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kygregg

some animal is eating my rose buds

kygregg
16 years ago

I have a yellow rose and for the last 2 years, just before it's ready to bloom, an animal bites off the bud and I find pieces of it on my deck. It is clearly an animal and not an insect. I've lived here for 20 years ( in the city ) and this is the first time I've had this happen. Any ideas what animal it could be? Do I just need to fence my roses in?

Comments (25)

  • the_morden_man
    16 years ago

    Bushy tailed rats. a.k.a. squirrels. They do this to my Graham Thomas every year.

  • seil zone 6b MI
    16 years ago

    Yep, squirrels. The ditsy things bite off the buds on all kinds of things thinking it's food, chew on them and spit them out 'cause they don't like them. I hate squirrels! I found one of my Double Delights chewed up on the ground the other morning.

  • Zyperiris
    16 years ago

    Well squirrels have to make a living too. LOL

  • jlalfred
    16 years ago

    Get a live game trap. Catch them and take them for a ride.
    If I ate the nasty things, I would have a freezer full.
    Got one yesterday and again this morning. I bet some of the neighbors are wondering whats going on with all the missing squirrels. It works for Rabbits also but different
    bait. I bought mine at Gander Mountain.

    John

  • mehearty
    16 years ago

    You may not love this idea but when we had a squirrel problem in our old house, we put up a squirrel feeder in the back yard away from the garden & kept it stocked w/nuts. Squirrels are territorial, so the ones that were already there didn't let any new ones in. They were fed well enough to leave my garden alone.

  • buford
    16 years ago

    I have bird feeders that double as squirrel feeders:) so they don't seem to bother my roses.

  • jlalfred
    16 years ago

    The trouble with feeding them is that when they are full
    they start taking the food to the flower beds and burring
    them. (Digging up your flower beds). Then, they go back
    and dig them up. I just got another one just a few
    minutes ago. (I guess I feed them too). For a few seconds. They also multiply.

    John

  • goldiemom
    16 years ago

    Help! Something is eating the buds and sometimes the leaves of my roses, too. The rose that has the most damage is about 4.5 feet tall -- could a rabbit or squirrel reach that high? I haven't seen any squirrels in our relatively new neighborhood, but I know we have rabbits...argh!

  • michaelg
    16 years ago

    Sounds like deer.

  • bethnorcal9
    16 years ago

    I love my little squirrelys. I feed them sunflower seeds and peanuts. I don't really have to worry about them eating my plants anyway, because they spend months up in the pine trees stripping the pinecones to eat the pinenuts, and then they move on to the black walnut trees and chow on the walnuts. They make a huge mess with all that tho. Plus I have mini walnut trees planted in all my pots and all around the yard. But that makes it kinda fun.

    Now the deer are another problem. Goldiemom, I have to agree with Michael. I think you've got deer eating your roses! Shoot, that reminds me, it's time again to go spray the repellent....

  • ceterum
    16 years ago

    "Well squirrels have to make a living too. LOL

    Making a living does not mean that they should feast like Louis XIV or Henry the VIII.

  • duchesse_nalabama
    16 years ago

    Squirrels make a living around here stealing from the cardinals. This feeder has a 'squirrel protector' on it, which makes their acrobatics more interesting! Annie

    {{gwi:291368}}

  • kctypes4u
    15 years ago

    Help! For the first time EVER, this morning I woke up to every single last rose bloom, bud ready to open and newly formed bud GONE from every plant! It was as though someone just "snipped" them off.... No evidence or "chewed" flowers were on the ground...no leaves were eaten, and some stems are about 3 feet high. I suspect deer, but we've lived here for years and never had this problem. If anyone has any help or advice to offer, I'll all ears....they were so gorgeious and now they're GONE! (snif)

  • renita2u_triad_rr_com
    12 years ago

    Two perfectly formed rosebuds, ready to open were there late yesterday afternoon. This am they are gone. They look like they have been snipped from the stem. Plant is about 3 ft high. Seems too tall for squirrels or rabbits. Any ideas as to what's doing this? Deer? I'm trying to not suspect the hostile neighbors (people) next door. kctypes4u,did you ever find out what was doing this? Sounds like we've had the same thing happen from your post on June 22: Help! For the first time EVER, this morning I woke up to every single last rose bloom, bud ready to open and newly formed bud GONE from every plant! It was as though someone just "snipped" them off.... No evidence or "chewed" flowers were on the ground...no leaves were eaten, and some stems are about 3 feet high. I suspect deer, but we've lived here for years and never had this problem. If anyone has any help or advice to offer, I'll all ears....they were so gorgeious and now they're GONE! (snif)

  • pine_acres_hotmail_com
    12 years ago

    Love to Garden, if there are deer in your neighborhood, they are the likely culprit. I have about 130 rose bushes in my yard and before I started spraying them with repellent, the deer would eat every last bud during the night. I can clearly remember standing in my garden crying! I use liquid fence on my bushes now and rarely have a problem (they might get one or two buds before they decide they're too bitter), but there are many other sprays that work just as well. Best of luck to you!

  • yobrenda
    8 years ago

    What kind of repellent? I lost all the first rose buds off my Chrysler Imperial last night. :(

  • cecily
    8 years ago

    I use Deer Stopper on daylily buds, hosta foliage and roses.It needs to be applied every couple of weeks. After using the same repellant for a couple of years, you may need to switch brands (sometimes the deer become accustomed to it). Liquid Fence is another good brand.


  • Patty W. zone 5a Illinois
    8 years ago

    Woodchucks well do this also. They well bend a stem down and munch on the flowers. Did not think it was he until I saw him do it.

  • vasue VA
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Deer leave ragged ends on branches they browse. Good video showing this close up http://tinyurl.com/qc4hqqf (go to full screen for detail). Bunnies can only reach as high as they can stand on their hind legs, and are apt to leave a mess of torn leaves, stems & flowers strewn about. But they can jump to higher areas (porches, chairs) & nibble plants from above. Never noticed squirrels munching plants, but they get plenty of tidbits from bird feeder scatter. Our house sits in a clearing surrounded by woodlands, so somebody seems awake at any hour of the day or night scouting for supper. Aromatic plants like lavender & beebalm guard the borders near roses & floppy plants that obscure sure footing cover any bare ground around perennials, many of which are deer resistant, but nothing is deer proof. Have to fence the garden phlox when it buds, since deer have climbed the steps & gobbled down the blooms from the porch. Apparently, that's irresistible. They haven't bothered the hydrangeas, apart from sampling a leaf or two over the years, but in my son's garden miles away they browse his to stubs & bypass the Peace rose surrounded by lavender. Sedum Autumn Joy is a big draw for the fleshy leaves, so I leave the old stems poking out till getting around to caging them before the foliage outgrows their deterrence. Typically it's a curious young buck that comes exploring the flowers on his lonesome around here. Several small deer families graze on the back lawn & rest on the edge of the woods, but they seldom bother the plantings unless it's a hard season.

    Haven't noticed any damage from other woodland neighbors, though the turtles will clean up fresh fallen rose petals & help themselves to a few viola blooms. In the years I find heliotrope to grow in the porch boxes, a hedgehog couple can often be glimpsed sitting quietly next to them, apparently enjoying the fragrance as much as we do, without disturbing a petal.

  • AquaEyes 7a NJ
    8 years ago

    I didn't intend for this, but I've observed that the local squirrels seem to not like the feel of the coffee grounds I've been spreading in the garden beds. My little front yard garden used to have squirrels and various birds eating the leftovers I'd toss there from my Amazon parrot. While I keep seeing the birds feeding, the squirrels never touch ground there, as far as I've seen. Even tossing out some whole almonds failed to entice them to walk across the coffee grounds. Of course, your results may not be the same, but for those who have "squirrel issues" in their beds, it's worth a try. And even if you don't, collecting used coffee grounds from Starbucks or other neighborhood coffee joints helps decrease what goes into the landfill. And besides that, it's a really great, nutrient-rich, FREE soil amendment that will cause your earthworm population to explode.

    :-)

    ~Christopher


  • summersrhythm_z6a
    8 years ago

    It sounds like deer. You need to spray Liquid fence every week for 5 weeks, then you can cut down to every 2 weeks, then once a month. I just sprayed liquid fence tonight, rabbit ate some of my newly planted roses. Liquid fence is not cheap, $30 a bottle. It's easier for me just catch the rabbit. Just set up a live trap with lettuce! Can you hunt deer in your yard? Check out this thread, it might help you. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3042886/deer-repellant-that-worked-100

  • Suzanne Daly-Galvin
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    A squirrel is eating all of my rose buds right before they are about to bloom they also dig up the flowers in my garden to bury the peanuts that my neighbor feeds them too. I got a have a heart trap and I brought two of them so far to a nice place about 5 miles away. I have at least one more to get because when I woke up yesterday morning I saw one digging up one of my plants. I ran out and saw that he had also ate another one of the buds off of my rose bush. This little guy might be too smart to go into the trap but I'm not giving up. If I had a human size trap I could take my neighbor (jerk) for a ride and solve the problem all together.

  • Labradors
    7 years ago

    Why not get a bear suit and go and plunder the neighbours bird feeder early in the morning or whenever it is that bears trash bird feeders. That might encourage said neighbour to stop feeding the darned squirrels!

    Linda

  • Google1 User
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    We can do with a whole lot less squirrels and zero deadly venomous snakes! We don't care if we never see a single rattlesnake, water moccasin, viper or huge constrictor like Burmese pythons! Only place they belong is safe behind strong glass in a zoo! Even non- venomous snakes are disgusting and never need to see them either.

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