Flying predators?

[swords]

I put my 4 Jack in the pulpits out on the patio last night and today when I went out there one was knoked over at the base and the pot was dug up and one of the other pulpit flowers was snaped at the base of the inflorescence. Also the seed starters of datura and ipomea were utterly a shambles and will have to be replanted today.

Are there birds which are predators to woodland plants? The ones I know are out here in my back yard and occasionally stop at my patio are crows, woodpeckers, robins, mourning doves, blue jays, cardinals, barn owls and finches. I am assuming it was bird as I live on the second story of a condo and the cat did not go out there until I did (and he has no interst in the plants anyway). I assumed a cat sleeping on the patio would leave a scent enough to scare off any bird attacks.

Any ideas?

 

[schloaty]

That sounds more like squirl (or similar animal) damage. Is there any way for squirls to get to your second floor balcony? Maybe get onto your roof somewhere else, and then somehow climb DOWN onto the balcony?

 

[swords]

Yes it's possible a squirrel could have done it, I hadn't even thought of that! I've never seen them on my patio but there are plenty of them in the woods (or what's left of them and not being turned into townhome subdivisions

). and there are 30+ foot tall trees surrounding my condo so they can jump on the roof and scale down to the patios. My old cat used to shimmy down the rain gutter from my patio to the ground (or up to another patio to howl at some other cats window juding from the phone calls from the neighbors) so I supppose a squirrel could get the hang of it too.

The plants themselves seem to be OK overall (and it looks as though there is no interest in the orchids, aristolochia vines, calla lilly & fern troughs or large Alocasias containers) but for some reason those jiffy peat pots for my seeds and the JITPs were irresistable to whatever did it.

I wish I had a video camera cos whatever it is, does it's business before 11 am when I usually get up. The little bugger struck again last night throwing peat & LFS everywhere.

 

[carnivorous23]

That's got to be squirrels then. They have an odd tendency to dig in peat.
I have gotten at least one oak tree seedling in a Sarracenia pot (with no oaks anywhere near my house), so I suspect they may like burying food in peat moss.

 

[mindmaze128]

There aren't any squirrels where I live, but birds attack my plants all the time. Finches in general are too small to do anything, besides taking a strand or two of LFS, but larger birds like thrushes can be a niusance. birds in general can't dig too well though, so if there was alot of digging it probably wasn't a bird. I remember a story from a lady here who sells heliconia plants. She plants alot of seeds in the spring, and for the longest time she never could understand why most of them disappeared. It turns out that lizards were digging the seeds up and eating them.

hehe

Jœl

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

Sorry I'm late on this but Josh, what your corms! Mine Arisaema triphyllum corm were dug up and taken by squirrels

I love JITP's and am going to get another bunch of them...so beware the squirrels! But it's sorta ironic too cuz if they eat the corms (which they most likely did) the deadly crystals of calcium oxalate.