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Post by daylilydude on Sept 16, 2017 4:10:38 GMT -5
What do you do so that your vegetable plants don't get eaten by the critters in your area... out of all the critters... deer, raccoon, skunks, groundhogs, squirrels which is your garden nemesis?
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Post by paulf on Sept 16, 2017 4:37:14 GMT -5
My approximately 50'X50' garden is enclosed by a picket fence with a two foot chicken wire fence at the bottom staked down to keep the rabbits out. At the posts , 1"x1"s extend the height so that a black plastic deer fence from the top of the pickets to eight feet on three sides of the garden. The fourth side, facing the house and driveway has tall flowerbed plantings. Other than deer and rabbits there are no critters who invade.
Raccoons are more interested in the bird feeders, squirrels like the acorns from the huge oak trees in the yard, no problem with skunks and ground hogs seem to like the neighbor's yard better. Lately since bobcats have been prowling the area the rabbit population is minimal.
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Post by spike on Sept 16, 2017 7:29:38 GMT -5
1. The neighbors cat. To stop it from using my raised bed as a litter box I had to put up a fence around it.
2. The rabbits. In the way back I planted clover. They seem to all hang out in the clover.
3. The coons. They come in for the corn. They used to go after my Old Uncle's garden next door. But since he passed on I guess they have finally found my garden. So not sure just yet since my garden is on its last legs not that it is almost the end of the season.
4. My dumb dog >,< She keeps stealing my cherry tomatoes and eating them.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Sept 16, 2017 7:39:38 GMT -5
I have heavy fencing around my home garden to keep the rabbits out. In the community garden I let the clover and dandelions grow around the border to try and keep the rabbits from exploring further. It does seem to help, but the other gardeners are not fans of my weeds.
My nemesis are the voles and ground squirrels. The only way I know of to get rid of the ground squirrels is really unpleasant. And the voles... sigh. DS catches some with his mouse traps, but they lose interest.
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Post by spike on Sept 16, 2017 9:14:58 GMT -5
Sorry this made me giggle myself silly. My one Old Uncle would go to war mostly with moles. His choice way of killing them was with bubble gum. My Old Unc became quite the connoisseur of bubble gum. Not sure that it worked BUT at Halloween the kids all loved us because we gave out bubble gum so my Old Uncle could have the left overs to try and feed to moles!
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Post by horsea on Sept 16, 2017 13:24:18 GMT -5
All and sundry somehow make their way into my garden, esp. ground squirrels and regular squirrels. Even a deer will maybe once a year jump over the fence, esp in the winter. No voles this year for some reason.
The latest interloper is giant crows eating the kitchen slops I placed on some of the beds for next year. Placing grass clippings helps. sort of, if I have some on hand.
Snakes - I don't consider an enemy as they eat the mice. They do startle me, though. How about y'all - how do you feel when you see a snake in your garden?
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Sept 17, 2017 11:35:28 GMT -5
This year, bugs (stink bugs and various caterpillars) and diseases have been much more of a scourge than critters. Snakes in the yard sometimes startle me, but I am glad when I do see them. They eat the rodents! I haven't seen them in a while, but earlier this season there were two big black snakes living under the siding on the south side of my house. Also, large non-venomous snakes will keep venomous snakes out of the area, so those big black snakes are doubly good to have. Squirrels are my biggest problem typically, though rats have been really bad in some years. The snakes are going a good job keeping the rats down this year, though. I have a 6' privacy fence around the back yard, but there are places where rabbits can get under it, and I have definitely seen rabbits in the neighborhood. Either the snakes are big enough to eat the bunnies, or they keep them scared off - I just don't see much rabbit damage this year. Every once in a while I have issues with 'possums or racoons, but they are only occasional visitors. My area is pretty built out, and I haven't seen a deer here or anything that looked like deer damage as long as I have lived here. The privacy fence would keep them out of the vegetable garden, anyway. But my front yard is open so if a deer did show up, it could damage the front plantings.
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Post by paulf on Sept 17, 2017 16:04:51 GMT -5
No matter how much my wife screams when she sees a snake and wants me to get rid of it, I let them go. Mice and voles are kept to a minimum because of them. We have huge Black Snakes and a few Milk and Rat Snakes and a handful of Garter Snakes. Very seldom do we see them so there are not many screams.
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Post by paquebot on Sept 17, 2017 20:39:06 GMT -5
Deer were a problem in a community garden but they were easily repelled with my personal concoction. That was half water, half urine, and good dash of Louisiana Supreme Garlic Hot Sauce. When that is used, even sweet potatoes may be grown without fencing.
All smaller animals are welcome. A neighbor's cat is able to take on even a large cottontail and win. #2 coil-spring traps baited with nuts keep the squirrels here long enough for them to remain permanent via the compost tumbler. Live trap has caught cats, coon, possums. skunks, and mink. All are potentially unprocessed blood meal and bone meal.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by horsea on Sept 18, 2017 1:18:26 GMT -5
Enjoying the snake stories!
...though rats have been really bad in some years.
Excuse me!? Rats in the garden? I thought they just hung out in buildings.
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Post by spike on Sept 18, 2017 8:10:02 GMT -5
I actually enjoy seeing the snakes. Never really find them in the garden. They are usually cruising through my yard, terrorizing the dogs. I only get pretty garden snakes so no poisonous ones luckily.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 18, 2017 22:50:53 GMT -5
Squirrels I trap, and I don't let them go, as they may be getting into somebody else's garden, and I'd feel guilty. Rabbits I have been unable to trap (at least on a regular basis), so I cover things, like greens, when I first plant them, and don't uncover until they get so large that I don't miss any nibbling. Plus, I've gotten good with a Wrist Rocket! Seems one rabbit that I've hit several times has a permanent limp, but comes back for more! I guess it's like eating superhot peppers...
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Post by september on Sept 19, 2017 10:24:05 GMT -5
We have deer living in our woods right behind the house, and they often can be seen grazing along the edge of the trees during the day through the kitchen or bedroom windows . At night they come right up to the house and onto the cement pad under our raised deck, nothing is safe. They pay no attention to any smell devices. When they got into the pepper beds, they were as likely to munch on hot peppers as sweet bells. We no longer have a large dog to patrol the grounds, so they have become much bolder since Sally passed away.
I have a 7ft heavy mesh deer fence around my roughly? 40x40 ft front garden, and a lightweight one hung on four shepards hooks around my oval flower bed away from the house. My back garden is probably about the same 40x40 ft size, and has 3 strands of electric fence around it with a jolt that will knock your socks off. For some odd reason, we rarely are troubled by raccoons, but skunks used to get in the sweet corn and pull down ears to chew on. Trapped and dispatched by hubby. For a couple of years, ravens/crows used to peck out the sprouting corn kernels and also rip open and peck out the ripe ears, but that crowd must have died off or moved elsewhere, because it no longer is a problem. Woodchucks (groundhogs) come around every year and are dispatched via shotgun. Rabbits are in cycles depending on how many fox are in the area. They can chew through the deer netting, and leafy crops that attract them have the individual bed enclosed in chicken wire. Squirrels and chipmunks do some biting damage to low hanging tomatoes later in the summer, but I have so many plants that it's not a big deal, and I can still use those tomatoes for seed saving. The cat does his share of small mammal control.
I don't mind snakes if I know they are there - guess no one likes to be startled! We only have garter snakes and the little red-bellied snakes, so nothing poisonous. I like having toads and frogs in my garden, so not sure whether the snakes mice eating benefit is worth removing the insect eaters too.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Sept 20, 2017 14:30:23 GMT -5
Enjoying the snake stories! ...though rats have been really bad in some years.Excuse me!? Rats in the garden? I thought they just hung out in buildings. There are two major species of rats, and the ones I have (fruit rats, a.k.a. tree rats or roof rats) love anything sweet. They are excellent climbers and regularly climb up fruit trees to eat the fruit; for example, they are a real problem in citrus orchards down in South Florida. They chew a hole in an orange rind and then eat all the insides, leaving the empty rinds hanging on the trees: ![](http://thumb.ibb.co/kUQP9Q/rat_citrus.jpg) I've learned that they also really enjoy ripe tomatoes and sweet peppers. They take one bite out of the hot peppers and leave them alone, though. Although sweet foods are their preference, like all rats, they will eat almost anything if they are hungry enough. Fruit rats like to nest up high in attics and other high places (thus the nickname roof rats), but will dig a nest underground if they can't find a good shelter up high. The ones I have had here have tended to burrow under my shed, and from there they had only a short walk to raid my garden at night. When I had a compost pile, they loved to burrow under it - it provided shelter from predators and food all in one go. I remember once when I went to turn the compost pile only to see rats scattering everywhere. Eww! That was the end of my attempts to compost on the ground!
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Post by horsea on Sept 20, 2017 21:15:14 GMT -5
Well! I have just received quite an education on...the Fruit Rat! Glad we don't have them in our gardens here. Thanks for your most interesting comments.
Ever hear of "rug rats"? Personally, I hate that expression.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Sept 21, 2017 8:50:23 GMT -5
Heh, I used to call my kids that a long time ago. Now that my youngest is a 4th grader and my oldest is in college, they're a bit too old for that moniker. ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/3247375/images/AlTVKjAhCypksR0Ugttf.png)
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