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ilbasso_74

critters and bogs

ilbasso_74
18 years ago

I have recently moved into a house and plan on starting a bog in my yard. Just today, I noticed that one of my pots of CPs was dug up and the poor Scarlet Belle sarracenia was gone! I had a wire basket over the plant tray in the fall, but I can't do that for a bog garden. What can I put in it that will keep the critters out but won't harm carnivores? The squirrel had dug a bit last month but stopped when the cayenne pepper came out but I don't want an orange hue over my entire bog. Any suggestions?

Comments (5)

  • terrestrial_man
    18 years ago

    Why would a squirrel take a Sarrencia for anyway??
    Does not sound right.
    Maybe it is some other animal-a deer?? a dog?? the neighbor's kid??
    One way to tackle is is to set up a trip wire that is
    tied to a horn hooked up to a car battery and have a relay
    switch that when the wire is pulled the circuit is connected. With the right horn this would scare the
    holy moseses right out of the animal and maybe permanently!?

  • yarthkin
    18 years ago

    Squirrels are an evil lot.

    I knew this before, but it was confirmed this spring when I planted hundreds of Ramps (Allium tricoccum). They found about 75 percent of them and carefully dug each one up. They didn't eat them mind you, they don't like the flavor. They just left them exposed on the ground to dessicate and die. It is a really bizarre behaivor that leaves me wondering what evolutionary basis there could possibly be for it? Only thing I can figure is they must have an uncanny ability to detect where people have disturbed soil, and they figure something important must be buried there. Of course, I've also watched a squirrel target one plant in a garden that was a different type and destroy it - not eat, just dig up, shred, and stomp.

    All this makes me wonder if the squirrel considered it HIS garden, and was simply angry when you planted something which went against his squirrel aesthetic. I suspect he may not have even eaten it, but just taken it away to the equivalent of the Squirrel rubbish heap to be disposed of "properly".

  • kwoods
    18 years ago

    "Why would a squirrel take a Sarrencia for anyway?

    Asking "why" a squirrel does something is giving squirrel logic far too much validity.

    Squirrels have "tilled" my bog and cyps almost to death this spring. If you continue w/ the cayanne for just a couple more weeks they should "learn" not to dig there. Maybe you don't have to lay it on so heavy that it is noticeable? Sometimes I change to curry powder for a more South Asian/Carribean influence.

    I also purchased a motion detector which emits an ultrasonic tone (adjustable). They get used to that unless you keep changing the pitch. In addition I have trained my 7 and 9 year children old to "tree" the squirrels by charging into the backyard and barking at them like rabid dogs (actually no training was required, they just started doing it and I, of course, encouraged/bribed them to continue). The neighbors seem to enjoy watching that very much as do I.

  • sal_mando
    18 years ago

    I was thinking about laying down some mesh (I have some green plastic stuff) on the surface of the bog to prevent the squirrels from digging out my plants as they get established, then cutting it out later. Probably won't work and just wishful thinking anyway.
    I just had a calopogon unearthed yesterday and last year the squirrels maliciously and routinely pulled my Venus's flytraps out of their pots.

  • yarthkin
    18 years ago

    I've put mesh over plants during peak critter problem times (Fall and early Spring) and it seems to work well. Appearance isn't so great but it does work. I say again that squirrels also have some sixth sense about disturbed soil, so measures to protect recently planted plants are probably a good idea, even if it is only for one or two days after planting.

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