Something is attacking my Blueberry Bush!

[WiZeR]

Hi all

I got home yesterday to find my Blueberry Bush had been attacked. It is sitting in a large pot on the deck and the following has happened.



Aggghhh! So I picked up all the soil and put it back in, then moved the pot to a different position. This morning the beast had been back and kindly removed all the soil again.

So? What is it? Fox? and more curiously, Why is it digging in only that pot? I have lots of other pots it is ignoring, including the potatoes.

hmmmm

[Peter]

WiZeR, I do not know the answer, but I have had similar with a trough I planted Garlic bulbils (seed from flowerhead) in.
I suspect mine is a bird after worms/slug/bug or a mouse/rat investigating on spec.I do not think it would be a fox as we have high fence/hedge and a dog.

Rodents tend to follow edges, so from your picture I would definitely check for rats/mice as being against both house and fence there could be a run there.

Try un-potting the bush, gently shaking or washing the soil off and seeing what's hiding in it that may attract ???, then repot with fresh compost.

[Tigs33]

It could be blackbirds, they do this to one of my borders in my garden (it has got bark chips on it), it is amazing how much soil they can move when they get going

[WiZeR]

thanks, it's weird that whatever it is gets to a point then stops without damaging the plant.

[eskymo]

get some wire mesh and bend it over the top of the pot to keep beasties out - it might be squirrels.

[SueA]

I agree with Eskymo that it could be a squirrel looking for it's 'stash'. Or maybe a cat trying to use the pot as a toilet? You've not found any unusual 'manure' in it have you? Try sticking lot's of small sticks around the plant or the chicken wire/ netting wrapped around the surface.

[dwrudd]

I have had this type of crime several times and it turned out to be a fox!

I made a sand trap next to the container to get some paw prints first, then stayed up one night to catch the blighter on film. Way too quick for me but after that, I put pepper into the container and hey presto, it dug my bed up instead, doh!

Darren

[WiZeR]

thanks, i'm prety certain it is foxes now. I have put some wood over the pot as a temporary measure and it seems to be working

[andrewo]

Its cats, they do this, have had this problem before.

[Alice]

Back birds do this kind of thing. Put some kind of lid over the container and it will stop whatever it is. If you really want to know who does it ,sprinkle some sand or compost around the container and watch for foot prints. Let's know.

[leona]

i had a fox poo on my onions today and pull one up. how rude!

[SamanthaB]

Exactly the same thing has happened to my blueberry bushes, so I sat & waited & the culprit in my case was a blackbird! Each time I put the soil back he does it again!

Incidentally I was told that if you don't have erricasious (?) soil to plant blueberries in put used teabags on the top of the soil. Blackbirds can throw teabags quite some distance!

[WiZeR]

i'd be suprised if my intruder is a blackbird. I put rocks around the base of the plant and 3 days ago whatever it is had been back and the rocks were no longer in the pot! I'll have to setup a camera to catch it. I still think its a fox. Blueberry roots must have a very pungent scent.

[janie]

I would love to see a blackbird flinging teabags,

[blossom]

Squirells dig in my pots. Bulbs go missing, they dug up all my sring onions, and they plant peanuts for me. Bless