What animal is digging up my holes

some critter is digging up my holes but they dont seem to be touching the plants but since the plants end up out of the holes they end up dying from being dried out by the sun. I usually get my holes dug and put my Pro Mix, time released fertilizer and crystals in and let it sit for at least a few days and let the critters investigate the holes before planting so the plants dont get dug up. I just lost 60 plants from being dug up, if i new which critter is digging up the holes then i could put a repelent just for that animal
thanks for any info
Joe

Racoon, Skunk, porcupine, Fox, Could be any thing use chicken wire.

Could also be chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, ground hogs, moles, voles or mice. Who knows? Have you seen anything? Set a night vision camera to see what it is. I did this to catch rabbits destroying my gardens. Once I knew what it was, I knew how to trap them.

Could even be a dog.

i would say, skunk, racoon, or fox, they love to dig, and are very curious with a tendency to scavenge if they find something odd buried under fresh soil, you have to remember, foxes and such bury what they can't eat so other animals wont smell it as easy and they can come back and eat it later, and i bet the other animals have learned over time, freshly dug holes could mean food underneath.

You should almost ALWAYS use a fence, 60 plants is a hell of a lot of herb to lose, gotta figure you could have lost up to 7 pounds because you didn't buy 60 bucks worth of chicken wire, well ya live ya learn right? i went through the same problems back in my early years. hope you still have some left, also another good idea, specially if your spending all the money for pro mix, would be to dig the holes in the fall for the next year, or early march, so the animals can dig all they want and get used to the new smells before your babies are out.

Snapers and other turtles are laying their egg right now too.
They love louse soil for their eggs..
Lots of animals to worry about in nature best to us a fence.

Is it perhaps some kind of ingredient in the soil or fertilizer they smell? I've noticed a lot of organic nutes contain some kind of fish material.

I understand the difference chicken wire can make. But I will also be trying to avoid detection and a few plants are not too conspicuous along but if I surround them with wire fence, they are.

yeah good point shaman! and i bet the coons and such are used to digging up fresh soil to try and find those eggs as well, they could very well think your plots are underground turtle nests, my outdoor mushroom plot got scraped and dug up several times, lucily i wasn't really expecting to get any mushrooms from it anyway.

thanks for the replys, i should have known better and let the holes sit at least a week before putting any plants in. I have noticed that the critters always show up the night you dig your holes so now this time i'm letting my holes sit for a bit before i put any plants in
Joe

stayout all night with a spot light and rifle and shoot the f*+ckers or you can get those animal repellent pellets. but if you stay in canada you're better just growing in basement and guarenteing getting a crop man !! thats my opinion

i threw my knife at a frog, lol he wasn't hurting my plants i was just bored, i felt really bad after though...

Beaner said:

i threw my knife at a frog, lol he wasn't hurting my plants i was just bored, i felt really bad after though...

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Hey BEANER I will let you in on a little secret..
I fear frogs/toads... So I.O.U. some + rep.. I kill every one I pass...

SHAMAN said:

Hey BEANER I will let you in on a little secret..
I fear frogs/toads... So I.O.U. some + rep.. I kill every one I pass...

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ROFL, thats a good idea to leave the soil there b4 u plant

the widowman said:

stayout all night with a spot light and rifle and shoot the f*+ckers or you can get those animal repellent pellets.

Click to expand...

What are these pellets, do they affect soil and plants, and where can I get more info?

SHAMAN said:

I kill every one I pass...

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Do they hurt plants?

I just don't like those little F*CkER'S.
Always hopping out of no where...

When I was little I seen my Cuz eat one just to freak me out, And since then they discust me..

how come no one else recomends urine for pests. it works on all wild animals just pee around your crop every visit. worked for me every year. including this year.. c my babies!!!

if you piss near your plants too close to the whitetail rut (harvest time) you'll return to find your plants in taters!

a couple hours after you piss the smell is no longer uniquely human and the older bucks will go crazy trying to remove the "mark" of a stranger....




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must be the hair i leave around here then.