What is chewing up my geranium stems?

[morrisb]

What is eating my geraniums at the stem? I’ve had infestations that have eaten the leaves and treated, but this morning found a few branches eaten right through and this at the centre. I’ve never known anything go for stems before?

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @morrisb. It's fabulous to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about what's eating your geraniums.

My money is on a gnawing animal like a mouse, rat, possum or potentially a rabbit. However, although I've come across anecdotal evidence of rats chewing geranium stems, these types of animals typically look to consume buds, flowers, and possibly leaves. I suspect it might have been a rat chewing randomly, looking for dinner in the wrong place.

Let me mention our couple of our gardening experts @Noelle and @mich1972 to see if they have any thoughts.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[Noelle]

Hi @morrisb 

I suspect @MitchellMc is right, having suffered similar damage on geraniums myself!  We discovered, after a neighbor moved house and took his chooks (and their abundant feed pellets) with him, that we had a minor rat plague. This type of damage had been observed on geraniums and other shrubs but it was only when a couple of dead very large ratties were found on our lawn (killed by local cats) that we identified the chewing culprits. We also found rat damage on a lime tree, where they had chewed through the bark on a few branches, which subsequently died.

It's take many months and more than a bucket or three of rat baits to finally (we hope) eradicate them!