Pest Damage

The deer and the groundhogs have gotten more than I have from my garden. groundhogs ate all the Romain and leaf lettuce completely ( no growing back) plus 6 of my youngest tomatoes and all my in ground Sweet Potatoes Think my neighbor has eliminated them, he has a sub-sonic rifle that he shoots in matches.

Then the deer and rain both showed up. In July we had over 40" of rain, lost count, normally I can tell you within 1/4" how much rain we have had. The deer (two young bucks) show up every day for lunch, can't run them off. They only eat the young leaves. Sweet Potatoes, Squash, cucumbers are all gone, other than one volunteer.

 Thank goodness that I plant out early and stagger my planting, first ripe tomato on June 7th. So I had harvested a huge amount of tomatoes before the deer and rain arrived. August is usually dry in our area, less than an inch so far. I have a lot of tomatoes that are just now blooming, so all is not lost.

Hey Smedley, 

since day one, about 4 yrs ago, when we built our veggie garden we have not had one ground hog, deer or any bird or animal share any or our veggies.  Not one time.   We see deer, ground hogs and birds every day on our 9 acres, but they have to look elsewhere for their meals   

We have a  20x40' fully enclosed garden. 
Wire mesh up sides, 2ft into ground and then 2 ft away from garden. 
Top is covered with a nylon mesh. 

The bees get ok which is good. 


Alan

A 6 foot fence solves the deer problem but I guess you need some sort of top for the groundhogs. Grew corn once. Got 4 ears; the raccoons got the rest. Solved that problem by not planting corn!

This solution is only good for nocturnal pests.  We surrounded the garden with an electric cable about 18 in. high, and a grounding wire, put it on a timer so it turns on around 9 p.m. and off around 7 a.m.  Usually it requires only one encounter by a single raccoon to solve the problem for an entire season, but we turn it on daily regardless.  
      Insect damage is more difficult.  I buy lightweight bridal-veil netting and cover any area that is attacked. (Cheaper than poly plant cover, and reusable.)  A good sprinkling of pepper is also helpful, though subsequent rains necessitate additional sprinklings.
       I have never found a foolproof way to protect squashes, however.

To protect squash, find out when the vine borer lays its eggs (June here in NJ) and set plants out after that date. You won't have a full season harvest but it beats watching plants die. This year I planted from seed, early, and had no borer damage. Random chance, perhaps. It was the first year for an amazingly productive zucchini named Clarimore and I recommend that variety.