A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2003 Tulips

I planted 100 tulip bulbs 2 seasons ago. Last year they all came up beautifully! But this year I have about 10 that are out. those ten have actually have multiplied but I don't know what happened to all the other ones. Every one of my daffodiles have multiplied and bloomed. Is there something that goes after tulips in particular? Maybe moles or grubs? Thank you in advance, I guess I'll just stick with all the happy daffodiles instead of planting tulips.

I know squirrls will dig up tulip bulbs and eat them or move them. Moles are carnivorous, but the mice that travel in their tunnels might "munch" on certain bulbs. I think tulips is one of them.
Therefore, if u get rid of the grubs, u might get rid of the moles, which will eliminate the tunnels for the mice to run in!!!!!!

I'm by no means an expert, but I have tulips in my side garden that only seem to do anything every other year. Maybe it's just a quirk of a paticular variety of tulip?

Thanks so much for your help, I do have a TERRIBLE infestation (it seems ) of grubs. I'm digging a new garden and in the10ft-20ft that I've already dug I've plucked out over 50 grubs so far. (that's only the ones I saw) I save them for the neighbor kids, who use them for catfishing in the river. So the next step.....How do you get rid of grubs? or are they beneficial to the rest of the plants and animals?

Renee, i had a bad infestation of grubs (june bugs) last year. They nearly killed my centipede grass and killed a few perenials. When i saw all the june bugs swarming all over my yard in late june last year, i knew i had a big problem!!!! Now, japanese beetles can also be a big problem too. Killing grubs is really easy to do. U can go to almost any garden center and buy a granular type insecticide (use a walk behind spreader and follow the directions for the particular stuff u are using). I have a Scotts Speedy Green spreader. In less than an hr (i have a big yard) the job was done. U might have to water your yard good. U would be amazed at how the grubs were OOZZING out the ground after the 1st big rain!! Not only that, it also killed other lawn pests. One point though... u might want to check with an expert in the area where u live to make sure when is the best time to apply this insecticide. U want to kill them when they are active, close to the surface. In SC, late august and sept. are the best times (the larvae are young, and they are close to the surface). As the ground temperature gets cooler, the grubs go deeper into the ground and kinda go dormant. As the ground warms up in the spring, they become active again and begin to eat voraciously, get fat, and turn into beetles!!! When they have turned into beetles, u r too late!! The cycle starts all over again!!!
Right now, my biggest problem is with slugs! They are stripping my plants clean even before they have a chance to get out of the ground. I have to apply slug bait to keep them in check.
My year round problem is squirrls. Between my neighbor and i, we have shot over 150 in 1 year!! They are worse then rats. They will dig up tulips and rebury them in your neighbor's yard! I'm not kidding! That happened to a neigbor of mine last year! Some people may get mad at me, but there is a major inbalance when u can shoot 150 squirrls on one street! I think we are feeding them too much bird seed.... or tulips!! Good luck! Bob gardendreamer03@aol.com

Have you ever heard of Milky Spore? It's a beneficial nematode that feeds on grubs, but leaves everything else alone. I got some through GardensAlive! (Beneficial nematodes Hb it was called) and it did a great job on the little beasts. It was weird stuff, looked like a little plastic bag of spoiled milk, but you mix it with water and pour it around plants that are regularly bothered by Japanese beetles. It sinks in and whatever it is just loves to eat baby beetles. It is non-chemical and takes time to work, but it really does the job.

Bess, i read up on "milky spores" last summer.
http://homeharvest.com/milkspore.htm
From what i read it's supposed to work and it works for years. It's a fugus that preys on grubs (both japanese beetles and june bugs).I'm glad to hear that it's working for u. I almost bought some last year, but i wanted something that would kill the grubs quicker (milky spores works gradually). I didn't want to give them any more time to kill my grass! Sounds like a great product! gardendreamer03@aol.com

Thanks, Bob. That was a great info site. I just looked up Gardens Alive! (I usually just order from their catalogue) and found the info on their Grub Away stuff: http://www.gardensalive.com/item_display.asp?ProductNumber=5000&HOME=1
Yes, it takes a awhile to work. The first year I wandered around my rugosa roses all summer picking the beetles off and tossing them into soapy water (a huge chore, as hundreds showed up each day.) The next year I had a newborn and did not have time, but noticed that there were far less beasties than before. Now I still get a few stragglers from other yards, but I leave them alone. They're doomed! Heh heh heh!

Bess, i looked up that web site and saved it. Never heard of Grub Away, but it sounds like a very good product.Thank u! I might have to get some of that stuff.
I'm not a very patient person when it comes to pests.. If i see a problem, i want to fix it right then! For example, i saw a few aphids on some irises today;so, i sprayed everything with Sevin (i had such a problem with them last year). Been seeing a lot of squirrls digging in my yard and flower gardens... so, i shot 8 of them yesterday and today..... oops! hope i didn't hurt anyone's feelings. Sorry, i just consider them rodents (at least the foxes benefit from my kill.....lol) gardendreamer03@aol.com