=( garden rose bud eaters

[Miranda]

Can any of you tell me what wildlife potentially might enjoy eating rose buds off bushes right before they open to bloom?

*big sigh* OK...

Last summer this time, I had to put down my beautiful yellow lab. Part of the grief healing I planted my first ever rose bush. My lab's crematory ashes were under the bush.

WELL... my very cute, but omg SO sassy and different personality new lab pup decided to eat the bush this winter! PLUS, she almost dug the whole thing up... which included the ashes of my other beloved dog!

I thought the bush was a goner. However, it grew and was JUST ABOUT TO BLOOM... when the buds came up MIA. I'm thinking it's the new dog. However...

I *think* I have heard of things like racoons eating rose buds? Our yard is fenced. It's not a deer. What else?

The bush is so pretty too in bloom *another big sigh*.

Btw...
Here is the bush when it got a chance to bloom...



OH... here is the doggie too cute to strangle...

[snapdragen]

Do you have deer?

[OakLeaf]

Our yard is fenced. It's not a deer.

Do you think it's not deer because your yard is fenced? It takes at least an 8 foot high fence to keep deer out. I know this from personal experience in addition to it's what I've always read... I let mine sag to 7-1/2' in some low spots and they came right over and ate my beans.

Sometimes birds will peck at flower and leaf buds, but I would think roses would be sturdy enough to hold up to that.

[Biciclista]

we need to know where you live. different locales have different pests.
Alaska has moose
Florida has alligators.
etc
city/country

[Trekhawk]

Here in Aust parrots like to eat them. I love birds but I do shoo them when I see them starting to munch down on my rose buds.

[bacarver]

Is the new Lab puppy the culprit? I had a flat-coated retriever years ago that had a thing for tulips. One summer before she was a year old, she bit off every last one of our numerous tulips. She had the same technique with each one. She would approach, turn her head, sink her teeth into the stem just below the flower, rip the flower off, drop it, and go to the next. She only did this one year and never again after that. What was this dog thinking?! We scrambled to save a few to put in a vase because we knew they would be on the ground the next day.

I have a dog now (golden) that collects turtles. She brings them to us and drops them at our feet. She's not too good at dropping them right side up, but at least she delivers them to us so we can flip them over.

Do your best to save the rose bush. If you can get it through this year, then maybe it will survive.

Good luck.

Barb

[Miranda]

Thx for the response thus far! Locale... midwest. So, no gaitors like FL. And my fence is only 4' high. Hmm. OH... my bird feeders are right there as well.

I asked about the coon cuz there is a large one that loves to eat some of my paste type bird food. Caught him mid night. He's a fatty... enjoying my nice expensive bird food.

Yea.... the doggie did bring the rose bush branch by branch and lay it on the porch stoop during the winter. Like a prize she had found for me.

My only other thought is to put one of those hideous looking wire cage fences up just around the bush. Like a big size you see around tomatoe plants sometimes. I don't know what they make. But, going to feed & garden store this w/e to check it out.

Maybe the extra fence would at least ward off the dog. She will be a year old this month. The breeder told me technically, labs are puppies (& mentality that goes with it) for 2years. Maybe she will be over it by next summer. And btw... any time I see the pup near the bush giving it a sniff I do give the sharp "NO!" command--best I can think of.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Thx for the response thus far! Locale... midwest. So, no gaitors like FL. And my fence is only 4' high. Hmm. OH... my bird feeders are right there as well.

A 4 foot fence will do nothing to keep deer out. Deer love to eat the buds off my tulips.

[Selkie]

You have a retriever and a lovely one at that. She thinks she's doing her job. Get her a bunch of balls and leave them in the yard for her to bring to you. My first golden (rest her sweet soul) destroyed a beautiful big hydrangea during her puppy years.

Can't help you with the rose problem. They are hard keepers and are way beyond my gardening skills. I have heard that there are some plants that discourage deer, so planting something like that near the rose might help. That was a lovely tribute to your sweet angel dog....fingers crossed that you can save the rose.

[andtckrtoo]

Jimmy, my Aussie, had a thing for plant life and especially flowers, as a puppy. He'd nip a flower and run around the yard with it in his mouth like some kind of goofy Casanova. Fortunately, he did out grow it. But, if your buds all disappeared over night, I'll bet a deer or two were the culprits.

[Flybye]

This might sound positively disgusting, and it is, but it might be a solution.
The best way to keep a dog from digging holes is to put their own poop on the hole/in the hole. Logic tells me that if you put some of your cute dog's not so cute poop around the rose bush perimeter you won't have the problem anymore.
This is where the POSITIVELY disgusting part comes in - you don't have to have the poop in solid form - which if it were around the perimeter of the rose bush *might* detract from the beauty of the rose - soooooo...........ewwww................mix it up with some soil and water, spread around perimeter of said rose bush and bingo! Only you and I have to know!
Good luck.

[Tuckervill]

I put dog poop in the holes my dogs dig behind the azaleas. As soon as it decomposes, they get back in there, so I just walk around the house with the scooper and relocate it once a week. Can't see it where they dig.

Karen

[Selkie]

Some dogs eat their own poop. Don't ask how I know this. Putting it around the rose might attract your pooch.

[Biciclista]

the good news is that your dog's poop is good for the roses

[Heifzilla]

My rose buds were disappearing too, and I couldn't figure it out. One day I just happened to look out the window at just the right moment and I caught my English Setter, Guinness, eating them. Mystery solved. So far this year he's left them alone.