Grow Your Own Magazine

Has anyone actually seen them doing it? I've found onion sets and garlic pulled out of the ground, and been told it was birds.
However, this year I've sown sets in cell trays, and guess what ... some of them push themselves up out of the cells ! themselves! There's def.no blackbirds in me kitchen.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

That's deep, really deep! Who started this conspiracy of misinformation? 'S got to be the government ...

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Cheers

T-lady

I've had lots of other bulbs - flower types - which are dug up overnight and put this down to desperately hungry badgers and possibly foxes - we live cheek by jowl alongside a rural patch here - so we expect this.

The reason that birds pull up onion sets and shallots is they see a bit of the old onion top sticking up out of the ground is they see it as nest building material it is that time of the year .
I acept that onions and shallots push up out of the ground but they do not jump about 2 inches side ways that is the birds. jacob

i gave my friend some onion sets last year and a squirrel kept pulling them up. he was guessing for ages what it could be and then one morning he saw the squirrel in action, have you got squirrels near you two sheds?

My bird pulls up an onion whenever she makes a nice spag bol.

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Resistance is fertile

I've had Blackbirds, pigeons and crows interfering with my onions....and my squash's.

Sods.

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I wish i could make a yo-yo work.
http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

Someone had to say it....

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I'd rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion.

http://hollandsroadparadise.blogspot.com
updated 14 May 2008

www.bradleyroundtwo.blogspot.com

Iv got a crow with his eye on my seedlings.Iv got them in the front and the cheeky begger keeps running up the pontoon for a peek.i have to shut the front up when i go out or he will be in and have them.oh i hate crows he attacks my cats too.

My mum raised a crow from a chick she rescued on a busy road. She fed him dog food by the teaspoon every 3 hours, night and day.

As soon as he was old enough, he repaid her by affectionately trying to put dog food in her ear. Once he was grown up and had got the hang of flying he circled round the garden three times, making a lot of noise, and then he flew away.

Do you by any chance have a cat?

To answer the question though, I disturbed a colard dove pulling my onions out a couple of years ago. The bird took off in a hurry and flew into a fence post. The up side is, it won't do it again. The down side was it took ages to cook.

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it and if you ain't going to eat it, don't kill it

How do I catch me a crow? I want one

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

I've seen them do it Two Sheds. My blackbird pal is a devil for it.

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Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com

Updated November 17th - The Big Dig

Don't seem to have a problem with birds on my plot. There are lots of pigeons and crows, but they seem to be happier eating the seeds I left out for the small birds.

Steven

I can send you a design for a crow trap !

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Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

Blog updated Wednesday November 13th

When i was growing in my garden there was a blackie that used to pull out my sets, but no such problems in my field - maybe the sheer quantity confuses them !!!!

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Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

Blog updated Wednesday November 13th

The tops of my newly planted onions dont show above ground to be pulled up by anything .... are they too deep?? Or are they just safe!!

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Life may not be the party we hoped for but since we're here we might as well dance

Some people say that you should plant them with tops just showing but I know that the commercial growers plant them so that the tops are covered over as this means they can spray for weeds immediately after planting without the herbicide affecting the growing tips

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Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

Blog updated Wednesday November 13th

O bums! Mine are about an inch deep - I'm sure thats what the packet said. Same for my shallots ... oh well, I'll call it an experiment

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Life may not be the party we hoped for but since we're here we might as well dance

Once in a while, the black bird pulled my bulbs out too (be it narcissus, onion,garlic,croccus or tulip). They seems to be looking for worms hiding between the roots. Last December, they pulled out my onion bulbs and the bulbs were laying on the ground for several days and get frosted .

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I grow, I pick, I eat ...

I was right! Onion sets do push themselves out of the soil ! I've just heard Chris Beardshaw talking about it on Gardeners Question Time. Listen again here: BBC - Radio 4 - Gardeners' Question Time - Homepage

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

Just to add my twopenneth.
I planted my autumn sets on Monday down the lottie. 6 rows under net and 4 in the open. Guess what, 6 sets pulled up and moved several inches. 3 from under the net and 3 from the open!! I am putting it down to mice or similar squeeky varmints. I reckon they pull them up to eat but realise they dont like onion, cos they`re not at all chewed!

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A bad days fishing is still better than a good day at work!
There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

ive netted my onions and they the odd one still get pulled up i think its mice.