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Losses

elgecko

I've got a magic window!
Thursday when I came home from work I noticed my P. primuliflora was pulled out the pot. I looked around and noticed it looked like a bird was doing the damage. I did not really think much of it. The plant was a little dry and a few leaves were also dry, but looks like it will come around.
Today (Friday) I came home to a mess. It seems the bird has taking a liking to my CP's. It is digging around the pots. I lost 5 plants today.
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Most were completly dried up, some I could not even find. 3 of the one take I lost were extras, so no big loss. The other 2, the 1 I just got the begining of the week. The other which about a month ago was a VFT - Banded. It was looking really good, loved the color.
I saw a post earlier in the week that was titled something like #@$%# birds. I'm going to have to read that and see if there are any suggestions to keep the birds away from my plants.

I guess I just wanted to whine.
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Hey elgecko -

That just sucks!

The same thing has happened to me - mostly bluejays where I live, and mostly in the spring. I had to make little chickenwire type tents to cover the CP trays. It doesn't look that hot, but protects them. Right now many of the Sarrs are growing up through the wire, so I'll have to remove it soon.

WildBill
 
I put a canopy over my bog, got rid of the birds for me (still doesn't help with my dogs though
 
Sorry to hear that:( I hear if you tape two cds that you don`t care about, AKA. AOL cds,and glue them together so that the shiny sides are out. Then put a piece of fishing line through the hole and hang it up above your plants that the birds will leave your plants alone:)
 
No,say it 's not so!!!Not the vft banded I sent you.If you can hold on a few months I should have one for you,as I have some rooting.


Jerry
 
Luckily the Blue Jays and Squirrels aroudn here are too busy beating up on each other to mess with my CPs
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. ANd the height of my back deck prevents dog/neighbor/other creature attack.

Sorry about your plants though. It may help to set up a bird feeder as a decoy. At the very least it'll keep the blue jays busy harassing the other birds that come to feed.
 
If it really is birds that are eating your plants, a simple and cheap soloution is to randomly string very light mono fishing line (eight pound test or less) over the tops and three sides of your grow area.
The birds and bonk into it.  That only has to happen once and they do not come back.
 
Thanks for the ideas. I might have to give some a try. The hanging CD seems easy enough.
I grow them on my deck. I had no problems last year, not sure why it is happening now.

Jerry,
yes it was the one you sent me.
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I loved the color of that plant. The traps with the inside a very intense red, and all the leaves were a light pink. If you have an extra one later in the year, I'd love to try another. Let me know when it's about ready and I can send you the cost of shipping. Thanks.
How's the ceph doing for you?
 
I lost one of my three pots of S. alata for the NECPS Good Growing Contest yesterday while i was in NYC. I can't tell if the loss was due to birds or a roommate moving the whole tray of plants rather ungently across the deck (it has been moved, in any case). Of course, the paranoid in me wants to suspect foul play by a competing member, but if i think about it, nobody is going to consider me a threat, anyway.
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Losing the pitchers of my N. aristolochioides x thorelii to a bird earlier this year irked me a lot more.

And then there was last year when a squirrel dug up all my pots of utrics. I still haven't figured out what's growing in the pots of pieces that i scraped back together.
 
  • #10
Steve,the ceph is doing good so far.I'll send you a banded as soon as I can.


Jerry
 
  • #11
Yeah, birds! Aggrrrrrgh! Responsible for much plant loss and in my case major ID confusion amongst the Pinguicula, Pygmy Drosera and VFT forms I cultivate. Always a joy to search for a plant for years, live your life around cultivating it and find some feathered sadist has used it in a nest. It happens all the time. Squirrels are almost as bad. WHY would they want to trample through my flowering Sarracenia? Believe me, I can relate, and WHAT may I ask you am I feeding my cat for? He lies there watching the depradation with nothing short of amusement. I am working on a plan involving bait, a one way tunnel and liquid nitrogen. I'll keep you posted.

Oh. I hang Rap CD's to turn in the breeze. This seems to dis the birds a little. They apparently hate Rap. Rubber snakes don't work, nor does the "give em what they want" ploy. I leave mix and LFS where they can easily get to it, but they gotta go for the rarest species pots. Another option is to fashion cages made form hardware cloth which is a metal mesh. Not that aesthetic in appearance, they do keep out critters.
 
  • #12
Tamlin,
If I used a rap CD, it might keep me away also.
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Thanks Jerry.
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  • #13
I like the liquid nitrogen approach. Inoffensive to human ears!
 
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