Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Cultivation => Cultivation Problems => Topic started by: Alan_b on December 21, 2014, 08:27:44 AM
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This hole has appeared in the soil in one of my buried lattice pots during the last week. Is the hole the result of a 'friend' like a green woodpecker digging for grubs or a 'foe' like a small rodent digging for bulbs/corms? It's in a raised bed inaccessible to medium-sized mammals (like a hedgehog) and, for scale, the sides of the lattice pot are 11cm long.
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There's a simple way to find out.
How are you at archeology? ;D
cheers
fermi
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I didn't immediately grasp your meaning but I think the answer is that I have not looked in that pot for two years since I planted it. Since I would have expected the contents to have increased I don't think I could tell if something was missing. Now if everything was missing that would tell me 'foe' but the hole doesn't look big enough for that. Looks more like something took a snack rather than a meal.
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no evidence of anything making the hole ie moved soil
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No, Mark, I can't see the moved soil. Perhaps it was a woodpecker and the soil has just been compacted? I hope so.
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I sometimes find these holes in my pots Alan. I think the culprits are squirrels looking for bulbs or planting nuts. It is amazing how neat a hole they can make.
Olive
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I have squirrels a-plenty and they do like to bury the chestnuts in plant pots. That happens a bit earlier in the year when there is a big surplus; I suppose by now they are digging them up again to eat. Fortunately they don't seem much interested in bulbs - perhaps the chestnuts taste better? This hole was very neat and not very big. If it was a buried chestnut it cannot have been a very large one.