On Mon, 28 Mar 2016 19:48:10 -0500, "Terry Coombs"
wrote:

Brooklyn1 wrote:
On Mon, 28 Mar 2016 09:27:12 -0400, John McGaw
wrote:

On 3/27/2016 9:02 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
In the fall of 2014 I planted tulips every 6 inches around the
rose garden . Last spring we had almost every one come up and bloom
- they all came up , 3 or4 didn't bloom . I'm still waiting for
them to come up this year ... and it's way late . So today I dug up
where I know i planted two of them - and there's no bulb , nothing
. No tunnels like maybe the ground squirrel or moles or something
got them , just nothing there . I've never noticed any digging like
squirrels got them , no tunnel bumps like moles/voles/ ground
squirrels often leave but they're gone . Anybody have any
theories on where they went ?


Well, sometimes bulbs and tubers and corms simply fail to survive
and rot away. If the conditions are right there won't be much to see
after they do.

Most times it's some hungry critter that will help themself to your
bulbs,and by spring you'll find no signs of digging, it's not like
squirrels and rabbits arrive with an excavator. Even crows will steal
bulbs... naturally to crows it's not stealing, it's finders keepers...

The rose garden is right outside the living room window ... we seldom get
any snow ... and I often look out that window at my bee hives . I'm pretty
sure if any critter was getting at them from the surface I'd have seen signs


Most foraging critters are nocternal, trust me, you'd not see them. I
planted over a thousand assorted bulbs along my creek but for years
all I've ever seen were the daffs. Now that I've been encouraging
feral cats to live here for the past two years lo and behold plants I
had forgotten about have been blooming. I've not seen a squirrel,
rabbit, chipmonk or any rodent, no vole or mole mounds either... a
half dozen feral cats easily de-rodent forty acres. They more than
earn their keep. They eat very little cat food as they prefer to eat
what they hunt. I supply heated shelters and heated water bowls in
winter, low wattage, only pennies a day. They were born in my barn so
they mostly live in my barn. I have heated shelters and water bowls
on my deck and I put out food but nights they prefer the heated
shelters and water bowls I set up in my barn. I can gaurantee you
have critters stealing your bulbs. I've no idea what size property
you're on but for a typical surburban lot 1-2 feral cats will protect
your plants... house cats won't help.