffy but after reading these, maybe not?!


  • S R
    4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    After having most of my plastic Christmas balls and lights eaten by squirrels from my outdoor Christmas tree I can say that they will eat anything. Oh, they also chew clumps out of my hydrangeas and caragana trees. They also ate a piece of one of my plastic solar lights that I have on a fence, many tulips bulbs and even hyacinth bulbs even though they are supposed to hate them.

    Last Summer they ate 18 unopened buds from my rose plants and dug out a lily plant, ate the bulb and then left with the whole plant (!!!). I have security cameras around my place and I saw that they were the ones who ate them. I'm in Canada zone 4b. They didn't die after eating all that as I can still see them around.

    Last year I tried many things to repel them that I found online, from cayenne pepper powder, moth balls (they ate some of them!), ground coffee to even urine and nothing helped. This year I'm trying something that I came up with on my own, which is powder garlic. It's been working so far. I already saw some of them sniffing it and leaving without causing any damages.

  • bella rosa
    4 years ago

    oh, no, this is discouraging!! I planted a bunch of tulips last year - maybe 50 - and something, i'm thinking it was a squirrel (or a family of them anyway!) - ate all of them! they chewed off the tops and in some cases, they dug up the bulbs and left them right on the ground. i was thinking of planting alliums this Fall in the hopes that they won't eat them. i've never seen them eat my daffodils. oh, and they chewed up my oak leaf hydrangea and my perennial geraniums. i'm going to try the garlic powder. thanks for the great tip!