I went out to the gardens this morning to check the newly planted Iris rhizomes, and found a number of them had "chunks" taken out of them! So, what kinda problem do I
have? squirrels? rats? mice? .......

Probably squirrels or do you have chipmunks?

I do have squirrels !

My brother-in-law oardered $300 from Schreiners and lives in a wooded area with deer, wild turkeys, moles, chipmunks and many squirrels. He knows nothing about irises except the pamphlets that I sent him. He asked what "vermin" will eat irises. I would like to answer him honestly.

I have all the above critters you mentioned and more. The wild turkeys just trample over everything and eat all the bugs. I was infested with leaf hoppers, but they are all gone now, but so are my lady bugs, soldier beetles and praying mantis. I do have problems with the turkeys digging up freshly planted irises. Then they do a dust bath and crush and mangle the rhizomes. The squirrels also attack freshly planted rhizomes. They like to dig them up, or dig under them. Last season I had some freshly planted rhizomes disappear. Gophers and voles love to eat rhizomes, but their damages can go unnoticed until it's too late. Death from below...so unfair! Moles only eat worms, but the voles use their tunnels. Last season I had a problem with the deer and rabbits eating all the leaves off of my irises in Spring. They ate them to the ground! This year it has not been a problem, but some flowers were nibbled off. Wild pigs also love to eat iris rhizomes. Thankfully I have not had to deal with them (knock on wood!).

The other critters leave the irises alone, they just trample over them.

I see deer tracks among the rhizomes and I have something here ??? that digs them up, throws them aside and keeps digging in the holes they are planted in but does not eat them. Hoppers do eat them. They make craters on the top of the rhizome and chew the sides of the leaves. This does not seem to bother the iris as much as being dug up or pulled up on a regular basis. I had one I was hoping to see bloom next year. It has been dug up every night for over a week and replanted. That does not give the roots a chance to take hold. I have potted it and put it inside a fenced area. I may see it bloom in two years. I have a lot of squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, possums and voles and have not had any eaten so far.

Nobody seems to eat mine. I have a lot of squirrels. They are happier with the hickory nuts and whatever else must grow here. I don't know if they eat maple seeds, but their nests are in the maple trees.

Sometimes I buy a big bag of unsalted peanuts in the shell and watch the blue jays and squirrels carry them off. Maybe a pile of peanuts would keep them out of your rhizomes?

Some suggestions to deter squirrels that do not include chemicals

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/s...
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/n...

Our suet cakes have hot pepper mixed in & squirrels ignore them. Perhaps sprinkling some on the ground around the irises would help.

There's a good example of thinking outside of the box!!!

Hot pepper - for bleeding cuts and pesky squirrels.

I have vermin eating all of my tomatoes! If the drought wasn't hard enough on trying to grow some tomatoes. I also have to deal with the deer, who tore through the fence at the large tomatoes. The squirrels, who have learned how to go under the fence, or jump from a tree to a post and go down the post and into the tomatoes. The wild turkeys who peck any tomato near the fence. The birds that fly in, the insects, the field mice, the racoons....and now today I found a huge tomato hornworm!

I would guess with the drought the poor critters are not having the usual banquet to feast on in the woods. They have to rely on the gardens that people water to get their tasty greens. Maybe when the rains come they will have enough to forage on in the woods.

Put a big bowl of water for them on the other side of the fence?

Used cat litter in plastic bags has kept all groundhogs out of my tomatoes.

How does that work? If it's in plastic bags?

tveguy3 said:I would guess with the drought the poor critters are not having the usual banquet to feast on in the woods. They have to rely on the gardens that people water to get their tasty greens. Maybe when the rains come they will have enough to forage on in the woods.

I was thinking of this post this morning when I gave a *tree rat* (fox squirrel) a ride out of town ! I set the live trap...baited with one of the apples that the little ******* picked, sampled, and then left laying under the tree, and caught one of the *perpetrators* . I released him next to a retention pond..lots of trees, and acres and acres of cornfields, all around ! I hope he likes his new home, and, with any luck....he'll soon be joined by his friends and family !!
As to the squirrels bothering the iris.....they dig them up, or, cover them over, when they are busy planting walnuts in the beds...but I've never seen them chewing on the rhizomes. But, the "gophers" ( 13 lined ground squirrels) sure do like to chew them up ! I use "poison peanuts" for them ( I'm heartless, aren't I ?! ! The neighborhood cat's get more of them than I do.....and for that, I thank them, although....when they use my iris beds for a litter box , I'm NOT so thankful.....there's nothing like picking up a rhizome that's NOT a rhizome, to start your day off on a sour note

Muddymitts said:How does that work? If it's in plastic bags?

They smell meat eating urine and poo through the bag.

John found a big deer poop in the grass the other day. Now they can do THAT in the woods.

The deer like to crap on our driveway on a regular basis! The dogs think it's there birthday when they get out there and find deer crap! yuck! Sooooo gross! We have chipmunks galore! Relocating traps doesn't work here. We have to use the old fashioned ones. They are causing major damage to sidewalks and under anything concrete. We don't have squirrels to often here. I'm not sure if it's the neighbors cats that get them or coyotes. The rabbits don't mess with anything and my ground hog just hangs out in my Iris field. I drop moth balls down to keep animals away. It seems to work.

Just got to give another "tree rat" a ride out of town