Expert: Long Island Gardener - 5/7/2007

Question
What kind of animal steals Tulips?  Mine are blooming and something is getting in my garden and breaking off the Tulip half way up the stem and then taking the flower.  I'm finding the Petals scattered so doesn't look like they are even eating it.  What do I use to deter whatever it is?

Answer
You would be AMAZED at how many rodents are Tulip Lovers.

I know someone who says Deer love to devour these, stem, leaves and all.  Right out of the garden.

She also owns a greenhouse -- her forced Tulips in pots are bitten off at the top of the stalk, and left next to it.  Damage done, they move on to the next one.  And the next one.  She thinks the INDOOR Tulip-tasters are Rats.

Yes, some Tulips are a little tall for some Rats.  But not all Tulips.  And not all Rats.  And only in her Greenhouse.

I grow Tulips up and down my driveway.  The first few years, bloomed beautifully.  Then one year came along and I noticed one afternoon that all of the Tulips (perhaps 100) had been de-flowered at the tip of the stalks.  The flowers were lying next to the plant they had been from, on the ground.  I thought this was the work of a jealous neighbor or a very crazy woman who lived nearby, with scissors, in the dark of night.
  
So I planted as usual the next fall and the same thing happened.

By then the crazy woman had moved.  Scratch her as a suspect.
  
There seemed no sign of anything else.  We have a racoon
population -- would they do something like this?  Can Slugs cut a Tulip bloom at the end of the stem?  What about Squirrels?  Or was this actually the work of a psychopathic florapath?
  
I did not plant any Tulips after a while.  The ones on the other side of the house were largely undisturbed, although last year I seem to remember that there were some Tulips back there disfigured using the same modus operandi...

I asked around.  I know some very smart people who do nothing all day but discuss spring and summer bulbs.  Some were sure it was Rabbits: 'I'd bet on rabbits.  They keep hoping they'll get one that tastes good.  I've seen them do this to Siberian Iris and new growth on Rose bushes, etc.'

Others voted for Deer: 'Tulip decapitation was practiced by some deer of my former acquaintance.  No tough leaves for them -- just the plumpest, most succulent buds.'

Squirrels of course are famous for absconding with our Tulips bulbs when we plant them in the fall.  Lots of others are ready to pick up where they left off come spring.

What can you do about it?

There is a lot of dark humor in the bulb societies about shooting rabbits and deer, then eating them for dinner, sharing of recipes, etc.  My impression is that short of murder, there is nothing you can do.

But you can try.

There's no shortage of Rabbit or Deer repellents.  See the links for Fox Scent:

http://www.critter-repellent.com/rabbits/rabbits-in-my-garden-flowerbed.php

or see this link 'Keeping Rabbits Out Of Your Garden' from University of Arizona:

http://ag.arizona.edu/gardening/news/azdailystar/keep_rabbits_out.html

or the Roanoke Times article 'No definitive way to repel rabbits' by John Arbogast:

http://www.roanoke.com/outdoors/gardening/wb/wb/xp-84599

For Deer, you can try Safe Home Products Organic Repellers:

http://www.safehomeproducts.com/shp2/es/organic_animal_repellers.asp

Or you can follow the advice of  at:

http://www.deere.com/en_US/ag/homestead/articles/garden/garden_wildlife.html

'Keep Wildlife Out of your Garden' advises readers, 'To repel deer, you can also spray rotten-egg spray on the plants that please their palates.'

Garden writer Marilyn Pokorney has some great advice in her online essay, 'How to Repel Deer'

http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/repel-deer.html

where she says: 'Some gardeners have found success by laying chicken wire on the ground about six feet wide around the perimeter of the garden. The deer don't like to walk on it because their hooves get stuck in the loops of the wire.'

This problem, Janice is OLD AS THE HILLS.  I'll bet the Native American Indians grappled with it before the Pilgrims came.  Know what else?  I think they probably knew what worked.

Keep me posted.  Thanks for writing.  My fence is going up this year.