Episode 12: How To Protect Bulbs from Squirrels & Prevent Blossom End Rot

Martha Jane in Michigan 

A: Oh, Martha Jane, I feel your pain. Here are solutions to prevent squirrels from digging up your bulbs: 

First of all, plant bulbs deep. For example, if your tulips say plant 6-8 in deep, plant 8 in deep if you can, maybe that might weed out a few of the lazy squirrels. 

And after you're finished planning, get rid of any bulb debris and smooth and firm down the soil. That bare soil may be a trigger for those squirrels that something's been going on.  

Mulch after you plant and water it in well. Some people use small gravel, chicken grit, cayenne pepper, and any irritating things that may work. You can also try Plantskydd® Deer & Squirrel Repellent 

The best, most effective method is to apply a barrier over the soil. This could be hardware, cloth, chicken wire, or even the best yet is this flexible mesh. It's very tough. The squirrels would really have to work hard to chew through it. What you do is you lay this out over the ground and use landscape staples to pin it down well so they can't get under there. Find squirrel proof bulb netting here. For smaller plantings, try our Bulb Basket. 

Jack in Zone 4, New York 

A: Jack, the most likely cause is blossom and rot. It is not a disease, it's more of a physiological disorder where the plant can't pull calcium out of the soil. Tomatoes are very susceptible, peppers and eggplant are also susceptible. You want to make sure you have adequate calcium in the soil by doing a soil test. Very acidic soils have very little calcium. Fruit-Boost™ Pelletized Calcium Carbonate prevents blossom end rot. 

But the main reasons for loss rot is moisture levels—so it's either too dry or too wet. If you're on either end of that spectrum, the plant just can't pull the calcium and translocate it to the fruit cell walls where it's needed. Mulch whatever plants that are susceptible, and if it's drying out, just water them in. You can't do much about buckets of rain coming down from the sky—there are calcium sprays that you can spray on the plant that have some effectiveness for this.  

Another cause of this phenomenon could be poor pollination—the bees aren't getting pollen from the male flowers over to the female flowers. You can go and take pollen with a Q-Tip from one the male flower over to the female flower, pollinate it, and maybe that'll help. And it's a good way to interact with your garden, and when you're eating dinner with your friends and having your zucchini, tell them you hand pollinated it.