Something is eating my holly bush! (tomatoes, yard, leaves, plants)

[Srib]

I planted a china girl holly last summer so it is still a small shrub - only about 2 feetshigh. Something has been burrowing just under my mulch and has completely stripped one side of it down to just stubs! I can't find anything on line that tells me what it could be. I thought maybe rabbits, but the trails it leaves are only a few inches wide so i think it must be something smaller? Any thoughts? Thanks!

[RoaminRed]

Gopher. They'll eat roots and such.

[Srib]

I thought gophers burrowed deeper though? this appears to be on the surface just under the mulch? I should also say that I am in CT and the eating seems to be happening in the overnight hours??

[crazywomen2]

Originally Posted by Srib

I planted a china girl holly last summer so it is still a small shrub - only about 2 feetshigh. Something has been burrowing just under my mulch and has completely stripped one side of it down to just stubs! I can't find anything on line that tells me what it could be. I thought maybe rabbits, but the trails it leaves are only a few inches wide so i think it must be something smaller? Any thoughts? Thanks!

I have been having the same trouble with my holly bush. Have you found out what causes it .

[Janecj]

Maybe voles. I have planted several plants and they all just kinda died.. couldn't figure it out until I was going to remove it, and there were no roots! They ate it all. They look like moles and have tunnels, but they like to eat roots. Don't know if they actually come up and eat the outside of the plant though. That may be different.

[Art123]

It's most likely voles or moles. They feed on grubs, but can also damage your plants. For a long-term solution, Milky Spore is the best solution as it'll rid your yard of the grubs. But you also need something short-term to get the voles that are currently there. There are a lot of animal repellents out there, but you should should look into ones specifically made for moles and voles.

[Mark_Kluzek]

My tomatoes and other plants were being eaten by the roots. I found out it was gophers. Sweeney's poison peanuts and mole traps and mouse traps do NOT work. I got one by flooding the hole with a hose and my dog got it. The second one I got with Victor's Black Box Gopher trap (Website Victorpest.com). This thing is more humane than poison I think because death is quick. I love animals but this thing was eating a plant everyother day or so. While I tried the poison for 2 weeks it did not stop them. They are brown creatures about 5 inches long and 2 inches wide. Chicken wire doubled will not stop them! I was so happy to find a cure I wanted to share it. Mark the gardner in the East Mountains of New Mexico.

[JQ Public]

A vole just did the same thing to my Shagbark Hickory sapling

[no kudzu]

I've tried milky spore for grub and mole control but unless all your neighbors do the same thing it really doesn't seem to make any difference. Moles make little tunnels which are easily identifiable when you walk your property. you will feel mushy places and can stomp them (tunnels) down. Traps have worked for me. I once watched as something, prolly a mole ate the roots of a plant and actually tried to pull the plant down into the hole with him. I was furious and sliced at the tunnel with my shovel hoping I would slice him int wo. not sure it i got him but it helped my agressive temperment.