Lauren,

It would help to know whether rodents or cutworms decimated your first plants. Cutworms would leave most of the plant. Was that the case?

MM

MM, thanks for your reply. I've been feeding birds in my yard for 25 years and although I've figured out how to keep the squirrels off my actual feeders, I have a herd in my yard, plus chipmunks. They dig in all my outdoor potted plants and I see them digging little holes across the yard all throughout the day.

I'm not sure which of the rascals ruined my first planting (I have a couple of rabbits, too,) but they did three kinds of damage. The greatest number of cases were the ones where something bit the tops off each plant, while the seedcoat was still tightly wrapped around the seedleaves. Most of those were up about 3 - 4 inches. They didn't eat any part of it, but just left them lying on the dirt right beside the headless stalks.

Secondly, of the 6 plants I set out that were already 5 - 6 inches tall, they bit off some or part of the seedleaves. Again, they were lying on the ground beside the plant, uneaten. (I've been told that the true leaves of Moonflower, in the Morning glory family, are poisonous, but the cotyledons aren't.) (sp?)

Third method of annihilation was to dig up some of the peat pellets, tear the little netting apart, and locate the sprouting seed. Again, uneaten. I know they're looking for something to eat, but they're just killing my plants, flat out. No gain for them, total loss for me.

In trying to imagine what I could use to set up this enclosure, my latest idea was to make hardware cloth strips about 4" wide and 2' long, with a right angle bend in the middle. I'd stick one end in the ground and wire-tie the other to the fence. (All of this to support the netting.) I imagine they'd need to be spaced along the fence, about 2 1/2 - 3 feet apart. They'd be wide enough and strong enough to stay upright, but cutting that many strips out of wire would be making an already huge job into a giant one. There's got to be an easier way.

I just planted 5 pots of coreopsis; it's not too late to plant them but I don't have a good, permanent spot ready and in these hottest months, I fear they won't sprout if not kept damp at least until they are partly established. It will be easier to control them in pots for now. Then I thought how the chipmunks like to dig in that fresh dirt so I sprayed them, pots, trays, surface liberally with Liquid Fence and will spray again because we might have rain. I think the squirrels messed up part of my garden in front earlier this season by burying things in there, but I haven't seemed to have any trouble lately.

Liquid Fence is expensive, but if it works, it is worth it. So far I don't think they have eaten my new lilies, but a few haven't done well so I can't be sure.

You can spray the plant and everything. They say a couple of applications a week apart when it is dry will train most critters to stay away.

I never tried to grow moonflower. If that is the same as Jimson weed, I got some one year probably from a bird dropping. Nothing seemed to bother it, and there are always squirrels. We did not used to have chipmunks until about the last 20 or so years, they seem to have come south from further north.

They never seem to have bothered my potted marigolds and I didn't spray them. They are smack dab on the porch where the chipmunk hangs out. You could try to plant them in with the vines and see if that helps. What you are trying to do seems like an awful lot of work and may not be effective as chipmunks can burrow under the netting. I agree with the one poster's theory that it might be something else.

Hi, aliska. Are your coreopsis seedlings or actual plants at this stage? Do you think it would hurt to spray Liquid Fence or a soap/cayenne spray on seedlings? I just don't know how tender they are. Tomorrow will be their third day hardening off (early a.m. sun, porch shade the rest of the day,) and I know I'm going to have to put them in the ground any minute now, they're so tall (almost 10") to be growing in 1 1/2" - 2" peat pellets.

Don't cut worms cut plants off at ground level? (I need to look those up.) They'd have had to climb up the stalks and bite the heads off, then climb back down again, if they were worms/caterpillars. Plus, as I think about it now, I'd really love to walk out there one morning and see a worm digging up peat pellets buried to a depth of 2 - 3 inches. The idea of that just cracked me up. I think a sight like that would actually make all this hassle half worth it! LOL

Again, Moonflower is a type of Morning Glory, or at least in the same family. Most poisons are hallucinogenic, from what I remember. I think that's why whatever's eating them is spitting them out after they've chomped down once or twice. They're smarter than a lot of Homo sapiens.

Good idea about the marigolds. I picked up a number of dried seedpods at WalMart last week. Once I get my shelter set up, I'll have to sow those in among my Moonflowers.

I agree with you re. the chipmunks burrowing under the netting. To me, these are just a series of deterrents and I guess I'm hoping the more they have to contend with, the sooner they'll give up. They could all bite through it easily enough, anyway, because it's only plastic mesh.

Oh. One last thing. After brainstorming this afternoon on the phone with my SIL, I finally came up with a workable solution for my problem. I've got tons of overgrown privet in the little woods part of my back yard. I can cut green (therefore pliable) switches and use them, criss-cross fashion to support the netting. I could sharpen one end and stick that into the ground, then notch the other end so that it fits over the chain-link fence wire, bowing it between the two points. I think the curve and tension will hold it in place and give it some strength. It won't have to stay there for long because my plants seem to be extremely strong and healthy. Now I just have to find out how flexible those switches can be without snapping.

I really appreciate you guys reading this and giving me things to think about. I love this site!

Thanks again,
Lauren

Well, 40' of fence is now planted with 12 back-up plants in individual 6" pots. I decided against the netting within three minutes of trying to fix it to the fence. Tie it, top and bottom, every 4 or 5 inches? Ridiculous. Too bad I couldn't *see* that in my mind's eye and had to do it physically to realize what a bad idea it was.

So far, I'm still reluctant to spray but the ground around them is orange with cayenne and red pepper.

aliska -- it didn't register that you said, "...I fear they won't sprout." Sorry for asking a dumb question in light of what you'd said. Have your coreopsis come up? If we were in the same area, I'd bring you one of the back-up moonflowers. They're really healthy looking.

Hi I also have trouble with putting my new seedlings out in the spring. The squirrels,my corgis,heavy rains, and beating sun always do some of them in. So I found a lot of the green plastic berry baskets and some small sharp wooden skewers and put the baskets over the small seedlings. This provides shade and keeps birds,dogs, and squirrels from tearing them up while the seedlings are in this tender stage. As they grow I remove the baskets and use whatever old wire baskets and wire trays I can find. This protects them very good from all the critters out there. When I plant in pots or containers I use rocks to keep the squirrels from digging in the soil and ruining the plants. It seems they only do this at a certain each year when they are burying their acorns around here. Anyway this is just a few of the ideas I use to protect the seedlings until they are ready to be on their own. Good Luck. By the way I have a moonflower plant that has around 25 blooms each morning. This plant just comes up every year and I never have to plant it from seed as it reseeds so well. Sherry