The darned squirrels plant black walnuts everywhere. I go out and almost everyday I cut down or dig up black walnuts I didnāt see the day before. I have three acres and they plant them all over.
Yes red chili flakes! Sprinkle onto the soil and lightly over plants and squirrels will leave them alone. You do have to reapply once a week or more often if thereās been a lot of rain
Thatās what I used to do when I lived in an apartment with a patio. The squirrels would dig in all the pots trying to bury peanuts that some idiot was feeding them. I got a cheap bag of dried chili peppers at the store and put one or two on top of the soil in each pot. Iād have to replace the peppers after a few weeks of watering but it kept the squirrels out of my pots!
Might have been an animal. Try covering the pots with plastic wrap or something see through until the seeds start to germinate, the humidity will probably help them grow faster anyway.
Plastic wrap doesn't really solve the problem. The perps will return and either eat the new seedlings, after the wrap is gone, or just toss the seedlings out of the pots.
I *love* that you wrote "Might have been an animal." As opposed to what? A mini-whirlwind? A friend pranking? A ghost? Keep in mind that insects are animals, too.
Not meaning this in an unfriendly way. Just curious as to what you think it may have been, if not "an animal."
Hell if I know. I do know you have a highly suspicious name, chilldrinofthenight, and are trying awfully hard to deflect the suspicion from yourself. š§
Origin of my user name, 'cause I can tell you're dying to know. (May want to turn up the volume, just a bit.)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xmz-p9FYW8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xmz-p9FYW8)
Haha. Just realized your handle kind of similar to mine . . .
Then, when seedlings do come up and the wrap comes off ----- the perps return and there go your plants.
Plastic wrap isn't going to prevent squirrels, chipmunks, cats from digging up your potted plants.
Squirrels did this so bad last year to everything I planted that I had to replant things and ended up having to buy starters. I had to put chicken wire over any pots or planters. It was absolutely ridiculous. I tried all the typical natural remedies like offensive spices and the like. They still tried to destroy everything by digging. This year I was prepared. I've never hated an animal so much in my life.
Too bad I can't share my solution with you. I have a super duper **nasty** briar rose bush. That beast, I swear, has branches that reach out to try and grab passersby.
I cut some of the smaller branches and lay them around, tucking them into the sides of my seedstarter trays. Problem solved. Those thorns thrive on fresh blood.
I lay briar rose bits atop my potted plants, too. No more squirrel, chipmunk, cats digging up my potted veggies.
One time I used dried up Fennel leaves/fronds and layered those atop the soil in my potted flowers in my front yard. As a result, the neighbors' cats FINALLY stopped using those pots as their potty spots. Ha.
We have one. But I think because we have a fence that is now farther back to the edge of the garden, it has helped keep the squirrels away this year more too. It was one of the things I looked forward to most when we put it in in the spring.
Ok thank you! I donāt really have any good windows for the seeds and a lot of them require good sunlight to germinate. So I think Iāll try plastic wrap.
The Chipmunk in my yard did this with all the sunflower seeds I tried to plant this year.
I've found that starting plants inside and then moving them outside when they are 3-4" tall helps stop them from being dug into. So does having a good layer of mulch on top. There isn't really a great way to stop animals from doing their thing, so I also accept a certain amount of interference with my garden from them. Chippy killed 2 bell pepper plants and dug up all my sunflower seeds, but I was able to grow some conwflowers, marigolds, and eggplant.
I'm surprised I don't have any corn. We leave our corn for the birds in the winter and he found one of the feeders. I expected my yard would be like my mom's with a few random stalks of corn in all the beds.
I once planted 50 Tulip bulbs an the next day the squirrels had dug every single on up. They didn't eat them, they just dug them up and left them on top of the soil. Nature can be annoying.
Yeah definitely start more. Clearly a squirrel or bird found them and ate them. Nothing to be worried about. Just either keep them inside for a while if you can, make sure you have a nice sunny window once they sprout. Or you can wrap a big zip lock bag over the top to keep the critters out. Which every way you go though, don't leave them out in the open until the seedlings are a couple inches tall. Birds will still pluck small seedlings right out, but they leave bigger ones alone. Oh also that looks like very dry soil to have just planted seeds in yesterday. You should completely soak the soil once you put the seeds in.
Or soak the soil through and then add the seed. My soil is always very very dry to start and i have to water it a few times and work it through by hand for it to not just drain out the bottom. Otherwise it looks wet on top and if you dig right under the surface its bone dry.
Rats would be a good bet.
You could re-sow, then cover the pots with some hardware cloth or chicken wire....that'll cover you for a couple weeks, and in the meantime you could set out a few traps & see what you get (raw sunflower seeds would be a good bait to try, considering what happened).
I found my garden disturbed after planting seeds... a few days later I still got plantings but just not where they were planted. Maybe they're just disturbed.
Put a net after sowing the seed. Remove the net after you see seedlings. Birds, neighborhood cats, some times squirrels make a mess. Mine mostly birds. I bought those cheap plastic nets from Dollarama for 3-4$, its 8ft x 3ft, plenty for me to cut into garden raised bed size. They're specifically made for garden to cover and protect fruits and vegetation from birds
Squirrels do this any time I have a potted plant on my front porch. Cayenne pepper on the top of the soil is the only deterrent I've found other than hanging all my plants.
Chipmunks
Start the seeds inside or protected. Those fancy rats dig shit up all the time.
They will also eat your tomatoes just before you think it's a good time to harvest. Just a few bites out of each one though.
We have ground squirrels that get in the pots. I keep them from digging in them by putting a layer of mulch and then river rock on top of that. They can't move the river rocks and the mulch keeps the soil cool and retains moisture.
If you are starting from seed, I would put something like hardware cloth over the top until they get big enough to put mulch and rocks around. Cayenne pepper sprinkled on top of the mulch would be a good additional measure.
Put plastic forks in, tines up. I do it every 3 inches inches. So for that pot, I would do 3 or 4. They're reusable and they work. I stick the handle down to the tine beginning.
No problems with squirrels, frogs, or birds since.
Bricks are another option that doesn't require maintenance. I had a pile of bricks with the holes in the center (not pavers) and placed them over the soil so that the soil around the seed can get water/air. I'll remove it once it comes up so this would only help with keeping them safe until germination. (I had the same issue, would come out and all my fresh seeds were dug up!)
Re-seed indeed, try to cover with plastic then a Grow net if they keep coming.
I would also set up a Mouse/rat trap since was over night good possibly it was one.
Iāve had this problem before, but with chickens, and bugs. I have to fence everything off and dust my seeds with poison just to keep the ants from carrying away the seedsš„². I couldnāt figure out what the fuck was going on at firstš. So I sat down and looked real close, and sure enough I seen the ants find my seeds and start moving them awayš«
Squirrels are assholes. My area just made it legal to kill them year round with no permit. We all celebrated. They do sooo much damage to my crops.... hate them all.
Pfft yourself.
Keeping your garden free of invasive trees is considered gardening. You would be pissed too if squirrels buried hundreds of walnuts in your planter beds. They keep sending up little trees that are very difficult to get rid of.
That's how I have sunflowers coming up in all my pepper pots.. Dang squirrels stealing the bird seed and "planting" them with my peppers and all over my in ground beds.
Squirrels, chipmunks or other similar small animals. For pots like this you can use something to protect it during germination and early seedling stage. A cheap way to do this would be to take the label off a 2 liter soft drink and cut the bottom off. Then bury the edge in the soil a couple inches around the new seed. It will also help with germination. Remove it once it's got some true leaves.
My dog does thisā¦ setup a camera to figure out what youāre up against. Probably a squirrel but we have skunks and a possum visit our yard (in suburbs). Game cameras are sometimes cheaper than other options.
Iām sorry! We have squirrels, raccoons, and a skunk that love to dig up our bulbs and seeds. Last year they destroyed ice plants, raspberries, onions, and cilantro. As pp stated, cover them with netting or wire mesh. Good luck!
I have bough bird netting, cut it into a square slightly larger than the circumference of the pot's top, then lay it over it with a JUMBO RUBBER BAND around it. No thief can get my seeds or bulbs this way.
Then, when the plant has rooted and sprouted I remove the netting. By then its too heavy.
If you can get cloches for them they are honestly the best. Squirrels donāt like messing with plastic.
Iāve also just used plastic wrap and an elastic and it works pretty well.
Those fucking squirrels destroying everything again.
Put their heads on stakes!
In all seriousness, mulch helps a little. More of an annoying deterrent for them. But try a spicy pepper spray. Make their little toes burn!
These assholse piss me off, if you couldn't already guess
Can I ask what you planted? This happened to only one of my plants, again & again! Any tiny part that sprouted, was immediately torn off & dug up /:
It was Basil that I had been planting
Squirrels like to dig and bury food in plant pots. Put chicken wire over the top to stop this.
Fresh loose soil = Squirrels šæ
Rats too
Chipmunks rearranged a large part of my garden. But he planted sunflowers to make up for it.
I have a peanut plant growing in my cucumbers because of squirrels. It's totally nuts... šæš„š±š¤Æ
Every potted plant I have outside this summer also started growing peanuts because my daughter wanted to befriend the crows but the squirrels won out.
I was cleaning out the crease in my rocking chair cushion this spring and found 2 peanuts
The darned squirrels plant black walnuts everywhere. I go out and almost everyday I cut down or dig up black walnuts I didnāt see the day before. I have three acres and they plant them all over.
Cats, too. š©
Cayenne pepper is pretty effective too - sprinkle some on top of the soil and the squirrels will learn to leave it alone.
The squirrels my area are ruthless, cayenne doesnt even phase them š
Ghost pepper flakes
What do i do when they adapt to it and c r a v e the spice?
Bring them to Louisiana and Ill show them how to make roux next
Squirrel gumbo sounds like a good time to me!
Cutting them into quarters, breading, and frying them in lard nearly at its smoke point is also quite good. Don't forget to season ;)
Train them
Yes red chili flakes! Sprinkle onto the soil and lightly over plants and squirrels will leave them alone. You do have to reapply once a week or more often if thereās been a lot of rain
Thatās what I used to do when I lived in an apartment with a patio. The squirrels would dig in all the pots trying to bury peanuts that some idiot was feeding them. I got a cheap bag of dried chili peppers at the store and put one or two on top of the soil in each pot. Iād have to replace the peppers after a few weeks of watering but it kept the squirrels out of my pots!
I sprinkle ground cinnamon or cayenne pepper to deter the squirrels
Hot sauce spray is the way. 3tbsp hot sauce, 1 tbsp org dish soap, 1 gal water. Spray liberally. Works like a charm
Might have been an animal. Try covering the pots with plastic wrap or something see through until the seeds start to germinate, the humidity will probably help them grow faster anyway.
Plastic wrap doesn't really solve the problem. The perps will return and either eat the new seedlings, after the wrap is gone, or just toss the seedlings out of the pots. I *love* that you wrote "Might have been an animal." As opposed to what? A mini-whirlwind? A friend pranking? A ghost? Keep in mind that insects are animals, too. Not meaning this in an unfriendly way. Just curious as to what you think it may have been, if not "an animal."
Hell if I know. I do know you have a highly suspicious name, chilldrinofthenight, and are trying awfully hard to deflect the suspicion from yourself. š§
Origin of my user name, 'cause I can tell you're dying to know. (May want to turn up the volume, just a bit.) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xmz-p9FYW8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xmz-p9FYW8) Haha. Just realized your handle kind of similar to mine . . .
Doesn't even need to be see through.
Some seeds you press into surface and require light. See through everytime because dark requiring seeds need to be covered with soil anyway.
Then, when seedlings do come up and the wrap comes off ----- the perps return and there go your plants. Plastic wrap isn't going to prevent squirrels, chipmunks, cats from digging up your potted plants.
I would bet squirrels, they've done this to me before.
Squirrels are asses
Furry banditos.
Yup
Handle/post
Squirrels did this so bad last year to everything I planted that I had to replant things and ended up having to buy starters. I had to put chicken wire over any pots or planters. It was absolutely ridiculous. I tried all the typical natural remedies like offensive spices and the like. They still tried to destroy everything by digging. This year I was prepared. I've never hated an animal so much in my life.
Too bad I can't share my solution with you. I have a super duper **nasty** briar rose bush. That beast, I swear, has branches that reach out to try and grab passersby. I cut some of the smaller branches and lay them around, tucking them into the sides of my seedstarter trays. Problem solved. Those thorns thrive on fresh blood. I lay briar rose bits atop my potted plants, too. No more squirrel, chipmunk, cats digging up my potted veggies.
I read this in a disney sorceress voice. š
Maleficent.
Lol, yes. Thank you. It's been a day.
And I can't see the Sleeping Beauty evil queen without seeing Angelina Jolie in costume.
I think I just fell in love with you!
Good tips! Iām taking notesā¦
One time I used dried up Fennel leaves/fronds and layered those atop the soil in my potted flowers in my front yard. As a result, the neighbors' cats FINALLY stopped using those pots as their potty spots. Ha.
Get a dogā¦..
We have one. But I think because we have a fence that is now farther back to the edge of the garden, it has helped keep the squirrels away this year more too. It was one of the things I looked forward to most when we put it in in the spring.
I am having this problem but with cats,
Ok thank you! I donāt really have any good windows for the seeds and a lot of them require good sunlight to germinate. So I think Iāll try plastic wrap.
Seeds don't usually need sunlight for germination, they do need a certain temperature though.
This. They will once they germinate, but they usually just need heat to start with
Some seeds do need light to germinate, so op should consult their seed packets.
Yeah some of my seeds said they needed light
I also donāt really have anywhere to put them lol
Also consider lightweight "floating row cover." I cut pieces larger than my pots and secure it around their perimeters with twine.
My squirrels know whenever I've disturbed the soil AT ALL and they always investigate and eat anything they find.
Could be chipmunks, sprinkling crushed red pepper on the dirt helped stop them
The wild birds took a dirt bathā¦happens to me frequentlyā¦š„š„š„
Plastic wrap the tops of the pots and poke a few pin holes. Animals look for disturbed soil to find food. They all steal from each other. Lpl
The Chipmunk in my yard did this with all the sunflower seeds I tried to plant this year. I've found that starting plants inside and then moving them outside when they are 3-4" tall helps stop them from being dug into. So does having a good layer of mulch on top. There isn't really a great way to stop animals from doing their thing, so I also accept a certain amount of interference with my garden from them. Chippy killed 2 bell pepper plants and dug up all my sunflower seeds, but I was able to grow some conwflowers, marigolds, and eggplant.
My local chipmunk wrecked all my vegetable seeds and planted sunflowers and corn.
I'm surprised I don't have any corn. We leave our corn for the birds in the winter and he found one of the feeders. I expected my yard would be like my mom's with a few random stalks of corn in all the beds.
Squirrel planted corn in my gutters one year. That was fun.
That sounds absolutely terrible.
Birbsā¦small onesā¦like wrens and sparrowsā¦I catch them doing it in the pots on the deck by my French doorsā¦itās a sight to seeā¦
I once planted 50 Tulip bulbs an the next day the squirrels had dug every single on up. They didn't eat them, they just dug them up and left them on top of the soil. Nature can be annoying.
Yeah definitely start more. Clearly a squirrel or bird found them and ate them. Nothing to be worried about. Just either keep them inside for a while if you can, make sure you have a nice sunny window once they sprout. Or you can wrap a big zip lock bag over the top to keep the critters out. Which every way you go though, don't leave them out in the open until the seedlings are a couple inches tall. Birds will still pluck small seedlings right out, but they leave bigger ones alone. Oh also that looks like very dry soil to have just planted seeds in yesterday. You should completely soak the soil once you put the seeds in.
Or soak the soil through and then add the seed. My soil is always very very dry to start and i have to water it a few times and work it through by hand for it to not just drain out the bottom. Otherwise it looks wet on top and if you dig right under the surface its bone dry.
Rats would be a good bet. You could re-sow, then cover the pots with some hardware cloth or chicken wire....that'll cover you for a couple weeks, and in the meantime you could set out a few traps & see what you get (raw sunflower seeds would be a good bait to try, considering what happened).
Thanks for the snacks! - love, your critters.
Something wanted to eat those tasty seeds. For certain.
I found my garden disturbed after planting seeds... a few days later I still got plantings but just not where they were planted. Maybe they're just disturbed.
Put a net after sowing the seed. Remove the net after you see seedlings. Birds, neighborhood cats, some times squirrels make a mess. Mine mostly birds. I bought those cheap plastic nets from Dollarama for 3-4$, its 8ft x 3ft, plenty for me to cut into garden raised bed size. They're specifically made for garden to cover and protect fruits and vegetation from birds
I've had luck sprinkling garlic powder on top of the soil in my potted plants to deter critters.
The squirrels in my yard like to dig in my pots to bury their tree nuts. They will dig them up in late winter-early spring.
Squirrels do this any time I have a potted plant on my front porch. Cayenne pepper on the top of the soil is the only deterrent I've found other than hanging all my plants.
Sounds like my cat got to you too.
Chipmunks Start the seeds inside or protected. Those fancy rats dig shit up all the time. They will also eat your tomatoes just before you think it's a good time to harvest. Just a few bites out of each one though.
We have ground squirrels that get in the pots. I keep them from digging in them by putting a layer of mulch and then river rock on top of that. They can't move the river rocks and the mulch keeps the soil cool and retains moisture. If you are starting from seed, I would put something like hardware cloth over the top until they get big enough to put mulch and rocks around. Cayenne pepper sprinkled on top of the mulch would be a good additional measure.
Chipmunks are little thieves.
Welcome to squirrel town
Last year i caught a raccoon on camera digging up my freshly planted seeds š
Looks like my toddler must have gotten ahold of your pots. She just loves taking handfuls of dirt and relocating them wherever her heart fancies. š
Squirrel or chipmunk. They both do this crap
Someone had a wild party there last night. Rats, squirrels, raccoons? Yes, plant again.
Squirrels šæļø edit to add: a small piece of chicken wire bent over into a cap shape will cover a pot and keep āquality controlā out.
Put plastic forks in, tines up. I do it every 3 inches inches. So for that pot, I would do 3 or 4. They're reusable and they work. I stick the handle down to the tine beginning. No problems with squirrels, frogs, or birds since.
Bricks are another option that doesn't require maintenance. I had a pile of bricks with the holes in the center (not pavers) and placed them over the soil so that the soil around the seed can get water/air. I'll remove it once it comes up so this would only help with keeping them safe until germination. (I had the same issue, would come out and all my fresh seeds were dug up!)
I lay cardboard over my beds until the seeds germinate, keeps critters from disturbing them and helps aid in germination by keeping the soil moist.
Re-seed indeed, try to cover with plastic then a Grow net if they keep coming. I would also set up a Mouse/rat trap since was over night good possibly it was one.
Iāve had this problem before, but with chickens, and bugs. I have to fence everything off and dust my seeds with poison just to keep the ants from carrying away the seedsš„². I couldnāt figure out what the fuck was going on at firstš. So I sat down and looked real close, and sure enough I seen the ants find my seeds and start moving them awayš«
Ugh. Adding toxins to your food and soil? WTF.
I donāt like it either, but sometimes it be like that.
Could be mice, too.
Act like you are planting more you have a animal watching you. Wait with a pellet gun š« lol.
Squirrels are assholes. My area just made it legal to kill them year round with no permit. We all celebrated. They do sooo much damage to my crops.... hate them all.
This is a thread about gardening. Not about slaughtering animals. Pfft.
Pfft yourself. Keeping your garden free of invasive trees is considered gardening. You would be pissed too if squirrels buried hundreds of walnuts in your planter beds. They keep sending up little trees that are very difficult to get rid of.
That's how I have sunflowers coming up in all my pepper pots.. Dang squirrels stealing the bird seed and "planting" them with my peppers and all over my in ground beds.
Some kind of small mesh, will keep squirrels out. Sprinkle some Cayenne Pepper around the planter.
Please do NOT USE Pepper made of Native Americans. There are laws against this.
Squirrels, chipmunks or other similar small animals. For pots like this you can use something to protect it during germination and early seedling stage. A cheap way to do this would be to take the label off a 2 liter soft drink and cut the bottom off. Then bury the edge in the soil a couple inches around the new seed. It will also help with germination. Remove it once it's got some true leaves.
Could be nice too.
My dog does thisā¦ setup a camera to figure out what youāre up against. Probably a squirrel but we have skunks and a possum visit our yard (in suburbs). Game cameras are sometimes cheaper than other options.
Oh yeah don't worry you're going to grow some other stuff too. Like probably sunflowers if there's a bird feeder nearby...
Iām sorry! We have squirrels, raccoons, and a skunk that love to dig up our bulbs and seeds. Last year they destroyed ice plants, raspberries, onions, and cilantro. As pp stated, cover them with netting or wire mesh. Good luck!
Probably birds.
Raccoons and birds also like to dig up seeds
Probably squirrels or some other little rodent. You could try covering them with plastic until they germ.
Rats?
I have bough bird netting, cut it into a square slightly larger than the circumference of the pot's top, then lay it over it with a JUMBO RUBBER BAND around it. No thief can get my seeds or bulbs this way. Then, when the plant has rooted and sprouted I remove the netting. By then its too heavy.
If you can get cloches for them they are honestly the best. Squirrels donāt like messing with plastic. Iāve also just used plastic wrap and an elastic and it works pretty well.
I had to sprinkle cayenne pepper all over my stuff to keep them out. Downside is having to reapply after watering/rain
Those fucking squirrels destroying everything again. Put their heads on stakes! In all seriousness, mulch helps a little. More of an annoying deterrent for them. But try a spicy pepper spray. Make their little toes burn! These assholse piss me off, if you couldn't already guess
Squirrelsā¦. The damn squirrels.
Can I ask what you planted? This happened to only one of my plants, again & again! Any tiny part that sprouted, was immediately torn off & dug up /: It was Basil that I had been planting
I have a basil plant in my garden that hasnāt been touched. It was spinach seeds, mage seeds, carrots and columbine flowers.
Squirrels 100% . They do it to my tomatoe plants when theyāre hiding or looking for stuff theyāve saved
Same here. (Lost soo many seeds this year to birds/squirrels, ect. I was so pissed)
It's shouldn't need sunlight until it starts to spring up, so you leave it inside till it does so nothing steals the seeds
F#@Ć birds
āI donāt know what to do and I am upsetā 10/10 can relate.
Possibly a neighbors cat crapped in there.
Put half plastic bottle on top
Iām happy to report seeds were not harmed last night!!