OOH. I'm so sorry that happened.. that is Massively frustrating..

HEre in NY, I"m always fuming about the squirrels that LITERALLY eat the tops off my flowers and love to dig around and uproot new plants.

I'm not origninally from here and sometimes, I'm like OMGosh!!!!! What is WRONG with these FREAKING squirrels in NY.. there's so little plant life they went beserk and have to eat flowers?? It's Not NORMAL!!!!
LOL

HOpe your plants will be okay from this point on.

I am so sorry Jean! I lost one of my new daylilies, roots and all to some varmint, but I have never lost a new planting. I hope your "treatment measures" work.

On another subject, Jen send me an email. I'm having trouble finding your address in my address book in this new computer. I wanted to respond to your question about natural means for pain control in an email.
kay

I know the feeling-I have a running battle with the squirrels in my yard whenever I move plant or add new ones. Loose soil is an invitation for them. I'v even gone to plant flowers that I had started in pots and found peanuts or walnuts buried in the pot-and I know it wasn't there when I started! I recently had someone tell me that rubber snakes will skare them off-at least its something cheap to try this year-even if my husband is giving me odd looks. I also just picked up a fake owl for the furthest bed from the house-I really don't want to scare my birds away!

This would be infuriating even for a healthy person, but for it to happen to someone like you who has to put up with all your pain IS disgusting! I have used the cayenne pepper/red pepper method before too and I think it worked.

Sorry you have to deal with this on top of everything else.

Vickie

My sympathies--nature loves the banquet I plant each year, so I can relate. Deer, squirrels, racoons, rabbits, voles, copperheads, mosquitos, deer ticks--you name, I fight it every year. Deer are the worst right now and each ingoing plant has to be doused with Deer Off--disgusting spray that includes rotten eggs, blood and cayenne.

In addition to your cayenne, you might try mixing a bottle of castor oil with a small bag of vermiculite (between 10 and 20 parts of vermiculite to 1 part castor oil) and mix a tablespoonful of that into your soil with each new plant--it does keep the racoons off and also repels voles.

Dogs can do this. I have a lab retriever 3 year old and have an awful time with her digging up everything I plant. I think she can smell my hands on it and up it comes. Often the dirt is completely shaken off the roots but they aren't harmed. The plant is just laying there beside the hole. I don't know how she can do this. I have given up planting anything new in my back yard where she spends most of the time unless I have the time to really watch her. Maybe I should try something that would change the scent when I plant.

Oh Jean, how frustrating and unfair. Bad enough you have to plant them once, haveing to replant is just beyond thinking about.

So its Friday, are the ones replanted ok now? No more digging by nasty critters?

Rital Yes, they are fine now.Haven't had no more digging,YET.Maybe they were tooo busy eating bread I threw out.I picked up a new loaf of bread at the store yesterday when I went out with a daughter,and when I got back,I had a Old loaf that had been sitting about 2 weeks and I had not eat but a couple slices out of it,and it got stale, so I threw it all out in the back yard, thinking the birds will eat on it for several days.I was shocked the next day when I looked out to see if the birds was eating on it,as there was nothing left.I know Birds didn't eat that whole loaf of bread, so I guess whatever dug up my daylilies spent the night eating that bread.I think if I had known the birds wouldn't be getting it,I would have filled the bread full of red pepper, too and maybe give them a bad case of indigestion. DARN CRITTERS.

Jean

Well, at least the replanted daylilies are ok.

I have all sorts of critters here too overnight, mostly racoons and possums. They eat any bread I throw out overnight or anything leftover from dinner. No use putting it in the garbage cans as they just get opened. At least they don't usually dig up the plants here!

FYI-so far the beds I put rubber snakes in are being virtually left alone. The ones without snakes.....well that's another story-need to find more snakes!

I hope the rubber snake things keep working.

Wow,I DON"T want no rubber snakes in my yard,or anything that even resembles a snake,as I am terrified of snakes of any kind or size.I have had tooo many close calls on snakes.I bought a garden hose a few years ago and it was different from the ones I usually buy.I hooked it up outside and used it a little while, but,every time I walked on the side of the house and seen that hose in the grass,I thought it was a snake every time,and it scared me to no end.Took awhile for the heart to stop pounding,I can tell you.After a couple weeks of that,I went back and bought a bright yellow hose to match the others I had,and I gave that hose away.On second thought,my daughter needed a hose,so I gave it to her,and it don't scare her.

Jean

I've had the same problem but have never heard of placing rubber snakes to keep animals from digging. I'm going to try that one.

Thanks.

Sandy