As a gardener, you have to make comprises sometimes choose what to plant. Unfortunately, some plants are more susceptible to damage at the hands of garden pests. Therefore, before choosing what to grow in your garden, it becomes essential to take precautions against pests so they do not damage your plants. One of these pests includes squirrels, and they can affect your garden in multiple ways, unfortunately. However, most plants are vulnerable at the hands of squirrels.
One of the plants which squirrels like to feed on includes daylilies.
Squirrels like to dig gardens for daylilies. These rodents like to look for roots, especially fresh roots. This is why often gardeners find their daylilies all dug up and ruined. Daylilies have crunchy bulbs which squirrels do not like to leave behind. In addition, other animals like to eat daylilies.
What Animals Eat Daylilies?
Unfortunately, not only squirrels but other animals also eat daylilies. Therefore, it is best to know which animals you would be up against when growing plants. Here are some animals that will eat your daylilies:
One of the most famous animals that feed on daylilies is the deer. These animals love feeding on daylilies, but they won’t necessarily come to your garden unless you live near the countryside and deer s often show up. Moreover, chipmunks also attack daylilies by digging the bulbs and eating them. In addition, rabbits will also eat daylilies.
Do Squirrels Dig Up Daylilies?
One of the reasons people are often resistant to growing daylilies is that squirrels tend to dig them. Squirrels are known to dig bulbs and look for the underground. Daylily bulbs are crunchy and quite delicious, giving squirrels more the reason to dig them up.
Apart from tasting great, daylilies also provide benefits to squirrels. These flowers are packed with nutrients like vitamin A and C and have a lot of protein.
Which Daylilies Do Squirrels Eat?
There are different kinds of daylilies, and squirrels tend to eat all of them. Squirrels are interested in the bulb of daylilies and, therefore, will dig any daylily they find when they are hungry.
However, squirrels do have a favorite when it comes to daylilies. The yellow daylily is the best out of all because of its flavor. Squirrels, upon seeing yellow daylilies, will go crazy for them. Fortunately, if you have a lot of yellow daylilies, you won’t be affected as they are fast-growing plants.
On the other hand, your other daylilies will not be safe in your garden just because you have the yellow ones. Most people think diverting the attention of squirrels towards the yellow daylilies would be enough. However, there is no guarantee that a squirrel will not harm your other daylily plants.
How To Stop Squirrels from Eating Daylilies?
It can be worrying to see your daylily plants getting reduced every day. But, unfortunately, squirrels are quite ferocious eaters and will not spare anything.
The best thing you can do is keep squirrels out of your garden. There are a few ways you can do that. It would be better if you adopted natural homemade remedies to deter squirrels and keep them out.
Natural deterrents like strong spices work perfectly against squirrels. For instance, cayenne pepper is the best example of a spice with a strong scent. The only thing you have to do is sprinkle the cayenne pepper around your garden. The scent is enough to trigger the sinuses, leaving them irritated and causing them to sprint.
You can keep your daylilies safe by growing them among plants that squirrels hate. For example, squirrels do not like daffodils or hyacinth. And, to get to the daylily, the squirrel will have to cross these plants first, which it may refrain from doing so.
Another effective way to keep squirrels out from your garden is to make them believe a predator is nearby. You can track the squirrels by investing in some predator’s urine. This may seem odd at first, but you can get commercially available predator urine. This is not actual urine but deterrents that have the same smell.
You can also create a spray using apple cider vinegar. Simply, spray your plants, your daylilies with the spray, and the strong scent will keep the squirrels away. In addition, you can begin by making your garden look less attractive for squirrels. For example, if you have a bad bird feeder, you might consider removing it as it can attract squirrels.
It would help if you also protected your daylily bulbs from squirrels. By creating an enclosure around the bulb, you will be protecting them. For instance, you can use chicken wire to make the enclosure, so squirrels do not reach till the daylilies. To keep the chicken wire flat on the ground, you must use weights like rocks to not move.
Natural fertilizers are also a great way to tackle the squirrel problem. However, these fertilizers have a pungent smell as they are made from fish emulsion and blood meal. Therefore, the smell is enough to throw off squirrels and keep them away. Lastly, you can opt for using gravel in your garden. The sharp gravel makes it uncomfortable for squirrels to walk, discouraging them from entering your garden.
Summary
Squirrels can create quite the havoc, and you will know that when you find your plants freshly dug. One of the plants that squirrels enjoy eating is daylilies. Squirrels consume the bulbs and will dig for them. The bulbs are crunchy and sweet and provide the squirrel with benefits like vitamin A and C and loads of protein. Other animals also eat daylilies like deer, chipmunks, and rabbits.
It is best to take measures to avoid squirrels from eating your daylilies. You can do that by using strong spices like cayenne pepper in your garden. Or you can create an enclosure to keep the daylilies safe by using chicken wire. Other methods include using predator’s urine, growing plants which squirrels hate, and natural fertilizers.
