protecting plants from scavging herbavores

this past spring we moved outside the city limits and now have a little land to play with. i have faced all new challenged keeping my plants safe from critters. we have a couple miles of woods right behind our house now. in town i never even had to put anything around my strawberries to really protect them. i planted sunflowers three times this year... even putting plastic cups around them with the bottoms cut off. chimpmunks, rabbits, squirrels, and even deer were devasting. deer even ate off my mom's hanging plants. i've heard about planting marigolds all the way around everything, and using large plastic jugs (recycle/reuse) cut and put over them.

what is best type of fencing? other ways to protect young plants? will raised beds and fencing help? other plants that may help deter them?

 

There are as many ideas on this as there are gardeners. If you could come up with a single solution, you'd be very rich. Fence is generally a good step. I use 2 foot tall chicken wire fence. Tall enough to keep out rabbits, mice, and many others. If your problem is deer, well, be happy to be living in a healthy environment. I know people who have put up 6 foot tall "dog wire" or welded wire fence and it didn't stop the problem. If your problem is racoons, well, your in for a challenge. They are as smart as ... well, I don't know what, but real clever critters. I do know one thing that has been most successful, but it's rather difficult thing. The first thing is to find out what animals are enjoying your efforts.
By the way, don't try any of these "scent" based repellants. They seldom work and must be re-applied after rain. Same goes wih old dirty soxs, manure from the lions at the zoo ... etc.
Another thing that works is a dog. I have one that LOVES to chase rabbits. Can't catch them, but that doesn't matter, it runs them off and that's all I want. I also don't use traps etc. and never shot them (or anything else - never owned a gun - strict non-violent hippie here). I figure the rabbits and all the others were here before I moved into this patch of woods and they'll be here when I'm gone.

 

are there any other plants that maight help repel them? i also read about hanging old compact discs around te garden area.

 

GARLIC,kritters hate it.i have a fence arround my veggie gardens,and the herb gardens dont really get touched.the garlic beds are never touched.if you wanna go the cheap rout try planting garlic arround the garden and a few spead out inside the garlic.peace

frog

 

May sound wierd but alot of critters hate human hair and human urine. You might not have the plumbing to put it in a watering can but it sure works. when an animal is hungry and your garden looks like an all nite buffet, the best thing is to use is shells hand loaded with 3 parts rock salt and 1 part pellets. Won't kill them but they sure do remember.

 

Now that it's winter is an excellent time to put up fencing. The best fence that I've found for deer is 6' welded wire. Poultry netting is fine as long as you don't expect a second season. It deteriorates rapidly. 6' welded wire may require searching out. In my little town, the hardware store carries it. In the city nearby where I garden for $, it cannot be found. I can't even find anybody who'll order it. For rabbits and armidillo, a second length of wire sewn to the bottom of the first, bent in the middle half up the wire, half on the ground with soil piled on-is the solution. Racoons & opposums require a havaheart trap. Bait with cat food. Drown them, or eat them. There is a population explosion occurring among deer, armidillo, oppossums, racoons as a direct result of human habitation. Might as well face the fact that we as humans have created a problem with these species.

Hang in there, There is a solution! Stone

 

A friend told me the other day she used to put bamboo skeuwer thingys (that you use to make kebabs) around her plants with the pointy end facing out to deter rabbits.


maybe try putting twigs around plants or seedlings and then use black cotton to make a web between the sticks, over the top and sides of the plant. Might not work entirely but it will annoy the animal and maybe make them go elsewhere.

Good Luck!

 

caayanee pepper works, after they eat that a few times they wont come back. castor oil is good to apply to the ground, great with moles cus they get an upset stomach and go and bother your neighbor. there are all natural deer sprays you spray once a month for a few months, till the deer learn not to go by your yard, then you dont need it. there also interesting theory of feeding them. you find out whats muchin on your plants, then you figure out whats normally in there diet, the food they like the best, then you go ahead and plant that, then they will eat that and leave your landscaping and vegetable alone. chicken wire is good, but a serious gardener needs an electric fence.

 

I've heard this theory. Neat idea on paper. In practice when you attract pests by providing them with the really yummy stuff, they tell all their buddies. This creates even worse damage. I used to garden in a neighborhood where somebody actually put out grain for the deer! They ate the grain and then had salad from everybody's gardens. The last time I counted, the herd had grown to 30 some head of deer. They would just stand around like cattle! All I could do was plant stuff like foxglove and brugmansia which are toxic. No food could be grown, even stuff they normally wouldn't bother became seen as food for them when their population got large enough.

 

Remember that deer can jump 6' from a standstill. If you build a 6' fence, if they really want it, they'll get in...

Dogs are good, unless they dig your plants up too (and they have to have access to the area and not be penned-up). The deer at my sister's place walk right past her dog in the fenced area that he is in and they hit her bird feeder. LOL

I've HEARD (I haven't actually used it) that people have good luck with that fencing that is like fishing line. Supposedly the critters can't see it, so when they hit it, it freaks them out and they flee.

Other than the above, all I can say is plant LOTS AND LOTS of stuff, enough to share.

 

we string fishing line around at about 30 inches off the ground, it keeps the deer away like nothing we have ever tried!!!

 

A lady near us feeds the crows. Same result.

Rabbits I can see, if it's winter (rabies, you know), but opposums, ewwwwww!