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HELP!!! Something (cat?) digging up my pots

HeidiHeidi

Please, can someone tell me what I can do to stop something (cat/cats, I'm guessing, but might be foxes) repeatedly digging up my window boxes and pots???

I'm demented at this stage - I've spent time and money potting them up, they're lovely - and every few days I come out to find them dug up and plants scattered far and wide around the garden.

I've tried slices of lemons and limes (they supposedly don't like the smell of citrus), I've tried coffee grounds (same reason), I've tried big stones between the plants (they just fling them around the place as well, and they're a good potato size, so heavy), I've tried rough gravel on top of the soil, I've tried cayenne pepper, I've tried sticking cocktail sticks in the soil.

At this stage, my window boxes have all of the above, and STILL I came home to day to find plants and bulbs strewn far and wide.

I'm absolutely at my wits end at this stage - does anyone know of a really strong chemical or spray that will deter them?

Or any other solution? Covering them in netting seems to be the only failsafe, but kinda defeats the purpose of having lovely window boxes.

I'm seriously considering looking for some barbed wire and burying it in the soil.

PLEASE HELP!!!

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HeidiHeidi

Aaaaaand another digging session last night.

No pic this time, far too wet and cold, but just said I'd add to the record.

This despite my latest attempt to deter... half a pack of mini bamboo skewers stuck in all over the box .

thesandeman

Are you sure you don't sleepgarden?

Goldengirl

Planted my pot of red cyclamen and a few other spring plants yesterday .It's outside the back door in the rain .

Now waiting for the digging to begin 😳

HeidiHeidi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124168264#Comment_124168264

I'd be a hell of a lot tidier about it if I did!!!

New Home

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124168311#Comment_124168311

Not if you're a case of Dr Jekyll (not Gertrude) and Mrs Hyde (Park). 😄

looksee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124168274#Comment_124168274

Sometimes it seems inevitable that cyclamen will be dug up, I've lost loads over the years but I don't learn…however at the moment I have some in planters and some in the garden and so far they are all surviving. It seems as though if they can survive 6 months they won't be dug up. (Crosses fingers). They do sometimes go rotten though.

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124168506#Comment_124168506

These are / have flowered already so fingers crossed.Maybe whatever it is doesn't like older bulbs .

looksee

Possibly its just that they have more root growth and are well anchored.

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124168698#Comment_124168698

Maybe ..we'll see .

waterfaerie

It doesn't sound like they're trying to dig things up though, since they're just throwing them out of the planter or out of their way. It sounds more like they're trying to bury things and coming back to check on the things they've buried. This really makes me think, like others have suggested, that it's crows or magpies who are known to cache food.

If that's the case, it would be easy enough to catch the culprit, since they're not nocturnal. Just get up before dawn and spy on the planter from a distance.

If you get up before dawn and damage has definitely been done during the pitch dark of night, the only other thing I can think of that hasn't been mentioned is rats. They also cache food and they are extremely clever and persistent.

But it does look more like birds and also you said chilli powder didn't work. Mammals will be put off by it but birds won't.

HeidiHeidi

I was away for almost a week, so took the camera indoors - got back yesterday, and this morning one box all dug up again 🙄 Of course I hadn't thought to put the camera back out.

looksee

It wasn't dug up while you were away? Those birds know something!

HeidiHeidi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124202445#Comment_124202445

I was amazed when I got back yesterday and they were both still intact!

HeidiHeidi

Some small good news for this thread for once!

Despite all the repeated trauma, a few plucky bulbs still managed to put out flowers 💪❤️

For reference, there were about 60 assorted mixed daffs and bluebell bulbs between the two boxes.

And for further reference, below is one of the ones on the ground that the feckers never touched 🙄

New Home

The one on the ground is terracotta. Could it be the material of the window boxes that attracted the birds? Considering they see a whole different colour spectrum to us, I wouldn't exclude it completely.

Either that, or they were trying to tell you to thin out the bulbs because they were too crowded. 😂

OscarMIlde

Was looking at my potted plants today, found a lewisia cotledon and saxifraga pulled from their pots and dumped on the ground. Also soil from a pot with a load of small bulbs (either muscari, pushkinia or ipheoin, can't remember what I planted were) scattered everywhere.

Would this be birds collecting things for their nests? I've seen starlings pull out moss and leaves from our gutters on a few occasions this time of year.

New Home

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124345170#Comment_124345170

They're lifting the moss to get to the grubs and worms and bugs underneath.

OscarMIlde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124345195#Comment_124345195

Thanks. That's annoying. I really hope they don't do it to any more pots. I have bird feeders and I keep them well stocked, but I can imagine they would prefer live insects to seeds.

HeidiHeidi

Having thought I was finally out of the woods, I came out one morning about 10 days ago to this…. and since then they've been disturbed again, my other teracotta boxes on the ground have been gone at, plus another pot also on the ground (which has big rocks on the soil). A couple of empty eggshells also left, one in a big pot that only has a bit of soil in the bottom, nothing planted, and another on the ground near it (there was another one out in the middle of the road as well). Turns out we have a mad cat lady (surprisingly young) around the corner who reportedly leaves food out (including eggs) for the foxes and feral cats in the area, so at least that explains that bit.

looksee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124345232#Comment_124345232

The birds that eat grubs would (mostly) not be interested in eating seeds.

OscarMIlde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124345302#Comment_124345302

Why do you think it is foxes or cats and not birds?

OscarMIlde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124345377#Comment_124345377

Apparently it was blackbirds, the other half saw it. I see them in the garden a lot, but now that I think about it below the feeders but not eating from it. I thought they were eating ones that fell loose like the pigeons do.

Is there anything I can do for them in the winter? Do they need support then?

looksee

Its becoming a bit of a debate whether we should feed birds, but I am not up to date with the arguments. Short of any better advice, I think the best thing you can do for the blackbirds and robins and wagtails that hop around the ground is put up fatballs. The bluetits and other small seed-searchers eat the seed and toss the fat onto the ground, where the other birds find it. At the moment the grub eaters are fine for live food, but the seed eaters have a lean time as there is little seed food at the moment, so just go on as you are.

HeidiHeidi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124345392#Comment_124345392

I think the weekly destruction of my window boxes is probably birds. And maybe the ones that are now being dug up that are on the ground. Why they're doing it, I have no idea - they dig all the way to the bottom (and those boxes are about 8 in inches deep) usually in one corner, firing entire plants and bulbs all over the place, but don't seem to bury anything and those boxes were planted with new compost in the autumn so they're hardly rich with worms and grubs.

I reckon the eggs are definitely foxes. I have found numerous eggs (mostly intact, shop bought ones with date stamps on them) over the years, buried deep in pots and beds, but I had no idea until recently where on earth they were getting them until I heard about the cat lady.

tampopo

For us, blackbirds love apples cut in half. Ground feeding.

OscarMIlde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124345543#Comment_124345543

Oh I get that now regarding foxes. I actually had magpies pull up a load of small bulbs I planted in the back of my side garden in January (bought loads when reduced), I'm guessing it was ipheoin as I've had a few of everything else come up. It was definitely either one bulb variety or either one location they were interested in mucking up, as in the same general area Tulips, muscari, pushkiana, crocuses and glory of the snow have all appeared. I have daffodils and narcissus nearby and they were fine too. They must have some motivation to do it, maybe just mischief.

OscarMIlde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124345525#Comment_124345525

I have one fatball feeder and one seed feeder for the birds, might explain why the backbirds hang around underneath the feeder so. I used to have a niger seed feeder as well, but they clogged if they got wet in the rain so I gave up on it.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124345737#Comment_124345737

You also need to be aware you can also end up feeding rats.

I'm not suggesting you do but some people have no regard for how much they put out and how much spills on the ground. If a lot of seed ends up on the ground rats soon move in and take advantage.

OscarMIlde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124345772#Comment_124345772

That's a good thing to point out, thanks. Happened with my mother in law, the rats were actually feeding directly from the fat ball feeder, it was one with large openings. Don't worry the pigeons hoover up everything that gets on the ground. Have a side camera and never saw a rat near the feeder day or night. There's a lot of cat turf wars in the garden at night, so between that and a cafe nearby with more appealing rubbish I think they have better places to be. I only top up the feeders in the morning, so the seed feeder is nearly empty most evenings. fat ball feeder gets topped up every few days.

LeoD

Think I'm going to stop feeding the birds due to rats. Had one of those metal feed stations (4 hangers) and last week saw a massive rat in the middle of the day locked on to a feeder like this (not mine - web photo) eating away. Couldn't believe it. Didn't think he could climb up a narrow steel pole. Saw another rat about two weeks ago going from branch to branch in a hedge like a monkey - another skill I wasn't aware they possessed. Had also made what I thought was a crow-proof feeder but they eventually cracked that one also so as this point I give up.