Gardening is a lovely hobby that many of us engage in. This may be a fun thing to do, but it’s a lot of work and needs time and patience to see good results. But once your flowers start to bloom, you’ll realize that it was worth the wait.
Flowers in your garden may be beautiful but these plants will attract animals and insects, not only humans. So how about raccoons? Do raccoons eat petunias? This article looks into it.
Raccoons do eat petunias if they need to, these animals are omnivores, they eat both plant and animal matter, petunias included. If the animal does not eat your petunias it may dig in your garden looking for grubs, this can affect your plant beds
Table of Contents
Do raccoons eat petunias?
Raccoons are opportunistic feeders, these animals eat both plant and animal matter. Their teeth allow them to both grind plant matter as well as tear animal matter.
Raccoons will not only eat from your trash, but they will eat out of your garden as well.
Raccoons can eat petunias if they get the chance.
Reasons why raccoons love petunias:
These animals will raid your garden looking for food, they won’t think twice about eating petunias. Petunias have a slightly spicy and slightly sweet taste, raccoons love this taste, they enjoy eating sweet foods
Another reason why raccoons will enjoy eating petunias is that the flower does not need to be chased and caught like live prey does. Raccoons like to conserve energy, thus, they will usually eat the food that needs the least energy to catch.
How racoons get to petunias:
These animals are intelligent and determined. They will run, jump and swim to food if they need to.
If a raccoon wants to eat a petunia in your garden, it simply needs to enter your garden, make its way to the flower, pick it and eat it. They use their dexterous human-like hands to grab the flower
If the raccoon does not eat your petunias, it will still damage your garden as it digs up your lawn and garden in search of insects like grubs and worms to feed on.
These animals will dig through your garden and can even disturb the flower beds in the process
What is eating my petunias at night?
Flowers like petunias are an important food source for a variety of animals. Because of this, a variety of animals have become a problem for gardeners. Animals that may be eating your petunias at night are:
Rabbits:
These animals will eat at your petunias at night. Rabbits are not nocturnal, they are crepuscular meaning they are up between dusk and dawn, but they will eat at your petunias when you’re not around in the late night and early morning.
Deer:
Deer are common garden flower eaters, regardless of the type of deer it is, whether it’s a mule deer, a white-tailed deer, or any other deer, these animals will happily take large bites out of your petunias.
Deer are crepuscular animals just as rabbits are, they will eat petunias between dusk and dawn. Although this plant is not the animals favorite plant, the deer will eat this flower if it is hungry
Budworms:
Budworms, like petunia budworms, will eat at your petunias at night. The signs of these insects eating your plants will be jagged edges and or holes on your petunias.
Variegated cutworms:
These insects will also feed on your petunias, just as budworms will. They will eat at the plant creating jagged edges on the flowers. Both the variegated cutworm and the budworm will eat petunia buds and leaves
Caterpillars:
These insects are known to eat flowers and plants in your garden, they are not above eating petunias and will eat them if they can get to them.
If you have many caterpillars living in your garden they can defoliate your petunia plants if left unchecked
Snails:
These slow-moving creatures can create issues in your garden and can eat petunias as well.
Snails will chew right through your petunias creating holes in the plants. Thankfully, these insects can be removed using snail bait
Other animals:
Other animals that eat petunias include chickens, mice, and squirrels
Conclusion
In conclusion, yes raccoons can eat petunias.
Raccoons enjoy eating plants because they are easy to eat when compared to finding and catching live prey.
Other animals that eat petunias include rabbits, deer, budworms, variegated cutworms, caterpillars, snails, chickens, mice, and squirrels
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other raccoon related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Do raccoons eat other animals?, Do raccoons eat peaches?, Do raccoons eat peanuts?