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| Hello everyone,
Yesterday I left my nearly 3 week zinnia seedlings(in a container) outside (in the balcony) all night. Morning I see 3 seedlings are not there! there is a 4th one - that is undisturbed in the container. there was 1-2 leaves of zinnia on the dirt. this is the first time I had left the containers outside all night. earlier, I had left them many hrs in day - nothing like this has happened..I am really so upset. Also one leaf and flower of gerbera are missing in another container. it looks as if had been pulled by something. 2 other containers with zinnia - hanging basket with alyssum, nasturtium are undisturbed.. I live in ground floor in apartment - there are plenty of squirrels in here. My question - Can squirrels eat away zinnia leaves?? gerbera flower/leaves? or is it something else? Any suggestions wud be really helpful. Thanks. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Squirrels will dig up flowers/plants; I usually find the entire seedling a few feet away, shriveled up. They don't eat the plants, they want to see if anything is buried underneath. |
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- Posted by indica_2010 7 (My Page) on Sat, May 15, 10 at 16:43
| I did not see entire zinnia seedling dug up - 2 seedlings had few mms of main stem above dirt. But the gerbera leaves have irregular marks(as if it had been poked with something sharp). or can it be birds? Anything I can do, so that it does not happen next time? I really want my seedlings to grow and see flowers stay. Please help |
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- Posted by oilpainter 3 (My Page) on Sun, May 16, 10 at 18:43
| Take a flashlight out after dark. It may be earwigs or slugs. If there are no bugs then I'd say there is a vole about. This is a wild rodent. It looks like a mouse without a tail. Years ago I had beautiful tomato plants. They were about 6 inches tall and I had them in a makeshift cold frame. I went out one morning and my tomato plants were eaten off to nubs. That night a couple of mouse traps went into the cold frame baited with peanut butter. The next morning I found 2 dead voles in the traps. I hadn't had a problem with them before this incident and never had one since then. |
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- Posted by indica_2010 7 (My Page) on Mon, May 17, 10 at 12:49
| Thanks for the suggestions. I left a mouse trap last night, but no result. Thankfully, other seedlings are intact. Also, checked at night - nothing of note. Will leave the trap in balcony for some time.
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| I lay a piece of chicken wire over my seedlings. And after they are 1" tall I remove that piece and then put a circular piece about 12" high and 12" in diameter around the sprouting. I don't remove it until the plant fills the space. This protects the plant from squirels, rabbits, and deer. |
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