Hundreds of missing bulbs
Dinah
Posts: 294
I'm writing this on behalf of my mother, so please excuse my crossness and consternation on her part! 
Something has caused my Mother's bulbs to disappear over a two year period. They started vanishing last year, all her Rippling Waters daffodils, miniature daffodils, poet's daffodils. and various tulips. This was followed this year by the disappearance of hundreds of snowdrops, winter aconites and more. She rarely sees squirrels in the area, and the dog is half terrier, so would get very excited if there were lots of rats and mice. She does live next to a garden that can reasonably be called a wildlife sanctuary, consisting of a huge bramble patch which is inhabited by foxes (who keep the rats and mice down) and badgers. I suspected the badgers straight away, but she says that there has been no sign of significantly disturbed earth - something she would have noticed while walking the dog. The garden is on a slope, the soil is sandy with some lime deposits, but it is very fertile from decades of cultivation. No bulbs disappeared prior to these happenings.Whatever THING is taking/eating them leaves without a trace of bulb or root or stalk, and must level the soil afterwards in order not to be noticed.
My mother is very upset about the loss of her spring garden, and wonders if anyone has any advice, firstly about what might be happening, and secondly how to stop it happening. We would be particularly interested in reading about methods of stopping bulbs being eaten/stolen in some way, but any advice would be very, very welcome.
Posts
At what stage do the bulbs disappear - when they first come through or when they flower? Or do they disappear even before that?
Hogweed - They disappeared in some cases many years after planting and flowering happily, in some one year after flowering and some in their second year after flowering. They simply haven't appeared again - all except one sad little clump of snowdrops that is situated amidst the roots of a conifer tree.
Pansyface - Thank you for the link, I will check out the eelworm and rot. Yes, there were new daffodils planted three years ago, before the problem started. They came up perfectly well the first spring, but I suppose something could have been brought in with them. I will check.
I don't find spring bulbs particularly long lasting. I normally plant miniature daffs, snow drops and tulips Every second year . Considerimg I've been in my house almost 20 years I should be awash in them but I'm not. Tulips def are not long lasting if you don't lift them but even snowdrops which I plant by the hundred in the green don't come up all that well
Some bulbs have been here for years and increase. Snowdrops and 2 narcissi, February Gold and Jetfire,
Plus Tete a tete iwhich is no longer multiuheaded but still multiplies Otherwise, like Hogweed, I should be awash but I'm not
In the sticks near Peterborough
I do agree with Hogweed, I do not find spring bulbs long lasting. I suspect the hybridising that has occurred over the years has reduced the life span - I too replace daffodils, irises and just about all the little bulls every few years - which means some type every year. The only ones that come back regularly are the snowdrops, and I think the birds resow those each year.
There are one or two old daffs and tulips that do return, just 2 or 3, but the rest just go.
One year, when starting big new beds in our garden in Belgium I planted 300 tulips. 5 came up and continued to appear but look very weedy ever since.
I always plant daffodils much deeper than it says on the tin and find that they are far more reliable so had glorious clumps of Ice Follies, Tête-à-Tête and Minnow but fancier hybrids struggled. I eventually had success with botanical tulips, also planted deep, in the sunnier and better drained parts of the garden.
Snowdrops multiplied happily and species crocus too but everything else was a struggle.
It remains to be seen how I get on in this new garden which will be a lot hotter and drier in summer but never as frozen or sodden in winter.
Many thanks for all the thoughtful responses. We have been investigating the problem online, but also, (inspired by Pansyface - thank you again!)
we have looked for anything that might have heightened the possibility of rot in the past few years.
Astonishingly, we found out yesterday that the disappearance of my mother's bulbs could be the result of a new housing estate being built just above my mother's house on the high ridge where she lives. This came to light when she called the water authority to investigate a different problem, a very worrying noise of gushing water, which she had assumed was a broken pipe. An investigative engineer came out, and advised that it sounded more like a gushing stream.
The probable source of this new stream seems likely to be inadequate drainage provided for the new estate, the water having found a new course, rushing away on the outside of the existent pipework. This new stream is, according to the engineer, either passing very close by my mother's foundations, or under her house, possibly emerging and gathering on the other side, in her previously well drained garden! We are quite stunned. According to the engineer, the problem(s) caused, which may involve structural repairs, can be solved once the entire road has been closed, taken up, and a new and adequate system installed 
My advice to anyone who has something big and unexpected happen in their garden is not to ignore it, but to look out for changes in the nearby landscape in case there is a causal link!!!
I recounted all your suggestions to my mother, and she wants me to pass on her thanks to all for sharing your valuable experience and information
Thank you Pansyface, I think we will need good luck.
goodness, good luck with that one, hope it is dealt with quickly and efficiently.