Another pic

And another...

My sympathies for your loss. I have been there, so I truly understand.

It's difficult to get a perspective from your photos. The holes look pretty big. How wide and how deep are they?

Does it appear that the varmint was after your veggies, or were your plants just in the way of a hole it (they??) were digging for a den?

I am not too sure. They didnt eat the leaves off anything. My lettuces were more upturned than eaten. The only thing i could tell that was eaten were the roots of the parsley. The lawn is untouched as far as i can see. Hence, they must be after my veggies - tasting to see what they like!! It is something that eats roots... any ideas? My neighbour suggested mice. She has been living here for over 20 years and has a huge vegetable plot. Apparently no moles in our area... what does that leave me with? Not rabbits either for sure.

I'm going to suggest raccoons or skunks digging for earthworms and grubs. I don't know if porcupines do this also.

Thanks Sweetquietplace! You might be right actually! The holes look too big to be from mice and they look like a creature digging from above rather than from below! Any ideas how to make them go away? I will be up tonight looking for them!

I can't guarantee results, but you can try spreading copious amounts of cayenne around the plants. Do you have a store near you that sells bulk spices? I actually bought a can of pepper spray to spray my corn stalks with, but the @#%&* critters took 'em down before I sprayed them.

thanks for the advice! I will put some netting over my beds this evening (i know, futile against some ravenous raccoons but im going to try anyway) and going to look out for what comes tonight. Once i can confirm what i am dealing with, I can defend myself properly.

Those are big holes! I'd think groundhog. In your zone, they might still be active, or maybe looking for a den.

My skunk holes are typically smaller, about 2" diameter at most and all are shallow enough to touch the bottom with a finger. They dig for grubs here.

OK, so this is getting interesting... i dont have groundhogs because I am in Switzerland and we dont have them here. Some of the holes are big, some smaller but they are not deep. This thing isnt looking to make a den. Its clearly looking for food and doesnt fancy squash nor lettuce! Could be a raccoon (they were introduced in Europe for fur in the early 20th century from North America)... what about hedgehogs? Does anyone know if they dig and eat roots? We have plenty around here.

Raccoons don't dig, they're arboreal.

I agree with itito : that is not the pattern of digging to look for grubs or worms. It is more like a place to sleep. OR something was chasing a rodent. In either case it must be a single one time event. Just fill the holes back.

I'd get a Hav-A-Hart trap.

https://www.google.com/#q=raccoons+dig+for+worms

Raccoons certainly dig and wreak havoc in vegetable gardens (possums are another dreadful nuisance with a similar MO).

I've had the most problems with them after new plantings have gone in (yes, they delight in messing up nice new beds), but over the years I have come to suspect that the use of bone/blood meals tends to attract them. Alas, I use both in combo with other organic additives :-(

Some years I get lucky and they pass me by, others years I strain my vocabulary to new heights every morning until they tire of their pillage and move on.

Never had any luck catching anything in a trap other than cats (and that's another story....).

Switzerland, eh? Sort of out of my area of expertise, literally. :) A quick web search indicates that yes, hedgehogs can dig holes but aren't really known for it. Other things mentioned were badgers and foxes. My favorite suspect is a fox after a small rodent that had set up house in your raised bed. Whatever it was, it wasn't after your plants.

I didn't realise until now you were in Switzerland. That really cuts down the possibilities. No possums, skunks, raccoons etc. IMO not hedgehogs. Definitely not moles. Voles make holes like that but smaller. We get foxes digging in our gardens but I don't know if they have become urban in Switzerland. We also get badgers in country gardens. Any badgers in your area? Are you urban or rural? You could look for hair stuck to those boards or on any fences, etc.

On occasion I'll set up a rat trap with chicken or ham loaded.
Lost 3 traps so far, never found them.

Posted by japus 5 (My Page) on
Sat, Oct 26, 13 at 15:14

On occasion I'll set up a rat trap with chicken or ham loaded.
Lost 3 traps so far, never found them.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
haha ... it happened to me once. The rat trap was gone. I thought maybe it was squirrel's tail was cut in it and it did ran with the trap.

After more examination, I think the holes are made by voles... Nothing so exciting as a raccoon (they do exist in Switzerland from when they were introduced into Europe for its fur back in the early 20th century). That explains why it feasted on the parsley root and only overturned the lettuces without eating them. It is also possible that a fox went after it, which created those few big holes. We do have foxes around here although I am more rural than urban.

I am hoping it is a one-off and that they go away after they are done with the parsley (ok, they can have it). Anyone with more experience with voles? Ive read that products with castor oil in them can drive them away.

Oh, those little buggers (voles, not foxes). My experience is that they are cute little hamsters of garden destruction and hard to keep a lid on. I too have read about the castor products, was thinking of trying some over winter. I can get them out of the garden for a time with snap traps, but they come back. The cat eats about one a day and I see the hawk make off with one every now and again, but still there are more. Having said that, they definitely prefer some crops over others: potatoes, sweet potatoes, leeks, and the roots of artichokes are what really get hit in my garden. Mostly it seems that vigilence is needed to be able to try to get them before they get the plants.

Well - I've learned something. I had no idea you had raccoons in Switzerland. Are they a problem? We have American mink which escaped from fur farms (which no longer exist here btw) and they wreak havoc among our own wildlife.

No visible damage to my plants in the last 2 days since I posted this thread. I will check daily and make a trip to the garden centre this week. I am puzzled why I have not seen them since I moved in here 10 months ago. There were far more vegetables to eat in Spring and Summer including carrots. Why only now? Or are they mostly active and destructive in autumn? They are lucky to look cute. I have less patience with slugs...

Floral_uk: As far as I know, there arent enough raccoons here to cause much trouble for now.

I spoke too soon. Just went out to check on the garden and my last parsley plant is as dead... withered tops and when i lifted up the tops, the roots were missing. My neighbour lent me an old trap and ive set it (quite badly i admit). If parsley is all it wants thats fine. But if it starts eating the other stuff like my brassicas and lettuces, then its...war!

Hi again Raistilyn, just a note about the trap. One of my worst gardening moments was when I set a rat trap at the bottom of my compost heap. In the time it took me to turn around and fetch a tool a robin had flown down, gone for the bait and had its neck broken. It was awful. Moral of the story - hide the trap in a pipe or under a stone to keep the birds out.

That is awful indeed :( ive put it half buried in the hole where the parsley was, then sort of half hidden by the withered parsley tops. Hopefully that should prevent any other animals going in. Let's see.

put a vermine cage ! its not mice doing that

Somewhere up on my desktop I've got a photo of a large parsley plant with the roots completely eaten away. The culprit was definitely voles. They were also wreaking havoc on many perennials and bulbs in my front gardens.

My cat catches a fair number of them, but she doesn't hunt much in the front yard. Desperate, I tried a castor oil/urine solution that I read about on the Hosta forum. The recipe is 1 TBS castor oil and 1 cup human urine per gallon of water. Agitate well as the castor oil is very sticky, and sprinkle around the roots of the plants and where you see evidence of tunneling. Apparently this solution is quite distasteful to the voles. It has worked VERY well!!

Posted by floral_uk 10 (My Page) on
Sun, Oct 27, 13 at 13:27
. One of my worst gardening moments was when I set a rat trap at the bottom of my compost heap. In the time it took me to turn around and fetch a tool a robin had flown down,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I had one incident like that, battling rats. Then I found a solution:
PUT THE TRAP under a box with a whole big enough on the side for the rat or whatever. I don't think birds can smell.

This past couple of years I have been dealing with mole problem in the grass. First I spray grub killer. That is what they eat, I have heard. Then I used used baits(poured down into their tunnels) Now I rarely see one making hills. They also have bait for voles and gophers. Next best thing to cats.

Terrene- I also find the proposed urine/castor oil solution quite distasteful, ewww! :) You are not invited to Thanksgiving, LOL.

Seriously, glad to hear the solution worked, I will give it (or something similar) a try. I had good luck with the snap traps covered with sections of rain gutter, it just becomes tiresome to check and empty and move all those traps. Not to mention I don't really like setting them, it's just too thrilling for me!

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am definitely going to try something with castor oil in it (maybe I will leave out the human urine bit - anyone tried it without and worked?). Last night's trap caught nothing. The food wasnt even taken! Yet I found more holes in my squash bed, and I think it's either eating the squash roots or disturbing them enough for the plant's leaves to have collapsed :( RIP courgette :(

Garden centre today was useless. They didnt have anything with castor oil in it, only traps and some gas product to poison them in their tunnels. Can anyone tell me where I could get castor oil? What sort of shops would sell that? Thanks!

Raistlyn: Should be able to find it at a drugstore.

Kevin

Before I read that you are in Switzerland, I was ready to suggest that an armidillo had been doing the damage! Ha!

Thanks Kevin. Will try that. I can already imagine the look on their face when I tell them its for the garden!

rhizo: I wish it was something that exotic!

Hi Raistlyn, yes you can try it without the urine, and there is another recipe I've read that recommends using horticultural castor oil (not sure what that is) and about a spoonful of dish detergent as a surfactant, I would guess.

I have used CVS brand castor oil, and "Homehealth" brand and had success with both. I don't know if "horticultural" castor oil would work better or not.

The voles were wreaking carnage in my front gardens 2 years ago, I lost many many bulbs and perennials. I was despondent when my seed-grown native Hyacinth were disappearing day by day, and appalled to watch 1/2 of an old established Buddleja davidii come loose at the roots and blow across the front yard like a tumbleweed. I was desperate!

This castor oil solution saved my last 2 remaining Camassia scilloides bulbs and everything else for that matter. The mixture lasts a long time and it seems you need to reapply about ever 2-3 months. It does not appear to cause any ill effects to the plants. Btw, not sure exactly what the urine does in this mixture, but in general diluted urine makes an excellent nitrogen rich fertilizer for plants.

I scrounged up that pic of the parsley and a few other pics of vole damage from 2011.

Nothing left of these parsley roots.

Hosta eaten by voles -
{{gwi:114775}}

These are the remnants of 2 very large Baptisia 'Twilight Prairie Blues'. Fortunately, they are recovering!
{{gwi:114776}}

This post was edited by terrene on Mon, Oct 28, 13 at 18:12