Preventing Animal Damage?

[Christopher Howard]

Hi everyone. I'm looking for advice and experience regarding animals eating your trees.

In my area, I've dealt with rabbits for as long as I've been into gardening. They've eaten my roses, a Jacqueline Hillier Elm, a 3 foot Japanese Maple, a Pussy Willow, and a Japanese White Birch all to the ground. The roses I tried putting a plastic fence around and the rabbits ate a hole through the fence to get to them. Now it's chicken wire in the winter. The maple, birch, and willow were all in a fenced off area I thought nothing would be able to jump but I think they used a snow drift as an entrance last winter. Even though all the trees I'm ground training now are in that fenced area, I feel like they need even more protection. A fence around each tree it seems.

They're very persistent pests.

I wonder what others have had to deal with in their experience and what others have done to deal with such problems. I'd hate to have to keep growing my trees from the ground up every year because these nuisances keep finding a way to impede the growth of my plants.

Anybody's personal advice would be much appreciated. I live near Chicago and the animals I see around here are rabbits, chipmunks(horrible for digging holes in pots), squirrels, moles, & deer(though they never come around my neighborhood.)

Thanks everybody.

 

[GrimLore]

We are at present in a Rural/Agricultural area. NONE of the sprays work so save your cash. IF they are Rabbits I find Chicken wire at 3 foot surrounding the area works well. If that is not an option in some areas we take canning jars and add a cup of moth balls to them. I punch a lot of tiny holes in the tops and lay them on their sides. That also works well against Voles. The thing to be careful of is to put the jar straddled between bricks or boards to get them off the ground a bit. Never let them get wet and leech into the ground. Moth balls can be very helpful but are harmful to the soil and even illegal in same States. When we use the chicken wire I normally bury it 4-6 inches and find that important as well as keeping it stretched tight - rabbits can push under rather small spaces like mice.
The Chipmunk and Squirrel population here is more of a bother then a problem. They sometimes dig in pots and bury food but rarely cause real damage. I just ignore them for the most part and find it amusing when an Oak tree pops up in a potted Elm or Maple.
If you do stretch a fence around an area and are finding the trees are being "topped" you have deer but the good thing is after the short Rabbit fence is placed proper you can top it off with deer netting.
Other options include, Traps, Shotguns, Rifles, and Agent Orange. But somehow that just sounds wrong although I do hunt and fish

 

[jkd2572]

could be effective.

 

[JudyB]

Depends on what your regulations are in the area, and if you have kids/dogs/pets... But I use an electric sheep fence around my garden, works like a charm. It's like a netting, and the whole net is energized. I put mine on a timer so it's only on at night. Usually once they get a hit or two from it, they will not be back. Mine keeps out racoons, rabbits and groundhogs.

 

[GrimLore]

Depends on what your regulations are in the area, and if you have kids/dogs/pets... But I use an electric sheep fence around my garden, works like a charm. It's like a netting, and the whole net is energized. I put mine on a timer so it's only on at night. Usually once they get a hit or two from it, they will not be back. Mine keeps out racoons, rabbits and groundhogs.

That is something I will look into when we move - We bid on a 1 1/2 acre garden this week and looking at our initial CAD drawings it would be a viable solution if needed. This place has everything roaming about but I suspect the new garden won't be so troublesome.

 

[bonsaibp]

I'd start with a pellet gun, move to a 22 and if necessary a 12 gauge

 

[elliott]

Get a patterdale terrier. Google it. Toughest hunting terrier there is and will not stop till all the critters have been shook to death. Mellower pets than a Jack Russell. I had one. He was awesome!!

 

[GrimLore]

I'd start with a pellet gun, move to a 22 and if necessary a 12 gauge

I am in an area that supports that and I am moving to another. I use things like Malathion as well. However I use the chemicals on surrounding surfaces rather then on the plants as not to kill the "proper" insects and just the invaders. I am a hunter but somehow Home+Bonsai+Smiles do not seem to equate well with the discharge of arms unless absolutely needed.
Just my opinion

Grimmy

 

[M. Frary]

I shoot them ,I trap them and put poison out.

 

[jkd2572]

I have seen pics somewhere of people keeping their trees in large animal/birdcages.

 

[coh]

Putting poison out is something that people should really think hard about. It gets into the food chain and can harm unintended critters. In particular...the newer rodent bait poisons (d-con, I think) are lethal to birds. Mouse or vole eats bait, gets eaten by hawk/owl/etc, and you potentially have a sick or dead raptor. Which, of course, ultimately worsens the problem.

I've had the most trouble with voles in the winter. They tunnel under the snow and can get through the typical mesh fencing...then they gnaw the bark off the trees (or eat the entire thing if it's small enough). I've had to resort to wrapping the trunks individually with plastic mesh (it's made for this purpose, don't remember what it's called). It's time consuming but an option if you don't have too many trees. I've heard that aluminum foil works and is easier to apply, may try that this winter.

Chris

 

[GrimLore]

I do not put out poison, even if a field mouse gets in the house I just use a live trap and move him to the fields in the morning. We have two dogs and a Sulcata Tortoise so it just would not make sense to chance it. That fence may work out well at the place we bid on tomorrow night. Here it would not so I use different methods for different areas.