Protecting your garden/yard from Varmints

[ImJustKCClone]

Now that the feral cat is gone I may go back to using the poison. I didn't want secondary kills...

 

[VeloClone]

I have used Liquid Fence and it worked well against rabbits. I don't know how effective it is against Bambi.

 

[Cyched]

Carl Spackler

 

[00clone]

Electric Fencing! Get some fiber glass 4' posts at Fleet Farm for a peanuts, a spool of electric fence line and a fencer for $75. Lasts for years and better yet you don't have to shoot up the place. String the line at nose height and it should zap them good (their fur is a pretty good insulator). The posts and line are easy to move and almost invisible. You can get a solar power unit if the strawberry patch is well away from a power source.

BUT! If it is a Ground Hog (Iowa version of the mountain Marmot) string the line at six inches high, too. I use this method for rabbits and deer on my entire garden with the lines criss-crossing all over the garden in case the deer hop the outer line. After a few shocks the deer associate the smell and noise of the electric fence and leave.

Only related to deer and electric fence, but I found interesting:

http://www.bigstory.ap.org/article/former-iron-curtain-still-barrier-deer

 

[CapnCy]

On foliage & flowers I use cayenne pepper...but you have to reapply frequently. However, it's cheaper than the coyote pitz they sell in garden centers. It would work on the strawberries, but I wouldn't use it after the berries start forming. Hopefully the deer would have moved on by then.

I'm going crazy with the freakin' ground squirrels. They tunneled all through my garden out front, ate most of the bulbs (glads, daffies, etc). I've shot five already...they keep showing up. Arrrggghhh!

Ground squirrels are buggers. A couple years ago it seemed I had a lot (but how can ya tell, they all look the same). Finally saw one jump into a small hole IN my siding....game on.

I thought about one method I saw of putting sunflower seeds floating on a 5 gallon bucket with a ramp (they believe they are jumping into a bucket of food)....but then you have soggy dead animals.

Instead, got a live trap....caught 15 in a week! Unreal. But, since then, rarely see them. Must have had a family of them.

 

[chuckd4735]

Tiffany Lakosky will know what to do...

 

[ImJustKCClone]

Tiffany Lakosky will know what to do...

I didn't know that Rube Goldberg designed compounds...

 

[DarkStar]

Talked with the neighbors and it would appear that we have a deer issue in our area (note: I live in Ames). I can't put up a fence and I can't shoot the Deer.

Actually you can shoot the deer with a bow in Ames.

Here is the link to find out how to do it legally....

City of Ames Urban Deer Management

 

[TheRealOG]

hire me for $5 an hour + membership to local gym and ill sit in your yard 24/7 in my chewbacca suit and...lets just say... you wont be having any more problems.

 

[ISUAlum05]

The sunflower seeds in a bucket method is inhumane. We tried it and quickly regretted it. They basically die of exhaustion trying to climb out. Awful.