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Vegetable Gardening

something is digging up my seeds

10 years ago

I planted broad beans a few weeks ago, they started sprouting up this week. Something took a nibble off one, my father suspected birds so I covered the whole bed with bird netting. No more nibbles. I put in a second round of seeds and now something is unearthing them. The netting is still in place so if something got in it must be tiny. There are no holes from digging, the seeds just appear on the surface near where they were planted, undamaged. One of the previously sprouted plants was nearly uprooted with it's seed exposed. The only evidence of something having been in there was a debris pile near an uprooted seed, twigs, wood chips and some seeds that could have been in the compost. I dug around but didn't find tunnels of any kind.

What on earth could be going on in my garden?

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Comments (5)

digdirt2
10 years ago
Assuming the netting is well secured than sounds like something that is living IN the soil. Grubs, beetles of some kind, voles. And there is always mice.

Dave
illori
Original Author
10 years ago
Now something is taking out the straws/sticks I stuck beside the seedlings (to prevent cutworm damage) and moving them about 4 inches from the plants, but doing the plants no visible damage. I didn't see any tunnels when I dug a bit and there are no exit holes so I am doubting voles. Would grubs or beetles bother moving the sticks away 4-6 inches? There are quite a few tiny ants in there, but the sticks seem awfully big for ants to move. This is the 4th time I replaced the sticks. It's weird, but I'm not seeing any damage now.
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Or skunks. Any of the above can be guilty of digging in lawns. Squirrels are hiding things for winter. Skunks are going after grubs or worms. Raccoons just dig for the heck of it sometimes, but also to feed. On the down side, it causes some damage. On the up side, it means you have a healthy enough locale that they're comfortable poking around and happy.
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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.
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I agree....squirrels. They are either burying something OR digging around in there to see IF they buried something earlier. I've watched them do that. They might not have the best memories, sometimes.
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Comments (6)
Squirrels around here dig holes in the flower pots and beds to bury pecans and acorns. I wonder if they remember where they put them and ever get around to retrieving them as there are sure a lot of tree seedlings that come up in pots every spring! Sprinkling hot pepper on the soil as mentioned above does help to deter them. I use a product called called Squirrel Away. It's sold at garden centers to keep squirrels out of bird feeders. I'll have to check on the price of cayenne at Costco as opposed to Squirrel Away next time I go. Squirrels are cute and I enjoy them, but sometimes they are pesky little creatures like when they knock pots over as they jump around. Not only that, but I suspect that it was them that ate all the flowers off of my Christmas cactus when I sat it outside one day to get some light! Here is a link that might be useful: Squirrel Away
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digdirt2
10 years ago
Do you have raccoons around? They love to play with covers, pick up sticks and move them, dig up seeds, replace stones, etc.

I swear they are so smart they will open and close the garden gate and rehang the hummer feeder after drinking it - we watched them do it. Sometimes when I find something weird like that I think it must have been one of the grandkids except they weren't even around.

Never seen a grub or beetle move a stick and ants generally pose no threat in the garden unless they are fire ants.

Just something to consider.

Dave
illori
Original Author
10 years ago
I'm not seeing any damage, I'm just very curious about what is going on. We do have tons of raccoons, do you suppose they'd remove the 2x4s holding the bird net down, mess about, then put thr 2x4 back just to mess with me? It's a funny thought to be sure, they are crazy critters, last year my brother woke up to find one in his car, sitting in the driver's seat with it's paws on the wheel. It was hilarious though it was probably just trying to climb up to the leftovers on the dash.
seysonn
10 years ago
Wow. This is amazing mystery revealed by Dave...
I never thought that raccoons would do such a crazy things.
Years back, I used to feed them like pets on my backyard porch. Of course , it was just one couple , living in the area, with their new borne .

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