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Sad sight to come home to yesterday morning

DJ57

DJ57

I am a CPaholic...
Moderator
Sometime in the night raccoons discovered the bog and destroyed some of my best sarrs. It was obvious they were after the bugs inside the pitchers. I cannot afford to put an electric fence around the bog at this time, so I suspect they will destroy the rest of the plants in there in the coming nights as I am away from home overnight most of the week. They destroyed my gorgeous Doreen's Colossus, a large-pitcher sarr hybrid, Oreophila, a copper-top-like flava, minor okee giant, and a large Darlingtonia. They did not dig up the rhizomes, yet, so this fall I will probably pot the rhizomes up and hope they will have enough energy stored to make it through winter (losing almost all pitchers at this time of year may affect that?) as I see no point in keeping up the bog if I cannot protect it from marauders. I have learned with the ponds that once raccoons discover an easy food source, they keep coming back to it and this second morning proved that, but this time DH was up to put the dogs out and they were chased off before too much damage was done.

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Doreen's Colossus pitcher split down the middle to get to the decomposing insects
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What some of the plants looked like before being torn apart
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Minor Okee Giant in late may/early June
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I have had a good run with in-ground CP bog gardening for many years though with only occasional squirrel damage to VFTs, guess all good things come to an end eventually.
 
I caught a skunk doing the same thing in my bog over the weekend ! I'm gonna blast that sucker !
 
The bog as it looked in late May. Sadly, I did not get around to taking a pic of the whole thing when it grew up and filled in more.

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Cthulhu138 said:
I caught a skunk doing the same thing in my bog over the weekend ! I'm gonna blast that sucker !
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I know, right? I have a neighbor trying to do the same thing as raccoons ate his Darlingtonia on the same night, only he could not get a safe clear shot...so they came to my house!!
 
I think one night of sentry duty with a loaded rifle could disrupt the "gaze" enough to prevent them from coming back.


edit: I guess we're all on the same page!
 
Sorry to see it. The plants should be able to recover, no different than clipping pitchers for shipping really, but if you do lose you Colossus, oreo or cuprea I should be able to help you out with replacements.
 
Unfortunately, as devastated as I am I cannot bring myself to actually kill the little devils...one of them has two little babies in tow. We have a neighbor who continues to feed these critters and cannot understand that it is a death sentence to them because of the destruction they cause.

Of course, I guess I am inadvertently feeding them also with a whole bog full of goodies, hmmm.
 
DJ57 said:
Unfortunately, as devastated as I am I cannot bring myself to actually kill the little devils...
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"Remember the oreo!" Think about the nice, new coonskin cap you could have.
 
Tony C said:
Sorry to see it. The plants should be able to recover, no different than clipping pitchers for shipping really, but if you do lose you Colossus, oreo or cuprea I should be able to help you out with replacements.
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Thank you. That is comforting to know they have a good chance of recovering. I figure it may take a season for them to look decent again the following year? Thank goodness for patience, haha. I waited years for a Colossus (thank you Jerry) so that was espcially devasting, and it really took off this second year in my care. The Oreophila had three seed pods forming and only one remains intact.
 
  • #10
I never understand why in the whole world critters come up into our yards and porches and do this? Have they no hearts?! Okay, dramatic there... Sorry about the bog.
 
  • #11
Put out a different, easier food source every night. A loaf of cheap bread ought to do it. Let them gorge on Wonder Bread and they won't waste their time busting up pitchers for bugs.

PS: I wouldn't hesitate to shoot 'em myself, if they can't be deterred by other means. Babies only mean an increase in the destruction in the months to come.
 
  • #12
I had an incident a month or so ago where an unsupervised dog thought one of my Sarr pools would be a nice place to play. Had to trim most of them and cut several to to the ground. Most are already showing new growth and probably won't be set back much if at all. They really are resilient plants for the most part.
 
  • #13
what a bummer!

I know this is off topic, but does your bog ever get flooded? Or do you have some sort of drainage?
 
  • #14
Sorry to hear about this. Was just admiring your bog photos on Flickr yesterday DJ.
 
  • #15
Very sorry to hear this DJ, you have a wonderful bog. I am sure they will recover but I get the disappointment...

It's so noble of you to still avoid killing them, they are only doing what's in their nature. Birds kept destroying my plants on the balcony until I came up with a permanent solution - a fish net. It was exhausting to build it up but sparing their lives was totally worth it.
 
  • #16
ohh nooo.. :( Im so sorry DJ, that reaaalllyy sucks... only tip I can offer is to use Cayenne pepper on EVERYTHING.. Even try sprinkling some inside/on your remaining pitchers... It may help deter them some, you just have to reapply every time it rains.. It worked with my mom's mini bog when she had trouble with critters digging up everything..
 
  • #17
Darn those idiotic pests, I hope your bog sarrs grow back. IMO sarrs are very strong and should put out new leaves.
 
  • #18
Whimgrinder said:
Put out a different, easier food source every night. A loaf of cheap bread ought to do it. Let them gorge on Wonder Bread and they won't waste their time busting up pitchers for bugs.

PS: I wouldn't hesitate to shoot 'em myself, if they can't be deterred by other means. Babies only mean an increase in the destruction in the months to come.
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Sounds like a plan since the bog is attracting them anyway, thanx for the idea!

PS: I know :crap:

mass said:
what a bummer!

I know this is off topic, but does your bog ever get flooded? Or do you have some sort of drainage?
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It floods often during the rainy season and during summer I flood it every time I water. There is a slight slant to the bog toward one end where the edge is lower and there are holes in the side several inches from the top for the water to run off.

31drew31 said:
Sorry to hear about this. Was just admiring your bog photos on Flickr yesterday DJ.
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Thank you.

maxima said:
Very sorry to hear this DJ, you have a wonderful bog. I am sure they will recover but I get the disappointment...

It's so noble of you to still avoid killing them, they are only doing what's in their nature. Birds kept destroying my plants on the balcony until I came up with a permanent solution - a fish net. It was exhausting to build it up but sparing their lives was totally worth it.
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Thank you. I swear I would starve to death if I ever had to kill something to eat, haha. I don't have any problem with people who hunt, come from a family of hunters and eat meat wild or otherwise, I just can't do it myself.

Brie said:
ohh nooo.. :( Im so sorry DJ, that reaaalllyy sucks... only tip I can offer is to use Cayenne pepper on EVERYTHING.. Even try sprinkling some inside/on your remaining pitchers... It may help deter them some, you just have to reapply every time it rains.. It worked with my mom's mini bog when she had trouble with critters digging up everything..
Click to expand...

Cayenne pepper is safe for the plants, I did not know that and will run out and get some tomorrow, THANK YOU for the tip!

I will be pinching pennies in order to afford an electric fence around the bog.
 
  • #19
If they can put on some more growth this year to convert into sugars to feed the rhizome they should be fine next year, if not quite so large.
They did/do look like a good selection of healthy robust plants, in a nice setting, well done and best of luck for next year.

cheers
Steve
 
  • #20
I am so sorry DJ!
 
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