Sunday, July 06, 2008

Mysterious devourers...

The nemophila in the flower pot are fine (other than occasionally being sat upon by squirrels with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.) The two I transplanted out in the weed bed around the tree in the front yard are fine. The last lone straggler up against the foundation by the house? Well, it got mysteriously shorter over time as something nibbled it away, until the other morning it was just... gone.

This mysterious predator of nemophila obviously can't fly, climb, or jump to the flower pot, and won't trek across the front yard to the weed bed, only lurking in the shadow of the house. I blame the prolific little sow bugs.

8 comments:

breda said...

you do realize that they are very closely related to isopods, right?

Anonymous said...

Pry won't work against sow bugs so much, but this would be poison on small pestiferous mammals....

http://www.blow-gun.com/storefront/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=TZSI&Category_Code=PRO-HUNTER

Heath

Turk Turon said...

Sow bugs?

This'll really date me:

"It's really something to have fame put its feathery crowbar under your rock and then upward to the light release you, along with seven grubs and a sow bug."

doubletrouble said...

Hmmmm...

Sow bugs eat rotting stuff, so probably not hurtin' your plants.

You might look for evidence of moles/voles, which do the Bugs Bunny cartoon thing of pulling the plants down by the roots. I've had them in the garden & they suck.
Can't even shoot them, as they're underground. Look for missing plant (duh), no soil disturbance around where the plant used to be, & a hole from which said plant no longer protrudes- the area beneath will be hollow.

I did whack a hedgehog yesterday though.

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

If you can find a gopher or mole hole, eradication is easy.

Run a tube from the exhaust of a lawn-mower into the hole, and run a full tank of gas through it.

Carbon Monoxide sinks all the way down into the lowest chambers of their tunnels.

Dr. StrangeGun said...

Sow bugs indicate moisture problems. Might want to have a drain installed along that side of the foundation.

Assrot said...

It's probably a Vegan (tofuista ?) sneaking up in the middle of the night for a nibble. We get blamed for everything that is wrong with the world.

:-)

Joe

Anonymous said...

Might also consider looking
for earwigs. They've been
nibbling our flowers, and
the habitat seems right.
Anon, Don