Mystery of the missing rose buds.

[Raymond Fries]

My wife has a large blue rose bush on our patio. A couple of days ago every single bud disappeared and not a leaf was damaged. Every stem that had a unopened bud was cut at a 45 degree angle.

Any ideas on an animal that would do this? We cannot imagine that a person would do this. It is very strange.

RoseBuds.jpg

[Val Kosmider]

Deer...although when my Asian lilies were "cut' off at a 45 degree angle, I think the neighbor said it was most certainly rabbits.
(A quick check of the Interweb says rose buds are like candy to deer).

[Kevin Godshall]

+1 on deer. They eat the stuff right up next to the house. This is what you need: http://shop.messinawildlife.com/prod...oz-concentrate Check Amazon. Works wonders. I spray it about 1x per week or so, and no more deer problems.

[Matt Meiser]

The roses we had something ate every last leaf. Gone. I'd imagine they are dead now as a result.

[Lee Schierer]

It was likely a rabbit. deer_rabbit_browse_57402_7.jpg

[Bruce Page]

Monsanto?

[paul cottingham]

Monsanto?

Great. Now my wife is peeved at me cause I sprayed coffee everywhere. Why does this keep happening?
:-)

[Mel Fulks]

The product called Tree Guard stops squirrels and deer. It has the "worlds most bitter substance", not a poison. It is expensive but if you want to spray it you need to thin it down. It does seem to wash off with rain. Been meaning to buy some "spreader sticker" which is an additive which makes it more resistant to water and is available at better garden suppliers.

[Raymond Fries]

Hmmm - deer you say. Could be as there is a woods in the back of our sub-division.

LOL @ Monsanto. Good One..

We have lost many flowers, sand cherries, & others to rabbits as well. They are everywhere.

Thanks for the chemical tips.

[ray hampton]

how tall are your roses , rabbits are about 1 foot tall when they are standing on their hind feet

[Raymond Fries]

The picture in the original post shows stems that are about 33" from the ground. The rose is planted in a 20" diameter pot.

[Kevin Godshall]

Try the Messina Deer Stopper. It has a surfactant so it stays on even during rain.

I live in the woods with deer all over me. If I don't do anything, they eat my roses, lilacs, rhododendrons, hostas, apple/peach trees, grapes........ even in the winter they eat my cedar arborvitae and spruce trees.

My brother uses it with the ribbon fence around his food plots. When he doesn't want deer feeding in one (letting it grow), he puts up the ribbon and sprays it. He shows people Google Maps shots of his property, and you can see where the deer have eaten the plot to bare ground in one spot, and right next to it, where he used the Deer Stopper fence, it is lush green and untouched.

Since I started spraying the deer stopper, they haven't touched a thing. This is my 3rd year using it. Wouldn't use anything else.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

I've heard multiple times over the years that one solution is to spread dog hair around so that leaves the scent of dog. The suggestion is to go to a dog groomer and pick up a bundle of hair. I don't know if this works or not, but the last few places we have lived that had deer ... they stopped coming around the house and that may be because we have dogs. We are currently in a rental and have several deer and their babies in the back pasture for the last few years. I rarely take the dogs into that pasture except for when inspecting the perimeter fence. We see the deer hop the fencing to go into the front and middle pastures, but they do not come up to the house where there are fruit trees, roses and other tasty plants. Once again, my guess is that is because the dogs have much more scent around the house instead of the front & middle pastures where they sometimes hang out while we are doing chores.