in my yard, 2 years ago, the little buggers ate over 300 lily bulbs which
were my pride and joy.

ok. here are a couple of things to try, they worked at MY house and by
golly, i gotta tell you, new hamster has to have been built atop boulders
(left by the last glacial age), sand, ant hills, and moles, voles, chipmunk
holes, and hornet/yellowjacket nests. (sigh)

first, i planted daffodils and Crown Imperial (Frittalaria(sp?) circling
around the plants i wanted to keep, like my campanulas and coreopsis. the
crown imperials are a bit pricey at apx. $5 a pop, but after 2 years, they
DO naturalise; the daffies start naturalising right away. the critters also
don't like helleborus; if you live in the north, you hafta get the "lenten
rose," if you live in the south, you can get either the "lenten rose" or the
"xmas" helleborus. if you live in new england or upstate new york area, you
can also get wild hellebore.

next, if you can get your hands on some thin tin sheet metal OR leftover
scraps of house siding (not the vinyl, the metallic or pvc stuff), you can
build a little box which MUST BE at least 5 to 6 inches deep into the soil.
it doesn't matter, really, how high it is above the root level, but it MUST
BE 5 to 6 inches deep.

between these two methods or a little of both, you should be able to stop
them in their tracks without harming them.

the other treatment is to spray a mixture of castor bean oil and water (i
add a tsp. of very fine chilli powder) and either spray the exit holes or
pour straight castor bean oil down the holes. i've been doing all of these
and my population of critters has dropped A LOT (yehhhhh!!!)

try it....who knows, your critters may respond to the treatment too!!
good luck.

From: "RhondaM"
Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 01:59:29 GMT
Subject: Moles,groundhogs, and Praire dogs

Help I am being over run by these pests. I planted spring bulbs and the
little buggars ate them. I have mounds in my flower beds from where they
burrowed. I have spotted one back in March and I know they are under there,
but I do not know what to do. I want the humane way of dealing with this. I
have googled this topic and have found people just wanting to sale me stuff.

RhondaM








From: Phisherman
Organization: Kahuna Reef
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 16:04:07 GMT
Subject: Moles,groundhogs, and Praire dogs

On Fri, 29 Apr 2005 01:59:29 GMT, "RhondaM" wrote:

Help I am being over run by these pests. I planted spring bulbs and the
little buggars ate them. I have mounds in my flower beds from where they
burrowed. I have spotted one back in March and I know they are under there,
but I do not know what to do. I want the humane way of dealing with this. I
have googled this topic and have found people just wanting to sale me stuff.

RhondaM



Plant your bulbs in a wire cage. Squirrels are notorious for digging
up and eating tulip bulbs. I plant daffodils--no animal seems to like
to eat these. Groundhogs can climb fences (I've seen them do it!),
but they steer clear of the electric fence around the veggetable
garden. Moles eat grubs.