>Late last summer, I noticed that something was damaging my >plants. VFT
traps and the tops of pitchers were were snipped off. >Holes were poked in
the pitchers. <snip-snip>
>
>It all made sense--it was a woodpecker going after the
>trapped bugs!
It's not just woodpeckers. I've watched other insect-eating birds mangle my
sarracenia pitchers. Once they discover the treasures inside, it's bad news.
I also had a robin uproot a good number of plants. It took quite a while to
catch it in the act but it seems that it was building its nest and had no
local supply of mud. Wet sphagnum was apparently the next best choice. I had
two solutions that worked:
- put a light black mesh plastic netting covering the plants
- relocate (we bought a new house about 30 miles away - the birds haven't
discovered anything yet but some burrowing critter destroyed my cephalotus
and drosera plants last summer). 8^(
Good luck!
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It is never too late to be what you might have been.
- George Eliot
Ron Lane
whirlabout@aol.com
North of the New Jersey Pine Barrens
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