Something is eating my bamboo!
Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 12:30 am
My bamboo plants have been in the ground since late April this year and for the most part they've been trouble free. That is, until now. Early on I had something trying to dig up my new plants the first month or so after planting. I attributed that to a racoon or something being curious and possibly smelling the fertilizer I used (old horse manure). I took care of that by filling the holes back in, adding more mulch on top, and eventually whatever it was stopped digging.
Now though, I have a whole new problem. As of this week, I went out to check on my bamboo and found something had eaten off any branches and many of the smaller, but full grown culms up to about a foot above the ground. I was especially worried about my Atrovaginata which only had 2 total culms and now one of those was bitten off about 4 inches above the ground. I assume it was rabbits so I staked out some cages out of 2" poultry mesh that I had and now 2 days later another smaller culm on my Spectabilis was bitten off and the lone surviving culm on the Atro has been de-limbed up to about 16" off the ground as well as having some new shallow gnaw marks on the outside of that one remaining culm.
Does this look like rabbit damage? I have definitely seen rabbits on the property before but I suppose it could also be squirrels. I have seen deer as well, but I would think deer would nibble higher up on the plant where there are more leaves.
I plan to pick up some finer garden mesh tomorrow but I would have thought 2" mesh would have kept out most rabbits. There was no sign of anything digging under the mesh cages or climbing in over the top so I feel like whatever it was must have just slipped through.
I appreciate any advice anyone has.
Now though, I have a whole new problem. As of this week, I went out to check on my bamboo and found something had eaten off any branches and many of the smaller, but full grown culms up to about a foot above the ground. I was especially worried about my Atrovaginata which only had 2 total culms and now one of those was bitten off about 4 inches above the ground. I assume it was rabbits so I staked out some cages out of 2" poultry mesh that I had and now 2 days later another smaller culm on my Spectabilis was bitten off and the lone surviving culm on the Atro has been de-limbed up to about 16" off the ground as well as having some new shallow gnaw marks on the outside of that one remaining culm.
Does this look like rabbit damage? I have definitely seen rabbits on the property before but I suppose it could also be squirrels. I have seen deer as well, but I would think deer would nibble higher up on the plant where there are more leaves.
I plan to pick up some finer garden mesh tomorrow but I would have thought 2" mesh would have kept out most rabbits. There was no sign of anything digging under the mesh cages or climbing in over the top so I feel like whatever it was must have just slipped through.
I appreciate any advice anyone has.