Rose bush [S. Worthen

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I couldn't even keep the miniature roses around for once day. Overnight, the racoons attacked. They tore apart the soft pot, scattered soil all over the place, and flung aside the uprooted roses.

I'm unhappy.

I've tried replanting and will bring them indoors for a night, since I won't have time to plant them properly until tomorrow, but for all I know, they won't recover from their half-night of soillessness.

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There are 20 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

Another American capitalist crusader running dog falls victim to the ruthless Al Quaeda raccoons.

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:O! Noooo! The poor roses! I hope they recover :(

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24 hours later and they're not looking much better. Their leaves are all dried out, poor things. I haven't given up all hope yet.

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Oh dear. :( Raccoons are just terrible! That's a real shame and I hope the plant can recover!

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I'm cosseting them as best I can, but the outlook is dim right now.

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your poor, poor baby roses. um - trying to think what my grandmother would have done - if you could make compost tea, and add crushed dried eggshells, and then soak the rose roots for an hour or two... that sounds vaguely grandmother-remedy-ish. Not sure how posssible any of that is in an apartment, however. MH

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If only I had had those ingredients around yesterday! It might still be worth a try today, now that I have time to spend on them. But I'm not sure at this stage in their racoon-engendered disability it'll help - and if it's worth going out shopping for the ingredients.

Someday I'll have a real garden and lots of lovely nutricious things to feed it.

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oh my gosh! that's awful. Perhaps you should decorate your balcony with something non-organic. Cool metal sculptures, maybe, or enamelled plaques?

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Stuffed raccoons, perhaps?

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Only if they're big, heavy, and not subject to tooth indentations. Racoons love playing with the non-plant things I have on the deck. They push around the plastic base which is meant to hold up the umbrella. They chew on the hose. They move the sticks all around as playtoys. They love chewing on the shiny holders that tea lights come in. There are several entirely chewed up, crushed metal tea light holders scattered in the corners of the deck right now.

In general though, that might be the best way for me to have a successful garden now.

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You have the most horribly-mannered raccoons in your neighborhood! I've never heard of such ring-tailed meanies! My condolences on your little rosebush.

I had a mini-rosebush that grew quite well, even bloomed, inside: I use the past tense because a certain beautiful tortoiseshell cat who shall remain nameless knocked it out of my window, and its pot got caught in my gutter. I couldn't get to it to rescue it without a reeeeeeeeeeally tall ladder, so it withered there, a few feet out of reach.

The cat shows no remorse, by the way. I'm sure the raccoons don't either.

I wonder if raccoons make good eatin'?

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Racoons eat too much garbage for me to want to try eating them.

If the roses survive their incident, I might just keep them indoors and see how they survive. Cat, who gave them to me, said she hadn't had much luck with indoor rose growing.

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That is so sad!!!

While procrasinating at work, I did some research:

Have you ever tried a repellent spray?
http://www.havahart.com/nuisance/Instructions/5300.htm
http://www.critter-repellent.com/raccoon/raccoon-repellent.php

Here are some home remedies, including blood meal and mothballs. The electric fence, however, might be overkill...
http://txtx.essortment.com/howdoigetrid_rrwd.htm

love,
Maria

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Thank you for all the help, Mar! I might try one of those - I wish I had bigger beds to play with, it'd be easier to apply things to them. As is, adding mothballs would dominate the beds - but I have little enough to lose at this point. I've heard that electric high-pitched noise makers are the most effective way to keep them away - I think I'll see if I can't find a battery-powered one somewhere and try that.

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what you need to do, see, is get yourself a pet rabid wolverine. i'm sure it would be happy to take care of your raccoon problem. i hear that rabid wolverines are excellent gardeners and gentle caretakes of roses as well.

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I'd love one. Do they like living on decks?

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you can buy concentrated bear or wild cat urine to spray around plants to keep animals away.

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I'm not sure I'd want to live with the smell of that either. Might be useful in a big real garden, but these are all small beds and pots on a deck, unfortunately. That's partially why I haven't tried using vinegar either.

Thank you for the advice, though - might come in handy one day.

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i started to read this article and thought of you:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1516&e=2&u=/afp/20040910/od_afp/netherlands_farm_offbeat_040910144153

also - i remembered that my auntie used to waterdown dishsoap and spritz that on her flowers to keep things away ...

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When your comment arrived, I flagged it in my email as something important to respond to, and then entirely forgot to read the article and respond to it. Your comment to my other post today reminded me. Thank you for sending it!

Tabasco sounds like a sensible solution. Someone else suggested cayenne pepper. Dishsoap spritzer also sounds feasible. All three would smell much better than mothballs, vinegar, or wild boar urine, all of which have also been suggested. I think I'll go put spicy things on my garden today, especially since my one success this summer - the morning glory - is looking severely battered around the middle from racoon traffic.

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S. Worthen | Weblog

Rose bush

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so saaaaaaaaaaad!

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Vandal coons

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repellents?

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October