Begonias and Rodents

Identification

• Rodents searching in the landscape for food are highly attracted to bulbs such as begonia. Fern Marshall Bradley and Barbara W. Ellis in "Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening" (1993) cite rodents as the worst problem faced by bulbs.

Damage

• Rodents dig underground tunnels to get begonia bulbs. The pests leave behind half-eaten bulbs. Damaged bulbs and remnants of bulbs are often a clear sign that you have rodent problems.

Management

• You can protect your bulbs from rodents by planting them in baskets constructed with 1/4-inch wire mesh. Another way to keep rodents out is to interplant the bulbs with ground covers that have fibrous roots, like cotoneaster or juniper. The pests don't like to eat through the roots, so they stay away from the bulbs.