My ongoing war with the V.C. rages on.

[coh]

I'm srart in to freak out here. In the last 3 days whatever is in that she'd has eaten 3 packs of rat poison and has another 12 inches of bark ate off of the tree! Almost afraid to go in the shed.

Just because it's disappearing doesn't mean it's being eaten. They tend to gather and store that stuff. Last spring I found a bunch of it buried in the soil of one of my trees.

 

[sorce]

Yeah. Only in times of scarcity does anything eat bark.

Get an outdoor cat. Owl?

Put some other bedding they can use. Socks. Hell. You can wrap the trunk in socks. Or foil.

The mint trick sounds good.

Sorce

 

[RickMartin]

Is this the only tree that has been damaged Mike?

Rick

 

[M. Frary]

The only one so far Rick. Setting off 5 insecticide house bombs today. 3 inside 2 underneath. Once the smoke clears I'm setting up a little swimming pool. 5 gallon bucket half full of anti-freeze with sun flower seeds floating on top and a 2x4 ramp/diving board for them to jump into. They can't climb out and can't swim forever. It's a trick a farmer told me about. If none of that works I may have to torch the shed.
I'm pissed.

 

[RickMartin]

Sorry my friend at least its just one although one is one to many. My trees so far are good, so your larch is safe.

Rick

 

[M. Frary]

The thing is all of my other trees are right outside of that shed. I'm afraid the Elms, Amur maples, Hawthorns and Hornbeams will be on the menu next. I'm setting those up on benches today. If they haven't been attacked by sappers tunneling under the snow.

 

[Smoke]

My collection is half maples. Thats around 75 maple trees. I have had problems in the past with squirrels. They come in and eat the sweet bark of the maples. It is a delicasy for them. I have had them entirely chew roots off the tree. They ate the whole nebari off my best maple in a day. I have another that they entirely girdled and I wrapped the trunk in spaghnum moss and the tree bridged its bark and has been healing over the past few years. Given enough time I think it will be good as new. The only trees they seem to favor is the maples. This year they ate my entire crop of berries off my pyracantha.

Right now I use a varmit spray on the trunks of the maples and this has worked for the last few years. One has to keep up with it becuase it washes off the trunks with watering and makes them a target. The spray is pricy at 18.00 a spray bottle but you can buy the concentrate and mix and fill your own bottles. I found some this year at Home Depot getting ready for Xmas and they had it on an end cap reduced to 3.00 a bottle. I bought all they had. I think I ended up with 10 spray bottles.

 

[M. Frary]

My collection is half maples. Thats around 75 maple trees. I have had problems in the past with squirrels. They come in and eat the sweet bark of the maples. It is a delicasy for them. I have had them entirely chew roots off the tree. They ate the whole nebari off my best maple in a day. I have another that they entirely girdled and I wrapped the trunk in spaghnum moss and the tree bridged its bark and has been healing over the past few years. Given enough time I think it will be good as new. The only trees they seem to favor is the maples. This year they ate my entire crop of berries off my pyracantha.

Right now I use a varmit spray on the trunks of the maples and this has worked for the last few years. One has to keep up with it becuase it washes off the trunks with watering and makes them a target. The spray is pricy at 18.00 a spray bottle but you can buy the concentrate and mix and fill your own bottles. I found some this year at Home Depot getting ready for Xmas and they had it on an end cap reduced to 3.00 a bottle. I bought all they had. I think I ended up with 10 spray bottles.

Thank you Mr.Smoke. I was just at the hardware picking up new weapons in my arsenal and got turned onto a product called Liquid Fence. You spray it right on the plant a couple times and it makes bark unpalatable. Also heard to spray with pepper spray or bear repellant. I imagine I'll be trying them all and a few more things before I hit upon a good solution.
And thanks to everyone who contributed with solutions for this problem.

 

[Bob O]

Glue traps all around the tree will catch anything, rodent or insect and not poison the area. I had something eating bark on a maple last year and glue traps caught two voles, that ended the problem.

Good luck,

Bob O

 

[fourteener]

All of October is an all you can eat buffet of dcon, in and around my garage. I haven't had a problem in years. As for the squirrels, an air soft gun provides enough encouragement to move along without being fatal. Squirrels leave my property with the sound of the window opening!

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Didn't cause any damage that I can see, bit it's digging and burying nuts.

 

[LanceMac10]

The latest scourge: chipmunks!
Did see a Red Squirrel this morning. Their making a comeback. Thanks Bob Barker.

 

[M. Frary]

I kill them all on first sight anymore. All of them. It's the tiny ones that are the worst. Insidious little bastards.

 

[eferguson1974]

Mike, try the peanut butter and cement trick. You may think its crazy (or that I am) but it really works. And wont poison any animals. You can find people on google that use that trick. They never build up resistance either. They wont take it and hide it or pass it up either. It works!

 

[M. Frary]

Mike, try the peanut butter and cement trick. You may think its crazy (or that I am) but it really works. And wont poison any animals. You can find people on google that use that trick. They never build up resistance either. They wont take it and hide it or pass it up either. It works!

I'm going to try it. For sure. Any weapon I can use I will.

 

[Heavy_Set]

A coouple good ratting dogs couldnt hurt to have around

 

[Heavy_Set]

Yeah. Only in times of scarcity does anything eat bark.

I once seen a man eat tree bark.
No scarcity, I was cooking up some franks on the bbq within sight.
....I think it was drugs

Furthermore there is currently a tree rat orgy going on on my roof and im all outa pointed pellets.

Bastards been diggin around in my bohemian maples again

I will not tollerate that!!!!

 

[Labreapits]

I left a water hose laying out, all winter, beside a row of strawberries. Mice chewed the outer layer off of part of it...looked exactly like the bark on your tree.

Nasty little critters!

 

[eferguson1974]

Maybe a bigass snake in the shed would help. Or have a heart type live traps, I read that you like to eat strange things...
A snakes smell will run them off for a bit. That and the peanut butter and cement trick are good. No pollution or accidental innocent animals getting killed. You could put a little peanut butter on a board near the shed, with a bit of light. Then ambush them with your bb gun, all green beret vs vc style! I did that at a house that had big rats. I put the peanut butter on a little shelf stuck to the privacy fence. Every ten minutes or so, or tv commercial, and blast one if there was one. After a week the shed stunk cuz they went under the floor to die. A lot. And the hunting got poor, guess I thinned 'em out good. There was rat hair stuck in the fence around a few pellets that stuck after going through their ribcages. It amazed me that they would run off with a big hole in the chest! Im usually against killing animals but shooting rats does bring a sort of satisfaction that poison doesnt have.. And theyre disease ridden so you dont need to feel bad. Wally world has perfect bb guns for under $30. On with the ambush, snake, and peAnut butter. Kill'em all! And get a cat. Maybe a cat in the shed instead of a snake? Naahhh, I like snakes.

 

[sorce]

I should have struck early.

It sank in today....seemingly too late.

First it was a half eaten tomato on top of my Oyster Virgin and a couple character adding gnaw marks....

And gnaw marks on another.
That was Augustish.

Then a digging in my Mi. BHS.
That I believe pushed it over the edge.
0/2 there.
This was late August.

Now the Mother Fuckers are digging in my F.O.E.M.I.N.A. BHS...

And I'm finding smaller mouse like diggings too.

Winter must be setting in.
Shitty realization.

Sorce