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Garden Gate:  Need Sunflower Advice  |
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Lauram
True Blue Farmgirl
74 Posts
Laura
Moneta
VA
USA
74 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 09 2005 : 03:56:04 AM
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Last night I went in the garden to check out some sunflowers I planted, and to my extreme delight I saw two green seedlings! It rained hard last night so I went to check on them this morning and they were gone. Do you think the storm got to them, or is it more likely birds? Do I need to take measures to protect sunflower seedlings in the garden from now on? |
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quiltedess
True Blue Farmgirl
296 Posts
Nancy
Priest River
ID
USA
296 Posts |
Posted - Jun 09 2005 : 08:12:24 AM
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I'm guessing birds. Once I lost all the beans I planted to birds. Just yesterday I noticed nearly all my cosmos have been chewed by (I think) bunnies. It's frustrating; unfortunately, I don't really know what to do about it. But you could try starting the sunflower seeds in little pots and then set them out when they're just beyond the baby seedling stage. Hmmm, now that I said that, it sounds like a really good idea!
Nancy |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Jun 09 2005 : 09:02:02 AM
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Laura, Nancy is correct. I live in the Sunflower State(Kansas) The birds LOVE sunflower seeds and will devour the seedlings also in the hopes of having a tasty seed shell. I planted a bunch along a fence line and along an ugly shed up by my barn this spring and I am afraid the birds got them all... I have had luck planting them in an enclosed garden close to the house, where there is more activity and 3 fiesty cats nearby. It scares the birds away and my sunflowers can grow. I would suggest starting in pots, they are very easy to grow that way. Cover with straw at the seedling stage. Or perhaps make a bird deterent...Foil pie tins stapled to a stake nearby can scare birds, anything shiny and reflective. Good luck to you! I love sunflowers to!
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb101.html |
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Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
Posted - Jun 09 2005 : 09:52:16 AM
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Good ideas, girls. I just dug up all of my bug-deterant marigolds from my vege garden because something is eating the foliage only, not the flowers ( put them on my porch temporarily and hope they recover)..... I have a new "resident" wild bunny, who I was going to blame, but it might be birds. My garden is small and I just fenced it (to deter the bunny), so maybe now I'll add an overhead deterant too, because in addition the marigolds, something is eating my new purple bean plants, but they're leaving the regular green bean plants alone. I've also been collecting those AOL Cd's that come in the mail all the time. I'm going to make a hanging mobile-thing from them... also lay a couple on the ground to mimick eyes... I'm told that's a good deterant too. Gardening is always such a mystery.
****Gardener, Stitcher, Spiritual Explorer and Appreciator of all Things Natural****
"Begin to weave and God will give the thread." - German Proverb |
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Eileen
True Blue Farmgirl
1199 Posts
Eileen
USA
1199 Posts |
Posted - Jun 09 2005 : 09:55:45 AM
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You know all those aol cds you get in the mail trying to entice you to join up< well they make great garden flashers too and keep the birds out. I also use those fun little pin wheels you get for kids at the grocery store. I wish they worked on the slugs!!!
Eileen
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
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Nicol
True Blue Farmgirl
200 Posts
Nicol
200 Posts |
Posted - Jun 09 2005 : 10:05:06 AM
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| Oh Eileen, aren't slugs a joy! Copper stripping works fairly well as does buried margarine containers of beer! I keep trying to figure out what purpose they have and I haven't thought of one yet. |
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Lauram
True Blue Farmgirl
74 Posts
Laura
Moneta
VA
USA
74 Posts |
Posted - Jun 10 2005 : 03:51:40 AM
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| I'm learning a lot. Thanks for all the input! |
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quiltedess
True Blue Farmgirl
296 Posts
Nancy
Priest River
ID
USA
296 Posts |
Posted - Jun 10 2005 : 09:10:07 AM
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About the marigolds, Slugs LOVE them!! The first time I planted marigolds they were in a raised bed and they did really good. Then another year I bought (with my precious little money) some marigold plants, planted them, and the next day they were just sticks. I didn't know what happened but a friend told me. :-) And now my cosmos are looking like a total loss, most of them are two-inch sticks, chopped down by bunnies (they, the bunnies, are cute though).
Nancy |
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NancyM
True Blue Farmgirl
113 Posts
Nancy
Fall City
WA
113 Posts |
Posted - Jun 13 2005 : 11:19:24 AM
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Agreed about the marigolds. I had no idea slugs were so fond of them. No more for me. Slugs don't seem to bother my sunflowers but I usually way overplant them because of bird loss (I see a lot of robins in there). Good luck-I Adore sunflowers!
Quiltedess-I am another Nancy not too far from you!
Nancy |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Jun 13 2005 : 6:45:19 PM
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I overplant sunflowers too..can't live without their smiling faces!!
Jenny in Utah
The best things in life arn't things! |
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LadyCrystal
True Blue Farmgirl
593 Posts
Alicia
Rhode Island
USA
593 Posts |
Posted - Jun 14 2005 : 6:12:30 PM
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I just put in my first sunflower garden this past weekend.My hubby requested it but I designed it.I put three different colors in.I can wait unitl it gets bigger.I have never gardened before this year and I think I have been bitten by the bug.
Follow your dreams |
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Eileen
True Blue Farmgirl
1199 Posts
Eileen
USA
1199 Posts |
Posted - Jun 16 2005 : 11:38:01 AM
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Nicol,
we should be able to develope some sort of glue from the slime that sticks to everything but I have never heard of anyone doing that. The margaring tubs of beer would work if it did not rain so much here and the cost of the copper strips would make it hard for me to use as I have such a lot of area to cover. At least an acre of my property is in flower gardens scattered about all over the place. The slugs are so abundant this year that you cannot step anywhere on the grassy area of our property and not step on a slug. I go out every morning early and snip them in half with a special pair of clippers. That way the birds can get in on a feast and the rest goes back to the ground. No poison. Every evening before bed I do the same to any I see heading to the flower garden. I was told by a garden person at Whitney Rhododendron gardens that if I pour ammonia on the ground in the spring before any of the flowers emerge I will dehydrate all of the slug eggs in the ground before they hatch. I am not sure of the implications that this practice would have on my organic status, also I am next to and surrounded by un improved and wooded lots where the little buggers breed and then move over to my property as soon as they smell the flowers. Maybe if I lay copper pipe all the way around my property lines and get rid of the ones on this side I will not have such a problem with them. I really have tried about everything.
Eileen
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
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JoyIowa
True Blue Farmgirl
273 Posts
Joy
273 Posts |
Posted - Jun 28 2005 : 7:33:47 PM
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If you can get some human hair, (out of brushes, from friends, etc.) and lay it just under the soil, it keeps away bunnies and deer very well. As for sunflowers, I'm going out in the morning and trying the foil pan trick. Thanks!
Joy
To live without farm life is merely existing, to live with farm life is living life to it very last experience. |
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pegC
Farmgirl in Training
16 Posts
Peggi
New Jersey
USA
16 Posts |
Posted - Jul 01 2005 : 5:55:21 PM
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To AuntJenny, Eileen and others re: marigolds
I use aluminum foil in the garden under tomatoes, marigolds, melons - anything that needs extra sunlight (I'm up in the mountains, trees, etc.) This works to deter many pests it turns out becuase they were expecting a shady place under the leaves. No slugs so far, but I better knock on wood now I said that.
Maybe even toss a little salt back for extra luck now that I think about it.
I'm hoping this works cause we eat marigolds in our salads. Serves to purposes that way.
Peg
Jersey Farm Girl in Training |
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Fulminous
Farmgirl in Training
40 Posts
Deb
Maine
40 Posts |
Posted - Jul 05 2005 : 2:55:03 PM
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| I was just on the phone with my dear parents who said a week ago, just after returning home (after going out to dinner to celebrate the planting of their garden). Unfortunately, as they approached the garden in their truck only to scare away about a dozen crows! They nearly lost all their corn and will have to replant it, and to think they said they had the pie tins up! I guess their next move is to do a grid with twine and foil strips along the entire plot! |
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Lauram
True Blue Farmgirl
74 Posts
Laura
Moneta
VA
USA
74 Posts |
Posted - Jan 04 2006 : 04:28:03 AM
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| I forgot about this post from last year. Since we were talking about sunflowers I thought I would bring this post up again for Rebekka. |
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Garden Gate: Need Sunflower Advice |
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Need Sunflower Advice
