How to keep squirrels from digging up the bulbs?
prairiemoon2 z6b MA
15 years ago
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jewelbeetle
15 years agoRelated Discussions
How to dig up bulbs and tulip blast
Comments (4)If your tulips are diseased you need to find out why. There are tulip disease which will persist and planting more is just throwing good money after bad. The symptom of distorted petals is typically down to poor bulb treatment the previous summer, possibly poor conditions over the winter, and occasionally insect damage. Diseases, other than tulip breaking virus, tends to affect the leaves quite badly. Lifting tulip bulbs over the summer is indeed a good thing to do if your climate and suitable are not ideal. Tulip bulbs in heavy soils can receive too much water over the summer which will cause them to be weak the following year. Or they may split excessively and never become large enough to flower. Hot humid climates seem to cause the same problems. You might want to leave some in the ground and lift others, just to see how well they do in your garden. If you are going to dig them at all then dig them now, or as soon as the leaves go yellow, and store them cool and dry over the summer. Replant them in November, or maybe October, once the soil has cooled down but before it freezes solid. You can plant annuals in the same area but it isn't ideal for the tulips. Some people deliberately overplant to hide the dying foliage. This is bad because the foliage needs maximum sunlight to recharge for next year. Beds with annuals also tend to get watered quite a lot over the summer, again not good for the tulips. These are two of the reasons why tulips often repeat poorly. If you are going to leave the bulbs in the ground and overplant, think about doing it fairly late to give the leaves as much sun as possible, and think about using plants that don't need extra water and fertiliser, like Cosmos or Iceplants....See MoreAny harmless way to keep squirrels away from bulbs?
Comments (21)Emerogork2, what lovely bulb flowers you have! If mine turn out half as beautiful as yours next spring, I'd be happy. We are back from the nursery. This is our plan: - 1/2" chicken wire underneath the bulbs - "basket" style (soil would, of course, be layered first on top of the wire, then bulbs); - 1" chicken wire on top of the soil, then add mulch to cover it. A nurseryman advised us to get garden staples and we bought some before seeing pitimpani's post. We had an "aha!" moment and wondered why we didn't think of a simpler solution such as bricks, but I guess it's part of being a newbie gardener. We will still use a few bricks and save some staples for the future. Thanks a bunch to all! What a wonderful forum....See MoreI don't know how to dig up bulbs?!?!?!?!?bulb help please!
Comments (4)okay, for irisis this is what i done I planted mine in plasitic crayon containers with cut outs in them you know for the roots to go through and put dirt and everything in and around them, when you first planted your iris they will be fine you really don t have to divided them unitl like the 2 and third year of having them what you do is put the plant up by digging up around it very carfully not to damage the bulbs pull it up divide the bulbs the ones you want oto store put in a brown paper bag and store in a dark cool place like your garage if you have one. then to plant back some bulbs take a mound of dirt in the hole and drape the roots over the mound and be sure to remove the leaves and everything do this only during the fall when they start to go dormant for winter but during the spring u can leave the leave on and cover back up with dirt but if its fall dont plant it too far down or else they will rot! i dont know what to tell you on the others...See MoreStop Squirrels digging up seeds
Comments (2)I read somewhere that they don't like peppermint, so I bought some peppermint tea and sprinkled the contents of the teabags all around my crops. That got expensive, so I bought bulk dried peppermint leaves. I don't know if it was that or the squirrels finally got tired of my dogs, but for the most part they left the garden alone. My neighbor grows corn and to keep birds and squirrels away, he ties plastic grocery bags to sticks all around his garden. The movement and rustling seems to keep most critters away....See Morecynthianovak
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