Expert: Long Island Gardener - 4/29/2008

Question
I don't have trouble with animals eating my tulip bulbs but every year just after my tulips bloom, I wake up one morning to find each and every bloom has been lopped off.  Some are lying on the ground untouched, others look to be half eaten and some are gone altogether.  It almost looks like someone took a pair of scissors and cut each one near the bottom of the bloom.   
My neighbors gardens seem untouched and their tulips are doing well, even the ones who don't look after their gardens.  This has been happening for 4 or 5 years now.
What could be causing this??
Judy

Answer
I know the feeling.  In my case, I was certain it was a psychiatric patient who had actually spent some time living (for free) in my house.  Part of my give-back-to-the-community good example I wanted to set.  I gave it my best shot.  In the Spring, around the time this particular woman (who thought I was trying to kill her) was using a 2nd floor bedroom, all the Yellow 'Fringed Elegance' Tulips on THAT side of the house suddenly appeared one morning like decapitated heads next to their stems.

It looked like a completely insane exercise that only one person could have been capable of.  And I said a few prayers, took a few deep breaths, asked for patience, and ignored them.

She was gone by the end of the Summer.

Came another Spring.  Yellow Tulips blooming up and down the side of the house, cheery and delightful.  And once again, over perhaps 2 nights this time, the large Yellow Tulip heads were cut off and placed next to their stems, like a bizarre Spring ritual.

But I do have some friends in high places.  And I finally asked their wise advice.

Many rodents and mammals are known apparently for this behavior.  In my case, it was probably a Racoon, perhaps an Oppossum, perhaps a Squirrel.  They get hungry, they have a taste, they spit it out and geniuses that they are take a bite out of the next specimen right next to it, until they have gone right down the line to the entire display.  Deer are blamed for everything in some communities, but we have no deer where I live, so it must be one of the other rodents.

One person with this problem suggests to me each year to pour urine all over the area, which marks the territory and warns the guilty rodents that you mean business.  Best urine in this case is from a wolf.  Good luck with that option.

Mothballs used to be my weapon of choice against seed-eating pigeons, but they are really awful apparently for the Soil and other things.  A few strategically placed mousetraps might scare off one or two trespassers and make them think twice about that route.

Finally, there are repellants all over for this kind of problemm.  In this economic climate, no one should ever have to pay full price on anything.  Cut deals, and pick up a commercial repellant.  'tis the season.  Good luck, keep me posted,

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER