What pulled up my herbs?

I planted some containers of herbs on my front porch and yesterday found 3 of the basil plants missing. Just completely pulled up and gone, no roots, no leaves, no nothing left but a hole. Some of my sage leaves have also been cut off. This is on a third floor balcony so I can't blame it on the neighbors or their pets. I have known squirrels to steal tomatoes but whole herb plants? And usually they dig but in this case the mulch around the missing plants was undisturbed. Any ideas on what could be doing this and how to prevent it in the future?

TIA!

LauraJ

Reply to
Laura J
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My sister's dog does this. She couldn't figure out where her little potted herbs were going and then one night she let the dog out and caught her in the act.

Don't suppose you have a pet you let out on the balcony?

marcella

Reply to
Marcella Peek

Sounds like squirrels to me.

Penelope

Reply to
Penelope Periwinkle

Nope, no pets, just my DH and he swears he didn't touch it...

LauraJ

Reply to
Laura J

That's what I was afraid you were going to say. ARGH. I hate those things. Any ideas on how to prevent? They never touched the herbs last year but the tricks I used for the tomatoes didn't seem to stop them at all. Now they have a taste for hot sauce.

LauraJ

Reply to
Laura J

I put habanero flakes on our porch railing when they decide to start eating the porch. They never came back.

John!

Laura J wrote:

Reply to
GA Pinhead

Black birds are using them for their nests. They even get my smaller tomato plants this time of the year.

Reply to
ed

A wire cage around the herbs is probably your best bet... unless you feel like putting out rat poison for the squirrels?

The only time I ever poisoned squirrels was when they knocked out my internet service. The service guy from Grandecom said there was squirrel pee on the router box which leaked in and corroded the connections, and there were chew marks on the cables.

He was delighted to put the rat bait blocks up on the router and cables..... He hated squirrels because of the damage they did to electronics. They are worse than rats.

I've also learned to hate squirrels/tree rats! I used to think they were cute.

Not anymore!

Reply to
OmManiPadmeOmelet

Thanks for the advice - maybe I just need to try something hotter than I used last year.

LauraJ

Reply to
Laura J

Hm, now that is an interesting idea. My DH the bird-lover says we don't have blackbirds around here but maybe it's another type of bird. I had some extra basil seedlings so I put them in the same spot the missing ones were and, lo and behold, those were gone the next day. The weird thing is that I have about 20 other basil seedings, along with many very small parsley, marjoram and a couple others and they haven't touched the other ones. Just the ones in that one large pot. Bizarre. Anyway, I'm not going to replace those and I got some netting to cover up everything else so hopefully that will keep the critters off for a little while at least.

LauraJ

Reply to
Laura J

I am well-entrenched in the squirrel-hating camp. Not too psyched about the poison but I did finally give in and put a fence around the garden in the yard. We'll see what that does. I'm not sure what I can do for what's on the balcony though - a wire cage isn't really an option because the herbs take up approximately half of the space so there is no avoiding having them up close to the railing and roofline which is how I suspect the squirrels are gaining access. I only have one cherry tomato up there along with the herbs. Last year the cherry tomato (Sweet Millions) produced enough that I didn't mind sharing too too much and this year I have another heavy producer (Sungold) so hopefully I'll still get to eat my fill. I'll be really pissed if this herb-stealing thing keeps up though.

LauraJ

Reply to
Laura J

I'm having squirrel trouble on my 3rd floor balcony. They jump from an adjacent tree.

I don't have herbs or vegetables, just plants. They have been digging up my New Guinea Impatiens, hostas and coleus. I hate them

I went to a garden store today and she recommended a powder made from coyote urine. Unfortunately, this was $21 and seemed a bit too much for my little container garden. She also recommended blood meal (which is also a fertilizer) which I decided to try at $4 a bag.

A friend has a neighbor who is a hairdresser. She saves "nasty" hair (hair from clients that is oily, dirty, etc.) and puts it around her tomato plants. I asked my hairdresser for some "nasty" hair today and he said that his clients all use so much fruity smelling stuff on their hair that it would probably encourage the squirrels.

Reply to
la_fleur_de_feb

Bird netting? It's inexpensive and comes in big rolls.

That and some "tomcat" brand bar poison rat bait.... I won't use poison grain as birds will tend to get that. Just the big solid bar baits. Pin it down so they can't carry it off, or use suet cages like I do.

Sorry, but I'm sick to death of squirrel damage! They just are not cute anymore.

Both items are sold at Lowe's.

Good luck!

Reply to
OmManiPadmeOmelet

Since I was the OP, just wanted to come back and say that I tried the bird netting and haven't had any more damage (so far - we'll see how long it lasts though).

Good luck, I hate them too.

LauraJ

Reply to
Laura J

My mom had trouble with squirrels getting her potted plants. They too

her eggplant plants right out of the pots. Now the weirdest > I planted some containers of herbs on my front porch and yesterday foun > 3

-- Maryc

Reply to
Maryc

Ah, excellent! :-) A simple and, hopefully, affordable solution! I'm glad it's working for you.

Cheers!

Reply to
OmManiPadmeOmelet

Squirrels knocked out my internet service by urinating on the cable router boxes causing corrosion, and chewing on the cables.

Evidently squirrels munching cables is a very common problem. The cable guys hate them too and the guy that came here was quite happy to put some bar bait up around the router box to give the squirrels "something else" to chew on..........

Reply to
OmManiPadmeOmelet

Hi All,

a 22 air rifle works wonders on squirrels. and I believe you can eat them, but have not tried them myself.

R. M. Watkin.

Reply to
r m watkin

Yup, less than $5 for more than enough to cover the plants on the porch. Many times less expensive than the exterminator we had to hire to get the damn things out of our attic...

LauraJ

Reply to
Laura J

Due to local firearm laws, I have to use an air rifle.

They are delicious, but wet them well before skinning them to keep them from shedding fur onto the meat!

I'm serious........

I skin and gut them, then cut them into quarters with the poultry shears, then fry them slowly in olive oil with a little lemon pepper.

They are REALLY good!!!!!!

Reply to
OmManiPadmeOmelet

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