Pandora, I have never needed to protect my lilies from chewing critters and was wondering if that mesh wire is flexible enough to give way and make room for the very thick and tender stems that lilies produce? If you can't easily push aside the wire with your fingers, then your lilies won't be able to do so either.

Terrance

Terrace,
Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate a second viewpoint.
Actually before I put much effort into these cages, I did an experiment with some friend's lilies. Long
after they bloomed, I cut a few of the thickest lily stems and slid a piece of the mesh wire over each one and they went all the way to just above the bulb.

I think that the stems will zig around the resistance if the holes don't line up. I have overwintered hostas in pots stacked on top of each other and if I was late in separating the pots the hostas just grew horizontally until they were free to continue up vertically. Lots of bulbs, if accidentally planted upside down, will grow around the bulb before heading up.

Well, hopefully next year I will have lilies. If not, I guess I am done enjoying them.

Pandora, sorry, I had meant to get back to this thread. Good, that you had first tested to see if a lily stem would pass through and I hope that the tender new bulb shoots will also do so with ease ... please post of your results come spring :)

Terrance

May 2015 and very few lilies have appeared.
Terrance you were right. I did not allow for the way lilies grow and have leaves formed and kind of a cauliflower top. Only 5 of 40 bulbs made it all the way through the cage to the surface. The rest were starting to curl around looking for an out. All my research on the Web and my County Extension say mice and voles can get through anything larger than 1/4".

So, I cut the tops off the cages and refilled the holes. Hopefully I can enjoy lilies one last year.

Maybe I will have stupid voles/mice that keep beating their heads against the side of the cage and not notice the whole top is open.

It was a learning experiment. It turned out to be 1 way 'how not to create the light bulb'. I am really bummed that such a large and beautiful part of my garden is gone and cannot be replaced. Well, gave it my best shot!

Oh, boy, all your careful thought and effort to fend off those critters, I'm bummed for you too! ... summer just isn't the same without the color and fragrance of lilies! I've had many garden failures myself, some that I had taken an extreme amount of time and energy to undertake, but the end result was I had killed the plants I had intended to make thrive.

Many of those bulbs should still be able to push forward, even if they had previously been bent and struggling to go upward. If it were me, I would have covered the bulbs back up with something light like peat moss so they don't have much resistance to continue upward. Those that do poorly (or don't do anything at all this year) should still be able resprout new growth next spring ... so, all hope is not to be lost.

Thanks Terrance. After I cut the tops off the cages, I added mulched leaves to about 3/4 of the soil and lightly covered the bulbs. I did not pack it down. I should get some blooms this year. I suspect they will be eaten over winter.

So nice of you to take the time to support fellow gardener.

My fishing buddy had a real vole problem at his new house, but was able to eliminate them by trapping. You have to keep at it to get enough reduction in their numbers to do any good, though. Poisons are generally also effective in keeping those numbers down if you are willing to go that route. Mice and voles are one of the draw backs that often associate with heavy mulching, unfortunately. They are perfectly willing to live in it year around.

Dutch,
Thanks for the input.
I have thought about trapping. I was wondering if I could use mouse traps with peanut butter on and put a bucket upside over it with a concrete block on it. I want to make sure I don't get birds or squirrels, etc OR my toes. Not sure what would happen to a chipmunk and not sure how I feel about that. DH does put 2-3 inches of mulch down every 2-3 years, not sure if that falls into 'heavy' category.

Would traps have to be set all year? Or mostly in the Fall?

I have too many wild critters to really consider poison. Hawks, herons, vultures, raccoons, snakes, etc.

Chipmunks may also be part of your problem, although they are more likely to be hibernating. Regular mouse traps will not hold squirrels or chipmunks nor do them much harm. They may also be too light for the voles anyway. Best to contact a pest control company about what kind of traps to get and how to use them to avoid harming unintended targets. IIRC there are effective live traps available, and some of them do multiple captures from a single set. Then all you need besides is a five gallon bucket of water...

There are also all kinds of websites about what kind of wire cages to build to successfully protect your bulbs from pests over winter and still allow the shoots to come through.

Pandora, I actually made cages with the hardware cloth around my lilies last year, as I have meadow voles (not the ones that eat the bulbs). I'm not sure if that's the same problem you were having, but they would take the leaves and then break the stalks and take the flowers with them in their holes. The cages I made were dug in the ground about 6 inches and stood about six inches above the ground. By the time I figured out what was doing that to my lilies, the blooms were done so I was left with leafy stalks behind a cage. However, it worked and they're all coming up this year and bigger than last year. Unfortunately , I still have to dig up some in the area around my deck as I've been plagued with the red lily beetles.

Thanks Shannon, I probably should not have had a top to cages but extended all 4 sides up above ground level a few inches. That might be too difficult to work in the garden. I'm done for now. Might try dahlias and dig bulbs up in fall.