What are some Interesting Pests You have Encountered?

[Shellyann36]

I know that most of the time when you think of gardening pests you think of bugs. That is so very true and there are several different bugs that can be pests but do you ever run across anything else that bothers your garden?

I have had interesting run-in's with a turtle and with squirrels of all animals! Of course we also can't forget the gopher incident. One year a turtle was biting all of my tomatoes that were near the ground. If he could reach it he would bite it and then just leave it to go bite another one. I was so mad. I could see if the fellow was hungry and wanted to eat the entire thing.......but now he had to go and bite every tomato that was near his level. GRRRRR....... I never did catch him and he eventually moved on but that did not help my tomatoes any.

In 2012 we had a run in with squirrels. They literally tore our corn to shreds. Hubby discovered the corn and I did not believe him when he said that squirrels did the damage but he showed me how they had climbed the tree with the corn and the corn silk was left on the bark way above our heads.

The gophers that were bothering me really tore my yard up and had their eyes on my beans. A bit of Wrigley's spearmint gum in their tunnels killed them off and they were no longer a bother.

Racoons will also attack corn stalks as well. I have never had it happen to my garden personally but my aunt's garden use to get wallopped by a family of racoons almost every year. It finally stopped after she employeed a hunter to stake out her garden and kill as many racoons as he could one evening. It was quite a mess in the end. Several rows of corn were trampled by the man and his son and the dogs but several of the racoons were killed and the family then moved on. Of course when my aunt and uncle planted corn they had several acres of corn so a few rows in the grand scheme of things did not bother them.

So does anyone else have any horror stories?

 

[Trellum]

Hehehe, sorry, Shelly Ann, it must have been so irritating having to deal with that pesky turtle and the others, but that story about the turtle and the tomatoes made me chuckle (sorry!). It's funny how they see things, lol... that was one really naughty little turtle! Glad he moved on! We don't have that kind of pests in our gardens here... well, excepting for the occasional snake!

We got squirrels, but they never get close. But my real issue up until now are the dang invasion of little birds we have. They have this tendency to leave holes all over my suculent leaves (or at least they used to when I had any plants left). I have no idea why they did that... at first I thought it was a prank by the neighbor's kids. But then I found out it was the dang birds!

 

[Babble64]

Well, I have to say the turtle is a new one for me!!

Let's see.... there were those lovely woodchucks we had to deal with last summer. I think we nipped that problem in the bud, finally. I was naive enough to think they could live in harmony with us...until they got greedy and wanted basement space as well as under-the-deck space! I think I had still better attend to back filling holes and keep a supply of peanut butter poison on hand, to deter future residents!

One year I was relaxing on the deck, having my morning coffee, when something caught my eye. I looked up to see a skunk coming straight for me. I was so startled I actually yelled at it. Good plan, huh? Would have started my morning off in a wonderful way if it has sprayed me! A few years before that I'd had a skunk spray somewhere near my house (I'm guessing under my deck) and for a day or so I had the smell INSIDE my house! Didn't want a repeat of THAT! Well, I tried about three or four different things with THAT guy before he finally just left. Turns out skunks are transient and don't stay too long in one place.

I also have a family (or two or three?) of chipmunks, the population of which I can never quite reduce to zero. I think they are responsible for the disappearance of my columbine leaves each year! There are squirrels, which only seem to be a problem if they can manage their way onto our bird feeders or when my husband forgets to put the rock on top of the can that holds the extra bird seed. Many years ago my first husband and I gave up vegetable gardening because the neighborhood deer ate nearly everything. It was as if they thought we'd opened a restaurant just for them! We tried everything we could think of to deter them, short of fencing the area in with a tall fence, but nothing seemed to work. I'm hoping that when my husband and I give it a go next spring/summer we can manage better. (Why I think we can, I'm not sure!)

 

[claudine]

Haha, reading about your turtle made me smile, Shellyann36. I believe it was very annoying, but still, I would love to find a turtle in my garden. They're so cute! Here, in my country, we see them only in terrariums. They don't live outside, because it's too cold for them.
As for horror stories, unfortunately I don't have anything interesting to share. Sometimes I find little hedgehogs or squirrels in my garden, but they don't do any harm

 

[gata montes]

I know I shouldn't laugh, especially as I know how annoying it is, to have these little and so little creatures tearing up all the hard work we've done in our gardens, but my vivid imagination is conjuring up quite an amusing picture, of the antics many of these creatures get up to, as well as the extremes that we go to, to get rid of them and especially your encounter with a turtle Shellyann, have to say thats a new one to me and I definitely agree Babble, it would be a bad start to any ones morning to be sprayed by a skunk, but whilst drinking your morning coffee even worse.

Anyone who has read the thread ' Help- Voles are devouring my lettuces ' will know that for the past year I've been having a terrible battle with these little b ***s. They were last seen devouring my swiss chard, but since trying Shellyanns chewing gum method, activity seems to be greatly reduced, for the time being anyway, will soon know, as I recently planted another of their favorite delicacies - potatoes.

I do however have constant unwanted visitors to my garden, many of which, can be just as infuriating and as difficult to get rid of as the voles, like for instance the flocks of blue magpies, that come and do their best to consume all my fruit and some even tell a joke and have a good laugh whilst they are doing it, then there are the locusts which don't eat the fruit but leave large bite marks in the leaves and sometimes even strip all the leaves off a tree, and then there are the hidden ones, that I see more as a danger to me, rather than the garden, like the scorpions and giant centipedes, which can sometimes be up to 25 centimeters long.

I do have some other more unusual visitors, that I think I would call more of an occasional nuisance rather than a pest, like my neighbors turkeys, who always seem to escape and head for my vegetable garden, just when I've planted some seeds and dig them up with their becks, and then there is little family of hares, which come and take shelter in the garden to keep their young safe on hunting days, that can't resist having a little nibble while they're here and on top of that, one of my mom cats loves tomatoes, and likes to pick them during the night and feed them to her kittens and when she runs of tomatoes she starts on the potatoes

 

[Shellyann36]

Hehehe, sorry, Shelly Ann, it must have been so irritating having to deal with that pesky turtle and the others, but that story about the turtle and the tomatoes made me chuckle (sorry!). It's funny how they see things, lol... that was one really naughty little turtle! Glad he moved on! We don't have that kind of pests in our gardens here... well, excepting for the occasional snake!

We got squirrels, but they never get close. But my real issue up until now are the dang invasion of little birds we have. They have this tendency to leave holes all over my suculent leaves (or at least they used to when I had any plants left). I have no idea why they did that... at first I thought it was a prank by the neighbor's kids. But then I found out it was the dang birds!

I have never heard of birds attacking plants. Rather odd. Maybe they found a juicy but there and could not resist.

Haha, reading about your turtle made me smile, Shellyann36. I believe it was very annoying, but still, I would love to find a turtle in my garden. They're so cute! Here, in my country, we see them only in terrariums. They don't live outside, because it's too cold for them.
As for horror stories, unfortunately I don't have anything interesting to share. Sometimes I find little hedgehogs or squirrels in my garden, but they don't do any harm

Looking back now claudine, it is easier for me to smile about the turtle but back then it was aggravating to the third degree.

 

[Shellyann36]

Well, I have to say the turtle is a new one for me!!

Let's see.... there were those lovely woodchucks we had to deal with last summer. I think we nipped that problem in the bud, finally. I was naive enough to think they could live in harmony with us...until they got greedy and wanted basement space as well as under-the-deck space! I think I had still better attend to back filling holes and keep a supply of peanut butter poison on hand, to deter future residents!

One year I was relaxing on the deck, having my morning coffee, when something caught my eye. I looked up to see a skunk coming straight for me. I was so startled I actually yelled at it. Good plan, huh? Would have started my morning off in a wonderful way if it has sprayed me! A few years before that I'd had a skunk spray somewhere near my house (I'm guessing under my deck) and for a day or so I had the smell INSIDE my house! Didn't want a repeat of THAT! Well, I tried about three or four different things with THAT guy before he finally just left. Turns out skunks are transient and don't stay too long in one place.

I also have a family (or two or three?) of chipmunks, the population of which I can never quite reduce to zero. I think they are responsible for the disappearance of my columbine leaves each year! There are squirrels, which only seem to be a problem if they can manage their way onto our bird feeders or when my husband forgets to put the rock on top of the can that holds the extra bird seed. Many years ago my first husband and I gave up vegetable gardening because the neighborhood deer ate nearly everything. It was as if they thought we'd opened a restaurant just for them! We tried everything we could think of to deter them, short of fencing the area in with a tall fence, but nothing seemed to work. I'm hoping that when my husband and I give it a go next spring/summer we can manage better. (Why I think we can, I'm not sure!)

Oh gosh sprayed by a skunk! You know, I probably would have yelled too. It is a natural instinct I do believe. Did you get the smell off of you? I have heard of using vinegar, tomato juice and all sorts of other things to get the smell out of clothing or off of objects. What worked for you?

We always have a problem with deer as well. We put posts up around the garden. One post on all four corners and then a post in the middle on each side going the long way. We tied some nylon rope to the posts and attached old tin coffee cans to the lines. We drilled a hole in the bottom of the cans and stuck some nylon through and took small bolts and tied them to the end of the string. The bolts hit the insides of the cans when there is a breeze or if anything touches the string. That seemed to work ok for the deer after we did that. Of course it did not bother the squirrels.

 

[Shellyann36]

I know I shouldn't laugh, especially as I know how annoying it is, to have these little and so little creatures tearing up all the hard work we've done in our gardens, but my vivid imagination is conjuring up quite an amusing picture, of the antics many of these creatures get up to, as well as the extremes that we go to, to get rid of them and especially your encounter with a turtle Shellyann, have to say thats a new one to me and I definitely agree Babble, it would be a bad start to any ones morning to be sprayed by a skunk, but whilst drinking your morning coffee even worse.

Anyone who has read the thread ' Help- Voles are devouring my lettuces ' will know that for the past year I've been having a terrible battle with these little b ***s. They were last seen devouring my swiss chard, but since trying Shellyanns chewing gum method, activity seems to be greatly reduced, for the time being anyway, will soon know, as I recently planted another of their favorite delicacies - potatoes.

I do however have constant unwanted visitors to my garden, many of which, can be just as infuriating and as difficult to get rid of as the voles, like for instance the flocks of blue magpies, that come and do their best to consume all my fruit and some even tell a joke and have a good laugh whilst they are doing it, then there are the locusts which don't eat the fruit but leave large bite marks in the leaves and sometimes even strip all the leaves off a tree, and then there are the hidden ones, that I see more as a danger to me, rather than the garden, like the scorpions and giant centipedes, which can sometimes be up to 25 centimeters long.

I do have some other more unusual visitors, that I think I would call more of an occasional nuisance rather than a pest, like my neighbors turkeys, who always seem to escape and head for my vegetable garden, just when I've planted some seeds and dig them up with their becks, and then there is little family of hares, which come and take shelter in the garden to keep their young safe on hunting days, that can't resist having a little nibble while they're here and on top of that, one of my mom cats loves tomatoes, and likes to pick them during the night and feed them to her kittens and when she runs of tomatoes she starts on the potatoes

So glad the chewing gum seems to be working. I have never had a problem with any sort of birds. Have you ever tried any netting to keep the magpies off of your fruit? Are the locusts a bad problem? Now I would be scared of scorpions! I am sure the giant centipedes are gross but the scorpions would have me shivering to step in the garden.

LOL I think that a turkey would volunteer for Thanksgiving dinner one year! We also have some brave rabbits that will just stroll through the yard while we are outside working in it. I have a picture of one somewhere that is only around 5 feet from one of the kids one day. I have never heard of cats eating tomatoes. That is very interesting.

 

[Trellum]

I have never heard of birds attacking plants. Rather odd. Maybe they found a juicy but there and could not resist.

I totally agree with you, at first I couldn't believe were capable or would even have an interest to do that, but they did, lol. There were small beak marks all over my succulents to prove it I really thought someone had been playing with a big needle... toying around with my lovely plants!

 

[Shellyann36]

@Trellum that is so very strange. I wonder if perhaps they were getting water from the plant (since they were succulents) or if there was some other reason such as nutrients that they fed on it? If I have time I will see if I can look it up or try to.

LOL ok I just had to go and look it up. It is said that birds eat the succulents for water. To discourage them hang shiney things around the plants such as wind chimes because the birds will be afraid of them. I never had a clue that they would eat the plant. Was your area suffering from a drought when this happened?

 

[Gardener]

My horror story isn't really comparable to yours, however it is frightening. So I went to the local farm and got a lot of green peppers, potatoes, and a variety of other vegetables. When I washed and cut the green pepper up, I found a small wormlike critter inside the pepper! I was shocked, and found that is was actually a caterpillar. But that still amazes me because the green paper had no openings at all, which probably means that the caterpillar might be born inside the pepper itself! I didn't kill it, but I did keep it far away from my garden and made sure it had a lot of food. I have personally never seen a raccoon, so you should consider yourself lucky!

 

[gata montes]

Shellyann36

Yes it is and many thanks for the tip, especially as the chewing gum does, at least appear to be reducing the numbers.
You are so very lucky if you haven't had a problem with birds - they are a really big problem here, particularly as its not just one or two I'm talking about but great flocks of 100 or more, in fact the problem is that bad, that its not at all unusual to see some of my neighbors, sat in their gardens with shotguns - because nothing else works.

Yes, the locusts can be a really big problem but it varies from year to year and last year was particularly bad.
Now I know that you said you would be scared of scorpions and I would agree with you there, but knowing that just one bite from a giant centipede can lead to a rapid visit to the ER and a week long stay in hospital, I think you might

change your mind especially as, the one in the picture is actually quite small, in comparison to what we normally come across here.

Yes I too, had never come across a tomato eating cat, and actually used to blame the trail of half eaten tomatoes on a totally different kind of pest, until I witnessed it for myself, but shes very careful when she takes her tomatoes, and very gently pulls them off the plant without damaging it - so, as I always have more than I can eat I don't mind too much, and have to admit that, I always enjoy the very funny sight of her proudly presenting her kittens, with her well fought for 'prey'

 

[Babble64]

Oh gosh sprayed by a skunk! You know, I probably would have yelled too. It is a natural instinct I do believe. Did you get the smell off of you? I have heard of using vinegar, tomato juice and all sorts of other things to get the smell out of clothing or off of objects. What worked for you?

We always have a problem with deer as well. We put posts up around the garden. One post on all four corners and then a post in the middle on each side going the long way. We tied some nylon rope to the posts and attached old tin coffee cans to the lines. We drilled a hole in the bottom of the cans and stuck some nylon through and took small bolts and tied them to the end of the string. The bolts hit the insides of the cans when there is a breeze or if anything touches the string. That seemed to work ok for the deer after we did that. Of course it did not bother the squirrels.

That skunk didn't spray me, shellyann. I was nervous about having it there, though, because one had sprayed the area in the past. Even having it spray "in the area" made our entire house smell INSIDE for a day. Yelling at the one I actually saw was "instinct". Glad it didn't get me into trouble!

 

[Trellum]

@Trellum that is so very strange. I wonder if perhaps they were getting water from the plant (since they were succulents) or if there was some other reason such as nutrients that they fed on it? If I have time I will see if I can look it up or try to.

LOL ok I just had to go and look it up. It is said that birds eat the succulents for water. To discourage them hang shiney things around the plants such as wind chimes because the birds will be afraid of them. I never had a clue that they would eat the plant. Was your area suffering from a drought when this happened?

Wow, Shelly Ann! You just solved a huge mystery! I thought I was going crazy when I saw all those little beak marks all over my plants Well, most of there times there is a drough, and there are plenty of birds near my house... but the dog we have doesn't mind they take a zip of his water. So I guess those birdies really liked the taste of my succulents Thanks for the tip Hopely when I move I will no longer have this kind of issues... because I expect to meet far worse issues in the Netherlands, like for example rabbits and moles

 

[claudine]

Gata Montes, this giant centipede looks like a monster from my worst nightmares. I'm so glad we don't have them here. If they lived in my area, I would give up on gardening and I would stop going outside. How fast are they? Are they scared of humans? I think I'd rather meet a snake than something like this.