I live in Maine and we have LOTS of deer but they haven't been a problem because I also have two large dogs. Growing tulips has always been a problem but I figured it was moles, voles, etc. etc. However, this year something ate all the tulips and then even ate day lily foliage and now whatever it is has eaten my lilies. These are elder lilies- rubrum, casablanca, etc.- with very sturdy large stems which were about 3 feet tall already. One day fine, but over the next few days they were chomped down. I have some problem with the lily beetle, but could this be deer? Also eating my 1 year old kniphofia, etc. but I have never had my lilies mauled. Have I just been lucky and THIS is reality? If it is deer, any suggestions for prevention, or would I be better off just planting more deer resistant plants. But I do love lilies and had just planted 30 asiatic and orienpet lilies last fall. Any guidance is appreciated.

Rabbits love lily leaves & buds. I have watched them get some of mine. They also will eat daylily foliage to the ground. They love tulip foliage & buds.
This is new to me as of last year, Rabbits in my yard now love Clematis stems. What shocked me was they chewed through the hard dry low stems & left the new soft growth of the stems alone. I could not believe they would go for the hard over the soft. I have had Clematis for 10 years & last year was the beginning of the Clematis eating.
I had to cage 9 Clematis with chicken wire to save the Clematis.

In my yard, its woodchucks and deer. I have some new lilies that are about 3 ft tall, and the tops have been all eaten off. Due to the height, I suspect deer are the problem. Normally, I use deer-away or a product like it, but I guess I got careless and didn't spray them because nothing was eating them up until now. Deer repellent won't repel the woodchucks though, not much will. Since the tops of my lilies were eaten, I assume I won't get flowers this year. Any chance they might grow new buds and flower anyway? Since they're new, I was hoping to get a few flowers to see what they look like.

I don't think it's rabbits, unless they are 2 feet tall! Or slugs (same reason). It's just the tops beheaded. I do have slug bait out anyway. These lilies were already tall. Today, coming home after a trip, I saw some 3 feet tall ones were now missing their tops! No deer here, but we do have racoons: do they eat lilies?

All the rubrums are now missing their tops! And the cuts/bites are way off the ground.
There's nothing nearby for a rabbit to brace itself against: I'm picturing one climbing the leaves like a ladder! I have blood meal (used it around the tulips) but I've never been able to tell if it's working.

Bumping this in case some one has some advice for me. The lily bud losses are greater each day.

Are you sure you don't have deer? They've been pushed into many areas that they used to avoid. I would think if you had bugs that you would see them and if it were smaller mammals they would be eating your plant lower down. Though, as hpny2 noted, it could be woodchucks. They are much bigger than rabbits and eat all kinds of stuff.

You can get green coated chicken wire to surround you raised bed and see if that stops it. (That will distinguish between bug or mammal.) It's not beautiful, but it's not as unattractive as you might think, since it's hard to see from a distance with foliage behind it. It would have to be pretty tall to deter deer but a shorter (say 2.5') height would stop woodchucks.

Short of getting a dog (for the woodchucks and deer) and a cat (for the moles, voles, chipmunks, rabbits, etc.,) - both with high prey drives, I don't know what else to suggest. It must be frustrating.

Good Luck!

-Helen

i came home today to have family dinner and my mother had the exact same problem about which linnea56 posted - i did a search on google and this topic came up. after reading the responses i am still at a loss as to what it could be. all the buds of the lilies have been chewed/bitten off and even stranger all the buds are lying on the ground next to the lilies. it is *definitely* not deer as they live in a very developed suburb and are not close to any forest. neighbours have suggested that it may be rabbits, but again it is hard to imagine a rabbit being able to get up that high to bite off the buds.

regardless of what IS doing it (given our location it is most likely a small mammal of some sort) does anyone have any recommendations for keeping whatever it may be away from the lillies? thank you in advance!

Mark.

same thing happened to me, but not with my lilies..it was my sunflowers, and only my sunflowers. as soon as they hit 2 feet, the tops were chopped off and laying on the ground next to the stem..all i could do was look around and say "b*st*rds"!!!!! lol. If it is groundhogs, rabbits or sqirrels you should use "Rabbit and Groundhog Out" works on squirrels too. I think my mom said they make stuff for deer too. It's 100% natural and doesn't wash off easily. I got mine from a nursery, but it has a website addy on the bottle. www.deerout.com You should only need to apply once a month, unless you get alot of rain. This stuff works really well. good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: www.deerout.com

Chipmonks can climb lily stalks and will eat the buds - they're looking for water. They usually won't sheer the whole top off though, just eat the buds one by one and leave the debris on the ground. (I discovered this two seasons ago actually watching them do it and have since left them a tray of water out of the way and along their run. Haven't lost a lily to chipmonks since, nor any to deer since discovering Liquid Fence.)

Deer and rabbits/hares will eat lilies, and anything else. Although lilies are poisonous, if food supplies are low they will eat them since they are desperate for food.

I do have a pan of water out in the garden. I noticed a few years ago that something was biting the green tomatoes, presumably from thirst. So now I put the pan of water out a few weeks before ripening. MAybe this is helping the lilies now too; I didn't have it out yet when I first posted. I don't think the rabbits could be desperate for food right now; there's a virtual buffet out there. I put out a lot of sweet potato vines this year; they have been trimming those daily. The ones I put in pots are really full and lush, the ones in the ground nibbled to near extinction.

Actually I find summer to be one of the worst times for lagomorph problems. The soft growth they prefer is starting to harden; many plants are now unpalatable to them due to toxins and other chemicals they generate to protect themselves; they don't as a general rule eat domesticated grasses (when you see them in a yard, they're eating the weeds); and the little leverets from the spring are now juveniles and need to forage on their own too.

Absolutely rabbits can do the job. I transplanted stargazer lily 3 times when I moved. Each time the 1 foot tall lily was sheered to the ground and totally consumed overnight. Even with rabbit fence they managed to squeeze in. We had rabbits galore in our new location which ate everything in site. They did the same thing to a 15 inch high euchinacea which rabbits aren't suppose to even like. This year my cat has had a chance to scout the neighborhood and I have had no rabbit damage at all.

Hi! Last spring I planted a variety of lily plants. When do they start to show above ground or did the deer eat the bulbs? Your reply is much appreciated.

What is your horticultural zone, Lyn? In general on these forum, it's useful to know before recommending something. You'll see most of us put it right after our names so it will show up whenever we post.

Here in zone 5, it's too soon for them to show above ground. I doubt the deer would have eaten the bulbs, but many animals might eat the emerging foliage.

I have lots of squirrels in my yard, and I have actually seen a squirrel eat one of my stargazer lilies. I don't know if it was interested in the leaves because I chased it before it could do anymore damage. I have some tiger lilies in the back and they eat the first shoots off them. For that reason, I enclosed my prized lilies, and I put out nuts for the squirrels so they stay away from my plants. First two feeders were filled last week.

I've been using pepper and cinnamon. That's been keeping all the critter's away. I got some vegetables growing out back. I hear the deer at night. They have not touched them.

Chipmunks are a big problem. They usually come out when it's warmer here.

The squirrels ate mine. They dug up the bulb before it even grew. My advice: put up a fence and get a dog (or cat). A little dachshund, a whole pack of them. My brother's dog, Dodger, is the best at hunting vermin (rats, mice, squirrels, rabbits, etc.). He's also a chicken killer. My little dogs (chiweenie mutts from the pound) love to chase little furry things. If they had been in the yard, my toad lily would still be there. Watch out for coyotes. They eat little dogs.

I have a problem with something eating my flowers off of my Stella doors not the leaves just a flowers and it seems to have a slimy substance to it when I break it off what is eating my plant can someone help me

I live in FL. I planted these beautiful lilies but after a month it seems that something is eating all the leaves and chopping the top. I can’t figure out what it is. I looked in the back of the leaves but there is no insect or Caterpillar. Does anyone know what can cause this damage?

In my garden, the culprit would be deer. Last year, they ate all the lily buds before i could get out to spray them. This year I will be more proactive!!

Tried .

Literally last week someone or something came and took just the buds n full flowers off 98% of my lilies which go all the way around my house. They look like they were cut clean off. Nothing left no petals on the grounds either. They are all about 3-4ft tall. What would do that?

Just so everyone knows, daylilies - Hemerocallis species and hybrids - are not lilies despite that common name. They are not bulbs like true lilies (Lilium species and hybrids) but just a fleshy rooted perennial. But the buds and flowers can be browsed by various plant eating creatures just like true lilies and a host of other perennials and shrubs.

In my garden with a moderate deer presence, the deer will often eat the flowers or flower buds off of just about anything, even for plants they normally avoid. So my vote would be deer damage.