Not just my Eunymous bushes now....Argh x2.
 

I went out tonight to see how far along the Hostas were coming. I usually start to see the tips of the new plants coming up through the mulch about now. So I went out to brush away the pile of mulch I put on top of them for the winter. Nothing. So I dig down a bit. Nothing. Dig down more. Big hole. Something burrowed in and ate my huge Hosta plants. There was just a big void in the ground and a few munched on bulbs. Those two plants were big. I have been growing them since I moved up here and were the center pieces of my front yard garden. I guess I will bury some galvanized mesh screen and start all over again.

Oh, Deer?
 

Do you have deer? I know from firsthand experience that they love both of those plants. At this time of year they aren't so hungry that they would ignore their dislike for a stinky soap. I used to take Irish Spring and cut it up into 10 - 12 pieces and then put the piece into sections of panty hose, tying them onto a branch or onto a garden stake. Worked like a charm every time.

If the mulch that you had to uncover did not appear to have been moved our left open, then it could have been moles. We had a lot of damage by them this year way more than any other year that I can remember. They even ate bark of some of our smaller bushes. Now about the Eunymous bushes and if you have evergreens the deer seem to love them during the winter. We have never had any problems during the spring through fall seasons.:)

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When planting hosta, get some chunks of soap and gravel and put it in the soil when you plant them. If it feels very uncomfortable when you put your hand into the soil (or blocked because of the gravel) then you have sufficient quantity to keep critter from munching.

Voles love to eat what the deer leave behind.

Theres a lot of things I don't plant in my shrub beds just because of the critter issues.

It really does work...however
 

I hope you asked Mr RG first.:laugh:

One year when the deer were eating EVERYTHING in everyone's yard, I was told to put IVORY soap around. But it didn't work. Maybe because it was such a bad year, they came right up to the house at night and all the shrubs were gone. We finally got something that I think was called Deer Away and that worked pretty well. I never saw a year like that before or after.

It was a tough winter for wildlife here in CT with all the heavy snow/ice. Most species couldn't get through the many feet of snow/ice cover to get to the ground. DEP can't really tell what the effects of the "winter kill" will be until the hunting season starts, and hunters report their harvest; But I imagine it will will show a large decrease in population of winter ground feeding mammals. NH had more snow this winter than in previous years, not as much as CT, and not the deadly ice/snow cover, but it will still have an effect. All in all, its just Mother Nature balancing things.

I have already noticed there is simply not the number of chipmunks in the stone walls around my house this Spring. Last year there were at least 15 running around. This year only one or two. However they managed to put quite a few into the hood of my wife's car. Now I just have to figure out how to get them all out.
As far as the Hostas I was just thinking of making a basket out of some wire mesh screen that I have. Left over from screening off the Attic vents to keep the bats out of the attic. But the gravel sounds like a good idea too as long as the plants can root properly. I checked and most of the other hostas I have are still there and starting to pop out.

Last year my wife used dog hair brushed from our Black Lab, she even opened the vacum cleaner bag and pulled out the dusty dog hair. She spread the hair around the blueberry bushes, hostas, day lilllies and the black eyed susan later in the season, not a single one was eaten. I think she used irish spring soap also, she used a cheese grater to grind it down and spread it along with the dog hair.

Apologies to BIS..I cant help myself
 

Thats a good idea because deer do not like clean dog hair.:laugh:I think a mix of Irish setter hair and Irish Spring soap would work best.:laugh:

I also use 'Deer Away'. It really works but you need to reapply it every month or so. Our deer eat everything they can, they even ate my geraniums!

deer away
 

I use deer away on my hosta and it works well, but like Dog's Ear says, you need to reapply every few weeks. My NH deer eat my perennial geraniums, but the CT deer have never touched them. The CT deer, however, will eat the forsythia! I guess different herds have different tastes!

Some of the damage....
 

What is left of one of the Eyunamus bushes...

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Ate the bark off the crab apple trees.

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Even more dead plants now. I noticed my small spirea plants, looked dead. Went to snap a twig to see if it was green or not and when I went to pull on the branch the whole plant pulled up. Nothing but a chewed on nub was holding it in the ground......Argh X 3. Looks like I am going Vole hunting this week.:(

Here's a shrub & fruit tree security system for $19.97 that you can find in the lawn & garden dept at the Plymouth Wal-Mart. It is about 1/2 the size of a shoebox, powered by two D batteries (not included) and is a self contained motion detector and alarm horn built into a waterproof black plastic box with screw tabs to be hung around a prized arbor vitae or some similar attractive shrub to keep the deer or other critters away.

Wonder if it would keep a black bear away from a low hanging bird feeder full of black oil sunflower seeds?

Could be usefull if you got an outdoor hot tub and you suspect the neighbors are coming over to party while you are away in the city working?

Well I replanted my Hostas, using a galvanized metal mesh cloth shaped like a pot underneath the plants. Hope it at least deters the moles/voles or whatever from eating the roots this time. We'll see.