On another forum, a participant complained that he has squirrels that pull over (his words) his lilies, sometimes breaking the stems, to eat the lily buds.

Anyone heard of or experienced this?

Nope, my experience is that it's rabbits gnawing on the stem until it becomes weak and falls over.

No- possums and rats,-yes,.,.i can sympethise

I have not seen squirrils eat lilies like that but I have seen them eat tulip buds.
I think the rabbit theory is closer to possible.

I raise you a family of skunks and a possum.

Ugg, we've had to resort to trapping possums too, but at least we don't have skunks.

And lions & tigers & bears! OH MY!

Gosh, Rick, I don't see it. We have tons and tons of squirrels and no damage to the lily buds.

I kinda figured as much. Squirrels just don't eat vegetation here either. This is not the most incredulous claim that this particular gentleman has made, but there has been some real doozies.

I have never had lilies growing above ground yet, so take this with a grain of salt, but I do have *lots* of experience with squirrels in my urban area. They are by far one of the most persistent and destructive pests I have ever seen. I can easily imagine squirrels climbing/jumping up the lily stems to get to the buds, with the subsequent weight of the squirrel bending the lily stems and possibly even snapping the weaker or thinner ones. City squirrels tend to be much heavier than normal squirrels.

In my experience, squirrels LOVE flower buds. I have personally witnessed them chewing off unopened and developing buds on portulaca, dahlias, tulips, gladioli and many others. Basically any plant with a thicker, fleshier flower bud, no matter how large or small. One of the theories I have read is that the squirrels may actually be looking for moisture rather than an actual food source, but I suspect they do it only to frustrate the resident gardener. They are evil little buggers.

Thank you, Corey! No one on the other forum had ever heard of this either, but I am glad someone has now!

Here, squirrels will bite into and strip the bark of tree twigs, maples especially, supposedly for the moisture content.

Soooooo!!! I wont cry when I see them napping in the middle of the road?

The squirrels in my yard eat most of my magnolia buds during the winter, though I haven't seen any squirrels dig up bulbs they have planted hundreds of walnut trees and peanuts in my garden. Rabbits are the biggest culprits for eating my lilies.

OK, have to ask. Why is your name on here Bearsearch? Pictures? Hunting? Once when I was a kid my father and brother shot a bear in the Adirondacks, and I recall seeing the inches of fat when they cut it up.

My name is Brian, bearsearch is just a nickname a friend gave me a long time ago and it just stuck. It's easier than coming up with a new name all the time.

Yes! I watched a squirrel pull off the bud and eat it like it was some kind of nut.
How do you keep them away?
Here's a pic of the result - empty stem to the right of the other buds:

hi
i have had three tiger lily buds destroyed
fortunately we have cameras around the house that record. I was amazed to see squirrel jump bold as brass onto my patio and on a large pot. He then bent the lily over and one by one removed and appeared to eat the buds. It was exactly as the first gut described. He then seemed to go for my sweet peas and bit them off at the base. He also pulled out one of my begonias. You wait until I get him.

There were several bulbs of L. henryi citrinum 'Ypsilanti' donated by MRLS to Dow Gardens here in Midland. These have multiplied and formed a large clump with stems reaching 8' tall. When you visit the clump near bloom time there are usually only a few buds on the giant stems as the red squirrels bite all the buds off. They seem to be particularly drawn to this cultivar as there are other varieties in the area that are completely left alone.