Raccoons are veggie-stealing jerkfaces.
May 26, 2015 11:30 AM Subscribe
I started my very first vegetable garden this year! Woo! But while it hasn't been an issue yet, I am quite concerned over the likelihood that my garden will be eviscerated by animals. However, it isn't as simple as "build a fence, dummy!".
We live in rural New Brunswick, Canada, and while we don't (currently) have any trouble with nuisance animals like raccoons, bunnies, or deer, I do know that they are about. I am distinctly worried that once my garden starts producing they are going to line up to eat all the veggies I am so laboriously growing.
What I have is a raised bed (4x4) and five planters of various sizes, arranged in what basically amounts to a clearing on our not-densely forested land. (You'll just have to trust me that it has adequate direct light for growing, and all that stuff.) I had to go the planter/bucket route due to the fact that the soil is about 90% big ass rocks and near impossible to dig into, let alone good enough to grow anything in. Despite this, I still lined my raised bed with hardware fabric to keep any burrowing animals from coming up from underneath on the off chance they are able to dig through that hard, clay, rocky mess.
Everything is going fine, but I am starting to get really ancy that I'm going to wake up some morning to find my garden destroyed by some marauding raccoon or sneaky jerk deer.
Measures I have taken so far:
- I erected a bit of a fence around the raised bed using some poles directly attached to the side of the planter and encircling it with chicken wire, but I think it is a pretty piss-poor barrier against any animal that is even remotely determined. It also isn't doing anything to protect my my planters.
- I at least had the sense not to grow vegetables that are classic raccoon favourites (like corn)
- I planted some marigolds in my raised bed since they apparently deter animals (?)
- I have heard about using fishing line to deter deer, and I am going to do that up soon, along with having my husband and son pee in areas around my garden clearing to try to deter them that way,
...but raccoons, man... raccoons! And Squirrels! and bunnies! I'd like to put up a proper perimeter fence that can keep out those raccoon bastards but I am limited by both cost, as well as the terrain (ie. basically impossible to dig holes to place posts.). And, you know, raccoons and squirrels will just climb up the fence (those bastards).
Anyone have any genius ideas for how to keep those raccoon bastards away? Something that is pretty gosh darned effective, easy to install, and not expensive?
We live in rural New Brunswick, Canada, and while we don't (currently) have any trouble with nuisance animals like raccoons, bunnies, or deer, I do know that they are about. I am distinctly worried that once my garden starts producing they are going to line up to eat all the veggies I am so laboriously growing.
What I have is a raised bed (4x4) and five planters of various sizes, arranged in what basically amounts to a clearing on our not-densely forested land. (You'll just have to trust me that it has adequate direct light for growing, and all that stuff.) I had to go the planter/bucket route due to the fact that the soil is about 90% big ass rocks and near impossible to dig into, let alone good enough to grow anything in. Despite this, I still lined my raised bed with hardware fabric to keep any burrowing animals from coming up from underneath on the off chance they are able to dig through that hard, clay, rocky mess.
Everything is going fine, but I am starting to get really ancy that I'm going to wake up some morning to find my garden destroyed by some marauding raccoon or sneaky jerk deer.
Measures I have taken so far:
- I erected a bit of a fence around the raised bed using some poles directly attached to the side of the planter and encircling it with chicken wire, but I think it is a pretty piss-poor barrier against any animal that is even remotely determined. It also isn't doing anything to protect my my planters.
- I at least had the sense not to grow vegetables that are classic raccoon favourites (like corn)
- I planted some marigolds in my raised bed since they apparently deter animals (?)
- I have heard about using fishing line to deter deer, and I am going to do that up soon, along with having my husband and son pee in areas around my garden clearing to try to deter them that way,
...but raccoons, man... raccoons! And Squirrels! and bunnies! I'd like to put up a proper perimeter fence that can keep out those raccoon bastards but I am limited by both cost, as well as the terrain (ie. basically impossible to dig holes to place posts.). And, you know, raccoons and squirrels will just climb up the fence (those bastards).
Anyone have any genius ideas for how to keep those raccoon bastards away? Something that is pretty gosh darned effective, easy to install, and not expensive?
Raccoons in particular are a nasty bunch of critters - eats vegetables, kills chickens, tips over trash cans. etc.
Regular fences only protect on a basic level from them, more then likely, they will still find a way in. I've had to dig 6 inches into the soil to stop them from digging under the fence - really, coons are among the most annoying creatures you will have.
So what are your options:
1) Guard Dog / outside dog - it's a dog, enough said. Some may not like keeping it outside, I'm one of them but realistically farmers do it all the time.
2) Regular fence - will not really help a determined coon along with a few other animals (mice, rats, digging animals. Must be dug at least 6 inches into the ground to stop digging animals.
3) Electric Fence - it's electric, will keep animals away but not the cheapest.
4) Regular fence with some electric fencing in it - arguably the best solution and the one who anyone who has a large garden recommends.
5) Shoot them - check your local laws, don't go shooting up suburbia. Will only kill the most immediate trespassers. Recommend using this method with #1 if not going the fence route.
posted by lpcxa0 at 11:37 AM on May 26, 2015
Regular fences only protect on a basic level from them, more then likely, they will still find a way in. I've had to dig 6 inches into the soil to stop them from digging under the fence - really, coons are among the most annoying creatures you will have.
So what are your options:
1) Guard Dog / outside dog - it's a dog, enough said. Some may not like keeping it outside, I'm one of them but realistically farmers do it all the time.
2) Regular fence - will not really help a determined coon along with a few other animals (mice, rats, digging animals. Must be dug at least 6 inches into the ground to stop digging animals.
3) Electric Fence - it's electric, will keep animals away but not the cheapest.
4) Regular fence with some electric fencing in it - arguably the best solution and the one who anyone who has a large garden recommends.
5) Shoot them - check your local laws, don't go shooting up suburbia. Will only kill the most immediate trespassers. Recommend using this method with #1 if not going the fence route.
posted by lpcxa0 at 11:37 AM on May 26, 2015
A neighbor suggested for protecting tomatoes, early on put some red circular Christmas ornaments of the same size around the plant cages, and then the squirrels and racoons will inspect (and reject) the decoys, and then continue to ignore it when the actual crop comes in.
posted by nickggully at 11:49 AM on May 26, 2015
posted by nickggully at 11:49 AM on May 26, 2015
We recently installed a portable electric poultry fence (very similar to this, except taller). It's solar-powered and dead simple to install. You literally enclose your area, then connect one leg of the energizer to it. The other leg of the energize clamps to a metal grounding rod that you pound in nearly flush to the top of the soil. Turn it on, done. If you need to enclose a bigger area, you connect the next section of the fence to the last and keep on going. You can see one end of ours in this pic.
The one in that link doesn't look tall enough to keep out the deer. In some areas around here, you'll see 6' deer fences around gardens. For us, the dog outside is enough to keep away deer. After semi-regular dog poop patrol in the main part of the yard, we were putting the extra poop way back at the edge of the property near some woods. I suspect the smell has helped keep deer away. YMMV on this one.
posted by jquinby at 11:54 AM on May 26, 2015
The one in that link doesn't look tall enough to keep out the deer. In some areas around here, you'll see 6' deer fences around gardens. For us, the dog outside is enough to keep away deer. After semi-regular dog poop patrol in the main part of the yard, we were putting the extra poop way back at the edge of the property near some woods. I suspect the smell has helped keep deer away. YMMV on this one.
posted by jquinby at 11:54 AM on May 26, 2015
I have a large garden and a yard filled with raccoons, bunnies and deer. They have yet to get into my veggie garden. There are a couple things you can try. I have a simple chicken wire fence going around the garden. About four feet high I think. One trick is to not attach the top of the fence so that it droops outwards. This way if anything tries to climb the fence they'll fall backwards. The first few years I put two stands of electrical wire around the fence mostly to deal with the rabbits. It was about six inches and 1 foot off the ground. The last couple years I haven't bothered. The rabbits just wander around the garden border eating the grass and waiting for nightfall to feast on my flowers. For deer which are able to jump one suggestion is to simple string thick monofiliment around the garden at deer chest height. The hate the feeling and won't try and jump it. Your final line of defense is plant lots of rabbit repellent plants like basil, marigolds and nasturtiums. You can also sprinkle various animal urine powers around the garden, and use bloodmeal in the garden. Try all of the cheap bits of voodoo and see what works.
In my five years of the garden I have yet to have non-insect critters eat anything. The closest was a curious deer who knelt down into the fence the day after I put it up, broke through it with his nose and left a large deer face and knee print in the fence.
I might just be lucky as all the critters may be stuffed from eating the all the flowers and natives I plant around the property.
posted by misterpatrick at 1:50 PM on May 26, 2015
In my five years of the garden I have yet to have non-insect critters eat anything. The closest was a curious deer who knelt down into the fence the day after I put it up, broke through it with his nose and left a large deer face and knee print in the fence.
I might just be lucky as all the critters may be stuffed from eating the all the flowers and natives I plant around the property.
posted by misterpatrick at 1:50 PM on May 26, 2015
I found that blood meal was the only thing that worked against squirrels. Maybe it works on raccoons too?
posted by jessicapierce at 7:14 AM on May 27, 2015
posted by jessicapierce at 7:14 AM on May 27, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
Hardware cloth/chicken wire tends to keep the squirrels out, but the rabbits can get through some of my gaps. We have racoons nearby (and possums) but they've never bothered my garden. My plot is 12x12, and deer will nibble what they can reach from the fence, but have never jumped over the fence.
posted by k5.user at 11:36 AM on May 26, 2015 [1 favorite]