Are you sure its chipmunks? I'd expect a bigger pile of dirt around the holes and they don't usually need 5 holes in a small area. You could flood the tunnels for a start.

tj

Fill them back in to start.

If you have a dog/cat you can try putting some of their waste around the area to deter them. I know....gross, but I have had success doing this. They will dig elsewhere but at least it will save your peony.

If no animal waste available, you can try sprinkling Cheyenne pepper instead.

Good luck!

They are litttle !&@?! and I feel your pain....

Yes, fill in the holes and water well to settle soil back around the roots.

Are you willing to consider replanting the peony in a large ring of wire mesh to discourage tunneling in that area? Or are you someone who is willing to set traps?

Do you have bird feeders that provide food for them? If so, are you willing to make changes to reduce dropped seed?

Cayenne pepper is a good suggestion to reduce appeal in the area, and you may also find success with other products like Liquid Fence or Deer Away or similar.

Sigh.

I figured they are chipmunks because I have seen them go into and out of similar holes in the ground in the semi-recent past. (I was impressed at how easily the slip into the small looking holes.)

Now I question if they are chipmunks, as there is no soil pile - just clean neat holes that have an increasing network of directions around the flower border (and yard in general).

The reason I haven't flooded the tunnels is because we have been having extreme amounts of rain lately.

If I do fill in the holes, I will have to use either compost or soil dug up from another spot of the yard.

Gardenho, that is a great idea i hadn't thought of. I have dogs AND cayenne pepper. Yes, the idea is gross to many, but i will give that a try. I'll also mix black pepper in. And yes, thank you for understanding how horrible those little devils can be! lol :)

NHbabs: When I transplanted the peony about 2 years ago, OMG what a job! It had been in another border for maybe 6 or 7 years. I had no idea a simple plant could have such a massive root system. No joking - it was a good 2 day job. It left a HUGE crater when lifted and required a massive hole to get re-situated.

Getting to the point, I really don't want to dig it up to make a wire mesh cage for it (if I can avoid it). However... It may be necessary. I have already come to the conclusion that from now on, before I plant anything, I will first factor in a wire mesh cage.

Also, you brought up another excellent point. I do have 2 bird feeders and 2 suet feeders in another area of the yard (not too far from the border). I will figure something out now knowing that this is a likely contributing factor.

I have been considering traps... but have been unsure about them.

As of today, I DO know I will start using different deterrents like the ones mentioned in this thread.

you fill the holes.. to find out if those hole .. or which holes.. are active ... just use native soil ... so it will drain or act like the rest ...

once you Id the active holes.. then you can start hunting ... vermin are vermin ... you better accept that fact ...

once you actually Id the vermin.. you can find out what they eat ... the usual pest for eating roots.. are voles ..

i dont think chippies are pure vegetarians .... which means they may not be a pest to your peony ...

btw ... if you have a precious plant.. your first goal.. should have been to start a few more .. when you had it dug up ... even now.. you might want to figure out how to get a few more pieces ... so you can increase your odds of keeping it a long time ...

ken

I had similar chipmunk holes in a bed. I kept flooding them and refilling with soil. They kept redigging and I kept refilling. It took a couple or few weeks but eventually they gave up. They just laughed at the repellants I tried. Peony roots are large, so there's still hope it's salvagable, if you can prevent the rodents from doing any more damage. At least it's not voles. They're the worst!

Voles!...although they keep the barn owls, buzzards, kestrels and harriers fed...a nasty shock for this urban gardener tho'.

They were living under my compost pile. They wreaked havoc for three years. They did me one favor and pollished off the rapidly spreading Jerusalem artichokes. What relief! They are adorable! Then all at once they all dissapeared like lemmings over a cliff. But there aren't any cliffs nearby?

i once though i had a plague of chippies ... they had a nasty habit of biting into my irrigation tape ... as well as tunneling along the irrigation lines.. my biggest problem was twisting my ankle walking thru the beds ... they did absolutely NOTHING in regard the 1000 hosta in those beds ... except on some very small ones.. that did not appreciate a tunnel under them .. causing them to fall into the hole ...

that said.. on about 2 acres of those beds.. i trapped 3 i seem to recall.. and the problem disappeared ... i thought there must have been a hundred of them.. lol ...

to say they are hyperactive.. might be an understatement.. lol ...

Jay, i would be truly happy if all my voles disappeared!

We have had chipmunks in the yard for as long as I remember. I have had burrowing in “undesirable” places a few times. They have never damaged any of my plants. My experience is that none of the above suggestions works except trapping. We have only trapped one time in the 40+ years we’ve been in our home. The critters decided to burrow around fence posts and destabilized the gate into our backyard, we trapped 6 at that time.

Trapping did not work.

More just took their places : /

I gave up....

They are all around my house because I live more or less within an oak thicket. I lost a few plants, not from them eating the roots but because the roots dried out after dangling in their tunnels. They are good for keeping volunteer silver maples and oaks under control.

but because the roots dried out after dangling in their tunnels.

==>> thank you.. that is what i was trying to say about tiny plants over a tunnel ...

A comment about flooding the holes and filling. If you flood the holes then step on the area it should collapse the holes. Perhaps it is because my mental thought about filling the holes included a large pastry bag and mud with a lot of hope that the mud would actually enter the hole rather than burst the bag filling the holes seems to me to be a waste of time. You would have to actually dig down to the hole to fill it.

Wow.

I'm sorry I haven't replied sooner. Been extremely busy.

You all have given me such good advice that I think I can now deal with the issue successfully.

Ken, you had suggested that I should have made different pieces of the root ball before planting. Dang I wish I'd have thought of that!

Any way, thank you everyone :)

BTW: I love your user name, "maifleur01"

I would do EXACTLY as Maifleur suggests and step all around the peony after flooding the tunnels, just don't step on the red eyes. If it sinks you'll have to raise the entire thing back up, though, because peonies are extra sensitive to excess moisture in the spring when they're coming out of dormancy. You won't have to dig the entire thing up, can almost do a "mudjacking" by putting a shovel in beside the roots and lifting a bit then backfilling to get it to the right depth. You'll probably need an assistant to backfill!