Cages to protect bulbs?

9 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

Many years ago I purchased some very expensive fall blooming crocus bulbs and figured that they were not going to be a buffet for squirrels, chipmunks, skunk, mice voles, moles, gophers etc. (I have no idea which of those eat bulbs but I wasn't going to take a chance.)

I wrought a cage around them and buried the assembly as needed. They have bloomed reliably for the last 10 years.

I plan to do this with Allium and other bulbs. and see that light-bulb cages are a good size. I know that this is not needed for daffodils as most critters don't eat them except for extreme conditions.

I wonder if anyone else does this?

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Comments (3)

User
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
What are light bulb cages?
User
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
After pocket gophers cleaned a bed of ranunculus, Dutch iris and dahlias I bought close weave wire (1/2 inch ?) and tried to fashion baskets. What an unwieldy job. It did protect the susceptible bulbs (narcissus were never bothered so left uncaged). A lot of bulbs went in pots, some of which were buried. A roaming cat finally got that gopher. Now another has shown up and I've realized the tunnels are only down about 6 inches. Instead of trying to bend a basket I've buried a circle of the barrier wire around the bulbs. About 8 inches. I leave a little showing so I don't dig there. Cutting the wire weave is tedious.

The spaces on light bulb cages I've seen are too large for my critters.
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Carol Baker
Original Author
9 years ago
What are light bulb cages?

It is a wire mesh, typically 1/4", that is a bit larger than a typical incandescent light bulb and it is clamped on to prevent the bulb from braking if something hits it.

If you have expensive crocus bulbs than one bulb per cage works but the cages can get expensive if you want to use a lot of them.

My new bulbs have not arrived yet so I have not decided what to do....