Hello from Minnesota/Need critter control

Hello from Minnesota, been gardening for years, first year with 2 3x3 beds. Filled with Mel's mix and ready to go!

Our house backs up to woods so we get many visitors.....I understand the chicken wire cover in the book, any alternatives that work better? And to protect tall tomatoes?

Thanks!!

Celeste

Welcome Celeste! I too live in the woods, my visitors are deer, kitty cats, birds, squirrels and chipmonks! I have two cats outside that keep the smaller visitors at bay and a dog to scare away the deer! I have been very fortunate that has worked for me. No critter cages here! I have heard of hanging tulle bags with human hair around the areas because they pick up the scent. What are your visitors?

Raccoons, deer, squirrels, an occasional turkey, ducks.....

Hi Celeste!

It sounds like you have a variety of critters visiting your yard, so you might want to fence around your garden to keep things like deer and racoons out. I don't know how much of a problem turkeys can be. I know they'll often eat insects we don't want in our garden, but I also know they might go for your veggies, too...though they can only reach so high. For squirrels, folks here told me to sprinkle some powdered hot pepper in the garden...it works! They really don't like that smell, and the neighborhood squirrels haven't touched my garden since I did this. They mostly like to dig in my soil...I think they buried some acorns beneath where I put my boxes, but they stopped bothering my garden right away.

Lots of other people here have ingenious ways of keeping the critters out. Using the search box at the top left to find what people have done will help you find photos and descriptions of these things. Just make sure the little box that says "Search SFG Forum" is checked.

givvmistamps wrote: For squirrels, folks here told me to sprinkle some powdered hot pepper in the garden...it works!

@givvmistamps - what kind of powdered hot pepper did you use? I have deer netting around my SFG beds (over the hoops) and still the squirrels figured out how to get in (by going under it)... ugh! They aren't eating anything just digging a bunch of holes in my beautiful MM.

Thanks for letting me borrow this thread for a moment

Jenn, when I first found those squirrels digging all I had on hand (that my husband wouldn't kill me for using up!) was some outdated, stale old crushed red pepper, so I used it. They never visited the boxes again, though when my husband was at the grocers a week later he got me a cheap bottle of fresher cayenne pepper that I've been using since. I think other folks here use another type of hot pepper they got in bulk packaging. So long as it's HOT, I think it'll probably work. I refresh it after a good rain...not that we get much of that around here these days!

celestem2121 wrote:Raccoons, deer, squirrels, an occasional turkey, ducks.....

Are you in city limits?

If not, come hunting season, that might be a very nice harvest...

When deer chomped off most of the tender branches of my newly-planted dwarf fruit trees, I hung Irish Spring soap in net bags around them. No more damage. I think it was the smell of the soap. You have to use deodorant soap and change them every 6 months or so.

I think someone here tried it and said it didn't work so I don't know why it works for me. Maybe the dogs chased them off and they are more leery of the area. I can't be sure. But it wasn't costly and it seems to work so I keep using the method. Our dogs, a golden retriever and a corgi, aren't outdoors too often but the soap hangs there forever.



Above: An apple tree making a comeback. As you can see, the fencing is too short to deter deer.

Large hoops with netting work well, but they're not cheap. But they do allow you to walk around inside.

Mike, what a cool idea! That looks like it would double as a pretty nifty green house if you covered it with plastic instead of netting, too.

Thanks givvmistamps!

I think I will try crushed pepper flakes when I have to take the deer netting off (as the climbing plants get bigger). Besides using the pepper flakes will be a good excuse to get fresh pepper flakes (ours are many, too many, years old to use for cooking).



Mikesgardn - I really like your tall hoops! They look great!!

Mikesgardn wrote:Large hoops with netting work well, but they're not cheap. But they do allow you to walk around inside.

Wow! I love this! Nice work!