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Old 08-07-2005, 01:13 PM
Doug Kanter
 
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"Classon" wrote in message ...

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
How about setting things up as best you can to get some footprints?
Remove
the mulch from an area, flatten the soil with a board, and gently mist
it.
Compare the results (if any) with the tracks on a site like this:

http://www.bear-tracker.com/

If it's a normal animal, maybe a Havahart trap is in order. If it's an
abnormal creature, like someone's useless, stinking obnoxious little dog,
then you know what to do, I assume. BAM! :-)


Or a neighbors stinking obnoxious little chickens.


Do they die quietly? :-)


  #17   Report Post  
Old 08-07-2005, 04:49 PM
 
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On 2005-07-08, Dana Schultz wrote:
Squirrels don't dig at night.


I still don't for sure know if it is happening at night. The poster
said that but the scenario given did not confirm it.


I came out one morning early to find a raccoon digging in my garden. Just
holes. Lucky me. He was not digging up my plants. I would have done more
than chase him away.

The local skunk has been caught in my squirrel trap at least four times and
he doesn't dig up my plants either. He just likes peanut butter!

I vote raccoons.



--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

is a garbage address.
  #18   Report Post  
Old 08-07-2005, 05:39 PM
zxcvbob
 
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wrote:
....our everlasting thanks.

(Sorry about that but I really wanted to get your attention)

Something is rooting around in our mulch and digging in our beds and,
in the process, uprooting new plantings and those with shallow roots
and we *really* want to stop it.

Here are the clues/observations:

It happens at night. If we leave before it gets light, we return home
and notice plants laying on their sides. Sometimes, the mulch/dirt is
just pulled away from one side of the roots. Sometimes, as in the case
of a couple of nice Selaginella we planted this season, it's not even
noticeable that it's now sitting *on* the ground rather than with its
roots in a hole *in* the ground until you get down and check.

Whatever is doing this isn't interested in the plants. The roots and
leaves aren't touched. The plants are just the collateral damage of a
hunt for something in the mulch / dirt.

It's not deers. We live in a wooded lot in North Carolina and we have
had more experience with deers than we want to remember. We've had
deers pull a "deer resistant" plant out of its hole only to remember,
"Hey! I don't like this!" and drop it back on the ground. But there's
always a sign they've tasted it. And one of the beds -- with a lot of
hostas in it -- is completely enclosed with a deer netting that is
secured to posts and staked into the ground. On a couple of occasions
when a branch has fallen on the netting and ripped it from the post and
deer have been able to get a head in, they've munched nearby leaves but
not done this kind of disruption to the mulch.

And the mulch *is* disrupted -- it looks like something is rooting
around in it for something. It's something in the mulch. This has
nothing to do with the plant -- it's happened with hostas, a rosemary
plant, summer snapdragons, etc., etc., etc. Only the established
plants are safe.

Since this looking for something in the mulch is happening at night, I
assume whatever it is has a powerful sense of smell that it relies on.
So, after replanting a couple of plants and cursing this critter, I
thought, "I got something for your powerful sense of smell!" I bought
the cheapest big tin of ground black pepper I could find and sprinkled
a mess of it around the edges of some of the most frequently uprooted
plants -- can black pepper hurt plants? -- and along the edge of that
bed with the netting.

So, any thoughts? More importantly, any suggestions on deterring it?

Thanks.




I think it's squirrels, and it's not really at night but very early in
the morning.

Bob
  #19   Report Post  
Old 08-07-2005, 06:19 PM
 
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Default

On 2005-07-08, zxcvbob wrote:
wrote:
....our everlasting thanks.

(Sorry about that but I really wanted to get your attention)

Something is rooting around in our mulch and digging in our beds and,
in the process, uprooting new plantings and those with shallow roots
and we *really* want to stop it.

Here are the clues/observations:

It happens at night. If we leave before it gets light, we return home
and notice plants laying on their sides. Sometimes, the mulch/dirt is
just pulled away from one side of the roots. Sometimes, as in the case
of a couple of nice Selaginella we planted this season, it's not even
noticeable that it's now sitting *on* the ground rather than with its
roots in a hole *in* the ground until you get down and check.

Whatever is doing this isn't interested in the plants. The roots and
leaves aren't touched. The plants are just the collateral damage of a
hunt for something in the mulch / dirt.

It's not deers. We live in a wooded lot in North Carolina and we have
had more experience with deers than we want to remember. We've had
deers pull a "deer resistant" plant out of its hole only to remember,
"Hey! I don't like this!" and drop it back on the ground. But there's
always a sign they've tasted it. And one of the beds -- with a lot of
hostas in it -- is completely enclosed with a deer netting that is
secured to posts and staked into the ground. On a couple of occasions
when a branch has fallen on the netting and ripped it from the post and
deer have been able to get a head in, they've munched nearby leaves but
not done this kind of disruption to the mulch.

And the mulch *is* disrupted -- it looks like something is rooting
around in it for something. It's something in the mulch. This has
nothing to do with the plant -- it's happened with hostas, a rosemary
plant, summer snapdragons, etc., etc., etc. Only the established
plants are safe.

Since this looking for something in the mulch is happening at night, I
assume whatever it is has a powerful sense of smell that it relies on.
So, after replanting a couple of plants and cursing this critter, I
thought, "I got something for your powerful sense of smell!" I bought
the cheapest big tin of ground black pepper I could find and sprinkled
a mess of it around the edges of some of the most frequently uprooted
plants -- can black pepper hurt plants? -- and along the edge of that
bed with the netting.

So, any thoughts? More importantly, any suggestions on deterring it?

Thanks.




I think it's squirrels, and it's not really at night but very early in
the morning.

Bob


They have dug in our potted plants. Hot pepper sprinkled around would
make them go away, that is what is put in some bird seed. Permatill
works but not 100%. I have used chicken wire but it is a pita to cut a
hole for each plant. Then you cover it with just enough soil that it
can't be seen. They get the hint and go find something easier to dig
in.

If it was a bigger animal you would see some footprints.

I have seen crows pull up newly sprouted corn because they wanted the
rest of the kernel and left the green plant. This means you have
planted to shallow. planting deeper or pulling dirt around the plants
generally helps. Crows are smart and if they pull up a few and the
kernel does not come with it they go find an easier meal.

--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

is a garbage address.
  #20   Report Post  
Old 08-07-2005, 09:53 PM
Kira Dirlik
 
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On Fri, 8 Jul 2005 10:46:06 +0000 (UTC), wrote:

Craig Watts wrote:
What in the world might be living in my bushes or under my
deck that makes a smell like that?

Any young male domestic cats around?


There are a couple of neighbors with outside cats down
the road a bit. I've never had a male cat--is the urine
really pungent enough to confuse with mild skunk smell?


I've smelled skunk quite a number of times in the woods where I live
(and it is unmistakably different from the smell of male cat spray),
but I have never seen one. I keep hoping my dog never locates him.
Kira


  #21   Report Post  
Old 08-07-2005, 09:59 PM
 
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On 2005-07-08, Kira Dirlik !! wrote:
On Fri, 8 Jul 2005 10:46:06 +0000 (UTC), wrote:

Craig Watts wrote:
What in the world might be living in my bushes or under my
deck that makes a smell like that?

Any young male domestic cats around?


There are a couple of neighbors with outside cats down
the road a bit. I've never had a male cat--is the urine
really pungent enough to confuse with mild skunk smell?


I've smelled skunk quite a number of times in the woods where I live
(and it is unmistakably different from the smell of male cat spray),
but I have never seen one. I keep hoping my dog never locates him.
Kira


Skunk definitely does not smell like anything but skunk. I understand
washing a dog in tomato juice knocks the smell (mostly) out.

There were quite a few in Texas when I was at Ft. Hood. Every morning
on the way to work I would get at least one whiff. One morning I was
stopped at a light and the smell kept getting stronger and stronger. I
almost thought the critter was in the back seat. Fortunately when the
light changed and I drove off the fresh air told me it had been outside
the car. I never saw one dead or alive near the intersection so I don't
know where it was coming from.

--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

is a garbage address.
  #23   Report Post  
Old 09-07-2005, 02:10 AM
Jared Richardson
 
Posts: n/a
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I've caught raccoons in my yard at 2 and 3 am, digging through the compost
pile in my backyard... sounds like the same thing you are seeing. Just get a
young puppy that needs to be walked in the middle of the night and you'll
catch the culprits in no time!


wrote in message
oups.com...


wrote:

Are you sure it is happening at night? You did not enter enough
information. You leave in the dark and when you return the plants are
uprooted. Did you check the plants when you left and are sure they are
still in the ground? You say they are uprooted when you return but do
you return before light or after? If you left and returned in the dark
then something did uproot them at night. If you left in the dark, but
did not check on the plants and returned when it was light then you
don't know if the uprooting happened in the light or dark.


Yes -- I'm sure it's happening at night. A few mornings as I left as
it was just starting to get light, I checked and found the ground torn
up and the plants uprooted. (While I usually dress fairly casually,
day before yesterday, I was dressed for a meeting with some bigwigs and
found myself kneeling on a piece of a cardboard box in a futile attempt
to keep my knees clean while I replanted some things.)


No ground pepper cannot hurt plants, but red pepper would be better.


I'll give that a shot -- or a sprinkle -- next.


Let us know if you do find out.


Will do. Stayed up "past my bedtime" couple of nights ago but didn't
spot anything.



  #24   Report Post  
Old 09-07-2005, 01:46 PM
David Bockman
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Baine Carruthers" wrote in
:

I would tend to stay away from bloodmeal & bonemeal also. I think
cottonseed meal or something from plant sources will lesson the
"wildlife" encounters. I know birdwatchers like to use moth balls to
mast their sent when visiting nest trees. The animals we're talking
about are curious by nature, especially of unusual scents.



Respectfully, I don't know why you would say that. Bloodmeal is a very
effective deterrent against all rodents, as well as deer, racoons, and
opossum. They abhor the odor and shy away from any area where it is laid.

--
David J. Bockman, Fairfax, VA (USDA Hardiness Zone 7)
email:
http://beyondgardening.com/Albums
  #25   Report Post  
Old 09-07-2005, 07:21 PM
Baine Carruthers
 
Posts: n/a
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David

That's the difference between you and I. I speak from experience, you're
showing your ignorance, especially when you included rodents in your claim.

I recently visited the northeast VA/ DC area to quote a project. I usually
visit the local garden shops. Several do carry bloodmeal, some with other
ingredients. Seems like it hasn't done much for the rats in that area.

--
Baine



"David Bockman" wrote in message
9.11...
"Baine Carruthers" wrote in
:

I would tend to stay away from bloodmeal & bonemeal also. I think
cottonseed meal or something from plant sources will lesson the
"wildlife" encounters. I know birdwatchers like to use moth balls to
mast their sent when visiting nest trees. The animals we're talking
about are curious by nature, especially of unusual scents.



Respectfully, I don't know why you would say that. Bloodmeal is a very
effective deterrent against all rodents, as well as deer, racoons, and
opossum. They abhor the odor and shy away from any area where it is laid.

--
David J. Bockman, Fairfax, VA (USDA Hardiness Zone 7)
email:
http://beyondgardening.com/Albums





  #26   Report Post  
Old 09-07-2005, 07:28 PM
David Bockman
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Baine Carruthers" wrote in
:

David

That's the difference between you and I. I speak from experience,
you're showing your ignorance, especially when you included rodents in
your claim.

I recently visited the northeast VA/ DC area to quote a project. I
usually visit the local garden shops. Several do carry bloodmeal,
some with other ingredients. Seems like it hasn't done much for the
rats in that area.


What a pleasant thing to say. Good day to you.

--
David J. Bockman, Fairfax, VA (USDA Hardiness Zone 7)
email:
http://beyondgardening.com/Albums
  #27   Report Post  
Old 11-07-2005, 03:50 PM
whatsup!
 
Posts: n/a
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It can be that an animal crawled back there and died. When I worked in
landscaping way back when I was in school, it wasn't unusual to start
removing bushes or brush in a grownup area and smell that smell you
described and run across the skeletal remains of some animal that died
long ago. I'm now an insurance claims adjuster and run into that
scenario all the time when I am inspecting accident scenes and come
across roadkill that looks a year or more old in ditches. It smells
bad, really musky, but not anywhere as bad a newly rotting and maggot
infested meat cooking in the sun.

Sorry for the visual.

On Thu, 7 Jul 2005 14:44:53 +0000 (UTC), wrote:

In my front yard, I often smell something that smells very
much like a skunk--this is to the south of a front deck,
among some thick bushes. The smell is LIKE the smell of
a frightened or road-squashed skunk, but not as pungent
or offensive. But it's very similar.

What in the world might be living in my bushes or under my
deck that makes a smell like that? Anybody? I haven't seen
any actual signs of inhabitation, just that smell most of
the time I go in the bushes. TIA.


  #28   Report Post  
Old 11-07-2005, 03:55 PM
whatsup!
 
Posts: n/a
Default

As an insurance adjuster I have heard of a claim in eastern NC where
some kids drove back into some Weyerhauser owned property to four
wheel their ATVs. A girl managed to get her coupe back to their
staging area and ended up riding with them. She left the door to her
car open and a skunk climbed in. Needless to say when they returned,
the skunk reacted when she and her boyfriend got into the car. You
could detail that interior and get it all perfumy and have it done
professionally but when the sun's heat built up inside it, the smell
returned with a vengance. Some of the interior was eventually
replaced. The smell still returned. The vehicle was eventually totaled
out.

On Fri, 08 Jul 2005 19:59:33 GMT, wrote:

There were quite a few in Texas when I was at Ft. Hood. Every morning
on the way to work I would get at least one whiff. One morning I was
stopped at a light and the smell kept getting stronger and stronger. I
almost thought the critter was in the back seat. Fortunately when the
light changed and I drove off the fresh air told me it had been outside
the car. I never saw one dead or alive near the intersection so I don't
know where it was coming from.


  #29   Report Post  
Old 11-07-2005, 06:44 PM
Anne Lurie
 
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My guess would be squirrels, either trying to bury nuts or trying to find
nuts previously buried.

It might be the *mulch* that is desirable -- you might try raking away the
mulch from a section of the bed and see what effect that has, if any.

Another possibility is a cat, but I would think if it were using the mulch
as a litterbox, you would have found some evidence.

Anne Lurie
NE Raleigh



wrote in message
ups.com...
....our everlasting thanks.

(Sorry about that but I really wanted to get your attention)

Something is rooting around in our mulch and digging in our beds and,
in the process, uprooting new plantings and those with shallow roots
and we *really* want to stop it.

Here are the clues/observations:

It happens at night. If we leave before it gets light, we return home
and notice plants laying on their sides. Sometimes, the mulch/dirt is
just pulled away from one side of the roots. Sometimes, as in the case
of a couple of nice Selaginella we planted this season, it's not even
noticeable that it's now sitting *on* the ground rather than with its
roots in a hole *in* the ground until you get down and check.

Whatever is doing this isn't interested in the plants. The roots and
leaves aren't touched. The plants are just the collateral damage of a
hunt for something in the mulch / dirt.

It's not deers. We live in a wooded lot in North Carolina and we have
had more experience with deers than we want to remember. We've had
deers pull a "deer resistant" plant out of its hole only to remember,
"Hey! I don't like this!" and drop it back on the ground. But there's
always a sign they've tasted it. And one of the beds -- with a lot of
hostas in it -- is completely enclosed with a deer netting that is
secured to posts and staked into the ground. On a couple of occasions
when a branch has fallen on the netting and ripped it from the post and
deer have been able to get a head in, they've munched nearby leaves but
not done this kind of disruption to the mulch.

And the mulch *is* disrupted -- it looks like something is rooting
around in it for something. It's something in the mulch. This has
nothing to do with the plant -- it's happened with hostas, a rosemary
plant, summer snapdragons, etc., etc., etc. Only the established
plants are safe.

Since this looking for something in the mulch is happening at night, I
assume whatever it is has a powerful sense of smell that it relies on.
So, after replanting a couple of plants and cursing this critter, I
thought, "I got something for your powerful sense of smell!" I bought
the cheapest big tin of ground black pepper I could find and sprinkled
a mess of it around the edges of some of the most frequently uprooted
plants -- can black pepper hurt plants? -- and along the edge of that
bed with the netting.

So, any thoughts? More importantly, any suggestions on deterring it?

Thanks.



  #30   Report Post  
Old 13-07-2005, 04:25 PM
 
Posts: n/a
Default

My guess is it may be an opposum. They like to eat grubs and would be
likely to be a nighttime visitor with results like you describe.
Probably once they eat all the grubs they will move on to someplace else.

Anne Lurie wrote:

My guess would be squirrels, either trying to bury nuts or trying to find
nuts previously buried.

It might be the *mulch* that is desirable -- you might try raking away the
mulch from a section of the bed and see what effect that has, if any.

Another possibility is a cat, but I would think if it were using the mulch
as a litterbox, you would have found some evidence.

Anne Lurie
NE Raleigh



wrote in message
ups.com...

....our everlasting thanks.

(Sorry about that but I really wanted to get your attention)

Something is rooting around in our mulch and digging in our beds and,
in the process, uprooting new plantings and those with shallow roots
and we *really* want to stop it.

Here are the clues/observations:

It happens at night. If we leave before it gets light, we return home
and notice plants laying on their sides. Sometimes, the mulch/dirt is
just pulled away from one side of the roots. Sometimes, as in the case
of a couple of nice Selaginella we planted this season, it's not even
noticeable that it's now sitting *on* the ground rather than with its
roots in a hole *in* the ground until you get down and check.

Whatever is doing this isn't interested in the plants. The roots and
leaves aren't touched. The plants are just the collateral damage of a
hunt for something in the mulch / dirt.

It's not deers. We live in a wooded lot in North Carolina and we have
had more experience with deers than we want to remember. We've had
deers pull a "deer resistant" plant out of its hole only to remember,
"Hey! I don't like this!" and drop it back on the ground. But there's
always a sign they've tasted it. And one of the beds -- with a lot of
hostas in it -- is completely enclosed with a deer netting that is
secured to posts and staked into the ground. On a couple of occasions
when a branch has fallen on the netting and ripped it from the post and
deer have been able to get a head in, they've munched nearby leaves but
not done this kind of disruption to the mulch.

And the mulch *is* disrupted -- it looks like something is rooting
around in it for something. It's something in the mulch. This has
nothing to do with the plant -- it's happened with hostas, a rosemary
plant, summer snapdragons, etc., etc., etc. Only the established
plants are safe.

Since this looking for something in the mulch is happening at night, I
assume whatever it is has a powerful sense of smell that it relies on.
So, after replanting a couple of plants and cursing this critter, I
thought, "I got something for your powerful sense of smell!" I bought
the cheapest big tin of ground black pepper I could find and sprinkled
a mess of it around the edges of some of the most frequently uprooted
plants -- can black pepper hurt plants? -- and along the edge of that
bed with the netting.

So, any thoughts? More importantly, any suggestions on deterring it?

Thanks.




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