tulip problem (half-chewed-through, falling over)

[patandchickens]

I am *not* a tulip person. Just not my thing. However I do have some botanical tulips that I like okay. The one that's flowered so far has been fine, and another that will flower soon seems fine too. However, about 6 feet away I have a newly planted (last fall) patch of T. "Purissima". Each bulb has several leaves up and the bud just getting ready to come up above the leaves.

Several of them over the last few days I've found flopped over sideways onto the ground. On closer inspection, the base of the stem appears to have been chewed about 1/3-1/2 way through, just at or slightly below ground level where it is still whitish. Causing it to lie down. Every day, a new one is affected.

Does this ring a bell with any of you with more tulip experience? Would a vole chew just *part*way through? Do cutworms go after tulips?? Is it possible I just planted them too shallowly and they are mechanically toppling over and the damage I see is post-topple? Or any other recognizeable cause?

I am not overly stressed about this, since it's their first year anyhow and it is not like I am so deeply attached to tulips in general, but still I would like to identify the problem if possible in case it can be avoided in future.

Thanks,

Pat

 

[Buff Shallots]

I do know that tulips are deer food (found out the hard way when I planted a dozen beautiful ones on my mom's grave in upstate NY). But they usually eat the whole thing.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

My guess is slugs. Classic symptoms. Little buggers.

Just for the record, I'm not a tulip person either.

 

[patandchickens]

Oh, good idea!! Slugs are a definite possibility, yeah. Doh! Thank you !! I think I will pull back the mulch some more and see if that helps.

Pat

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Yeah, you might want to do early morning slug hunts too!

We have so many slugs, I'm used to seeing that kind of damage. I don't know if you get slugs as bad as we do, but apparently they really like tulips (mostly just the flowers of course).

 

[grnthumbvt]

I dont know if it would hurt the tulips, but if its slugs, they hate salt. Mabye throw some salt around the tulips and see if it deters them?

 

[aquarose]

A circle of DE around a plant is supposed to kill or at least repel slugs that try to cross it.

 

[patandchickens]

greenthumbvt, salt is very hard on almost all plants -- it would deter the tulips more than the slugs

Yeah, you might want to do early morning slug hunts too!

LOL - we're in a cold snap right now; last night it got down to about 28 F, I could have picked up little slugsicles if I coulda found them

I don't usually have slug problems - they're around, but not a problem, because I don't normally water the garden so things are typically discouragingly dry for them. What we have is earwigs and grasshoppers!

I think my problem with the tulips - and while I have not seen a slug, I am convinced you are right - is that they're planted in afternoon shade, out of the wind, in an area with lots of organic material dug in, and a pretty heavy shredded-bark mulch (because not much else is planted there as yet, and I'd like to discourage weeds).

I think when the tulip foliage dies back I will just move them to somewhere that is drier and airier this time of year, and replace them with daffodils.

Thanks!

Pat

 

[whatnow?]

Several of them over the last few days I've found flopped over sideways onto the ground. On closer inspection, the base of the stem appears to have been chewed about 1/3-1/2 way through, just at or slightly below ground level where it is still whitish. Causing it to lie down. Every day, a new one is affected.

After bragging that the deer haven't eaten any of my tulips (for the first year since they were planted in 1999,) I came home to this:

At first I thought I had been jinxed, but this one is broken off much higher up:

I think it was just a leaner that filled with rain until it couldn't stand it anymore.

 

[Gail]

I am *not* a tulip person. Just not my thing. However I do have some botanical tulips that I like okay. The one that's flowered so far has been fine, and another that will flower soon seems fine too. However, about 6 feet away I have a newly planted (last fall) patch of T. "Purissima". Each bulb has several leaves up and the bud just getting ready to come up above the leaves.

Several of them over the last few days I've found flopped over sideways onto the ground. On closer inspection, the base of the stem appears to have been chewed about 1/3-1/2 way through, just at or slightly below ground level where it is still whitish. Causing it to lie down. Every day, a new one is affected.

Does this ring a bell with any of you with more tulip experience? Would a vole chew just *part*way through? Do cutworms go after tulips?? Is it possible I just planted them too shallowly and they are mechanically toppling over and the damage I see is post-topple? Or any other recognizeable cause?

I am not overly stressed about this, since it's their first year anyhow and it is not like I am so deeply attached to tulips in general, but still I would like to identify the problem if possible in case it can be avoided in future.

Thanks,

Pat

Yes. Cutworms do chew tulips. My tulips are about 6 inches high, with buds starting. I discovered two HUGE cutworms lodged in the middle of the leaves, which were forming a funnel shape, next to the bud stem. They had chewed a large hole in the bud and also chewed many holes in the leaves.

I pried them out of the leaves with a thin skewer and discarded the cutworms. I am now on the lookout for more.