Squirrels eating bulbs.

[tothelefttotheleft]

They've eaten all my tulips and are eating/ digging up my hyacinths.

Anyone else had this and what do you do about it?

It's most likely to be neighbours that feed birds and unfortunately that attracts all manner of wildlife not just birds.

www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife/squirrels/garden

Apparently they hate chilli and coffee so I sprinkled a little of one of those on top of every bulb I put in.

The professional gardener where I work suggested planting bulbs fairly deep and using fish/blood/bone meal fertiliser [it is organic].
He says squirrels don't like the smell, foxes on the other hand, will think something died and dig where you put it.
Farking squiggles dug up and munched on my allium bulbs 😡
My late MIL made sort of cages of chicken wire bent into domes to cover bulbs, you could also try plastic netting but not the fine stuff that will trap birds.

I put netting over mine until they develop decent roots and have an inch or two of shoot.
Alternatively, plant daffs. They are poisonous, tulips aren't.
I also shoot the squirrels if the little pests stay still long enough.

Ground coffee on the soil works really well

Get a bar of soap, soften it till it goes mushy (or grate and mix with a little water), liberally rub on the bulbs and let it dry, then plant the bulbs. They'll only dig one up - it'll taste nasty .

Chicken wire over the top of where your bulbs are, held down with tent pegs x

I use chicken wire over the pots. They're a menace.

Meh. It amuses me and the squirrels have eaten many of my bulbs ( some partially nibbled, how rude!). The garden is my hobby - it's the squirrels habitat.

Tulips are bloody expensive though - if I wanted to feed the squirrels I wouldn't choose tulips.

They had a go at Fritillary bulbs I’d spent 5 years nursing from seed to flowering size.

still, I prefer to have squirrels than not have squirrels.

Yh agreed bulbs are expensive I guess they are energy dense?
I try and hold on mind that squirrel power has repopulated woodlands and forests. ( Probably with tulips 😂)

I probably lose a few bulbs each year to squirrels, but I also get bonus bulbs planted by squirrels from elsewhere, so I think we're even.
Wish they'd plant me something more interesting than park daffs though!

I love squirrels, they are so cute and I feed them😊

I don’t know how they propagate. If from seed it’s typically 4-5 years to flowering. Not going to be much less if you wait for them to divide.

Sorry I'm not very good at links. This explains a bit more. https://i-csrs.com/squirrels-and-forest-regeneration

I take great comfort in nature replenishing it's self ( obviously when people aren't hurt in the process)

I take great comfort in the idea that nature will reclaim

Squirrels are twats who ignore the cheap stuff in the beds and go straight for the Sarah Raven specimen bulbs in the planters by the window.

I have a garden filled with fruit, mature trees, wildlife feeding stations and as fancy a squirrel dietary buffet as you could ask for and the bastards still go straight for the expensive bulbs. It’s trolling at this point.

I have metal grids across the containers now as they’ve worked out how to get past everything else.

@JingleB glad you have cracked it.
Have visions of squirrels in your garden eating the SR bulbs 😮 like they are ferrero rochere 😂

The little gits perch on the edge of the containers looking at me through the window while tucking into my posh bulbs.

They practically say “Great snacks, two thumbs up! I’ll leave you a review on Trip Advisor and tell all my friends.”

Come midsummer those same audacious swine will hide under my chair in the garden, trusting me to stop the neighbours’ cat from chasing them.

And running off with my apple if I put down to turn a page in my book. (True story. Wee bastards)

I am a source of high end treats and security for them whether I like or not.

I miss chipmunks. Chipmunks were cute and not nearly as irksome.

Lovely.

@Mittens67 our local supermarket occasionally has squirrel meat for sale.
https://thedorsetgamelarder.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Dorset-Game-Larder-Squirrel-508.jpg

I love red squirrels. Grey ones I would support a humane cull of them.

They have eaten ours which were under chicken wire!
According to our garden centre owner friend, if you toss the bulbs in methylated spirit before planting the little shits won’t go near. So i am doing-that next yr!

Unfortunately squirrels will eat bulbs, it's pretty much a downside of planting bulbs! They don't seem to touch daffodils or bluebells. Anemone are poisonous to them too. There's just something about tulips and Crocus and others they can't resist.

I personally think tulips are overrated anyway.

All that effort and expense for something that blooms for one week, two-three if you are lucky. Then they don't even come back the following year, or you take a gamble hoping they might come back and you're left with giamungous leaves that dominate your flowerbed for ages.

You're better off with Primroses (eg denticulata), perennial papaver or anemone or a great variety of other flowers all of which flower in spring but last much longer than a tulip and reliably come back year after year.

@Circumferences my tulips come up (and in increasing numbers) every year, likewise fritillaries, gladioli and hyacinths.
My Alliums are less nice each year though.