Brooklyn1 wrote:
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.

I might not see the perps , but I think I would have seen some evidence . It
really doesn't matter ... oh , and there is a feral cat around , I think the
neighbor missed one when he moved . I see it occasionally , leave meat
scraps out for it sometimes . We're on 12 heavily wooded acres in north
central Arkansas , the clearing we live in is about a quarter acre .

--
Snag