Pest Eating Zucchini Flower Buds

[Jennifer Roussin]

...and I can't seem to control it. I've covered it with bird netting, applied multiple pest repellents (blood meal and Liquid Fence Deer and Rabbit Repellent), applied a mild insecticide, and even put out food and water for the squirrels and birds. I have no clue what is doing this, or how to make it stop.

Has anyone had this? Any advice on how to stop it? I called the Missouri Botanical Garden horticulture hotline, and the person who answered the phone had never heard of it, and didn't know. She suggested it might be beetles or insects, but those bites almost look like rabbits to me, or squirrels.

This didn't happen the first few weeks, and I had one week of zucchini, and now none. It's frustrating.

 

[CrazyConure]

Is this happening in the day or night? Have you ever considered slugs/snails? Maybe caterpillars?

 

[Chuck]

I would say rats or mice. See how jagged the bite marks are? Those blooms are sweet and field rats and mice love things sweet. Staple a sticky trap onto a board and I bet you will find out who it is.

 

[Jennifer Roussin]

I haven't seen any slugs/snails or caterpillars. I could very well be rats - I live in a city with sewer rats. There are mice here, too. I like your idea of sticky traps on boards. I'll try that. Where do I get them?

 

[Chuck]

I haven't seen any slugs/snails or caterpillars. I could very well be rats - I live in a city with sewer rats. There are mice here, too. I like your idea of sticky traps on boards. I'll try that. Where do I get them?

You can get sticky traps at the grocery store and hardware stores. Surely you have an old 2x4 laying around somewhere

 

[Jennifer Roussin]

Thank you, and yes I do.

 

[Jennifer Roussin]

It if is mice and/or rats, how would I control them?

 

[Chuck]

It if is mice and/or rats, how would I control them?

Once a mouse or rat steps on a stick trap he is stuck and can't run off. As for controlling them take away their safe environment. Keep the surrounding area mowed and cleaned of stuff they can hide and breed in and all other food sources out of their reach.

 

[CrazyConure]

How about buying some rat poison pellets and sprinkle it around your garden? Make sure the actual pellets are safe for garden use before you use it.

 

[Chuck]

How about buying some rat poison pellets and sprinkle it around your garden? Make sure the actual pellets are safe for garden use before you use it.

That's great if you don't have pets. Most rat and mice poisons are a blood thinner and it will take more than a rat or mouse normally ingests to really harm a dog or cat but it will still harm them. The smaller the pet the less it takes. I had a miniature winny dog get really sick when he ate a rat poisoned with DeCon.

 

[CrazyConure]

That's true! I don't have any pets (besides for a bird who lives indoors.) I would imagine the pellets getting absorbed by the plant which in return makes the plane consumer ingesting the poison.

How about a homemade mouse trap?

 

[Chuck]

That's true! I don't have any pets (besides for a bird who lives indoors.) I would imagine the pellets getting absorbed by the plant which in return makes the plane consumer ingesting the poison.

How about a homemade mouse trap?

It doesn't work like that. A plant has protoplasm and a person or dog or bird has hemoglobin. A plant must have photosynthesis which is determined by sunlight which makes protoplasm. Hemoglobin or blood is not even close to protoplasm as hemoglobin requires complex proteins. But to make a short story shorter rat poison has no effect on plants, only vertebrates.
Once the mouse is in the trap what then? Relocate him to mess up someone else's garden or fill the bottle up with water and see how long he can do the breast stroke?

 

[CrazyConure]

Then whats with all this nonorganic talk about the chemicals getting absorbed in the plant, then people consuming the plant, which in return gives humans the chemicals they put in?

Maybe the OP can give the rat to snake owners? How about pet shops?

 

[Jennifer Roussin]

LOL! This is funny.

 

[Beth_B]

I'm a fan of electronic mouse/rat traps. There are many options but this is the one I used years ago when I had mice invading my house. I caught tons of mice and the numbers dwindled rapidly.

www.amazon.com/Victor-Electronic-Mouse-Trap-M2524/dp/B000E1RIUU

Humane fast kill, which is really the best way of dealing with mice or rats. Relocating them is cruel (they usually starve to death in a new location) and may just give the problem to someone else. And as said, poisoning is also a nasty death plus puts other small predators at risk.

Friend of mine had a healthy indoor-only cat, who would catch the occasional mouse in her basement. She woke up one morning to find her cat dead on the kitchen floor with blood around its mouth. Later found that her neighbor was liberally putting rodent poison around her house and yard. So quite possible (per her vet) the cat ate one of the poisoned mice.