Squirrels and other little furry creatures absolutely love bulbs and will sniff them out in a heartbeat. Here is a potential solution, provided you can get the raw material, and the picture above is a clue...
PlantTherapy: Natural Solution
Saving Your Bulbs from Being Eaten
Crushed oyster shells, according to the Oct./Nov. '08 issue of Horticulture Magazine, is a very effective deterrent. Just sprinkle them below and then above the bulbs as you plant. Chipmunks, squirrels, voles, and other animals don't like the feeling of the shell shards and steer clear. This tip came from Tovah Martin, a regular contributor to the magazine.
Where to get them? The article suggests the grain store. We city slickers can probably hit up the local seafood store or restaurant for a bag of shells to crush.
Whether you are ordering bulbs for planting now, or ones that come pre-chilled for spring delivery and planting, this simple solution may ensure you keep your bulb investment from becoming squirrel snacks.
Here are a few of the past simple solutions we have found:
matt at apartment therapy dot com
Image by Buddha's Ghost via Flickr
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I've also heard that sprinkling cayenne pepper on top of the soil works as a good deterrent.
view sarahisaghost's profile
Very cool. Plus you're adding calcium to the soil!
view quiltmaster's profile
Maybe the picture is a clue, but for the record, that isn't an oyster ;)
view morebo75's profile
I thought you were talking about light bulbs to start with, and my brain was really struggling with the idea of squirrels (that's skwi-rels, not skwerls) eating light bulbs.
view Lukens's profile
We keep the squirrels out by interspersing our tulips with lots of hyacinth bulbs. They really hate the hyacinths for some reason and give them a wide berth.
view toomuchstuff's profile
I plant my bulbs, put down chickenwire, more dirt on top to cover wire...voila! They can't reach the bulbs
view cricketchirp's profile
I put down chicken wire on top of the bulb area and held it down with rocks. So far so good!
view medusa12120's profile
Good morning -
You know, I have not yet tried this, but I have had a bit of experience with both clamshells and oyster shells and I think morebo75 has a very good point. In remembering oyster shells, I think they are created a bit differently and would break into sharper and thinner pieces when crushed. Since the point is that the animals don't like the sharp bits, my money is on oyster shells - which the author says is extremely effective.
Thank you for the other suggestions!
view mattplantguy's profile