Ongoing battle, for sure. Trouble is, it's not just a nibble here and there.....usually, the garden is lost. Who would think you need an impenetrable compound to grow your food?
looks like you've been having a tough year here and there. I have myself, rats crawling up my tomato branches and taking bites out of at least half of my tomatoes, and for the first time in 3 years, japanese beetles are attacking my moscato grape bunches... and I agree with you, we don't put hours and days of work into all of this to feed the local animals, we deserve the fruit of our labor
I'm with you. When they start 'encroaching' into your garden, you gotta do what you gotta do; especially when your depending on that garden for your family's livelihood.
You are my hero! Do what you have to do to get ride of pest and don't worry about the naysayers. I'm behind you 100%. I run a market garden here in Virginia as well, so I have the same problems with night robbers also. keep up the good work.
Can gardeners, gardens, and critters co-exist ? Yes, you eat my garden - I eat you !!! Otherwise, I eat my garden, and you come by - and I eat you too !!! Otherwise, I'll bait/lure/trap you, then you can co-exist in a rabbit hutch, get fed - and I eat you !!! And if there are any 2-legged critters (wandering around) with beards and long hair - then I won't eat you - butt-guaranteed (!) those scorpion peppers I grow will be a pasty Klingon around Uranus - and you won't ever come around again !
I feel for you. At first I thought birds were eating my tomatoes and put some netting over them. It didn't work. Then I realized that birds would not be eating them from the bottom and almost the whole tomato. I don't even know what kind of rats. Not mice, not wood rats, but kinda midsize rats. Somebody said field rats, somebody else said pack rats. And they didn't even stop with the tomatoes. They snipped all my cantaloupe and watermelon vines just when they had softball size fruit and they shriveled up. The only thing they have left alone is the okra and hot peppers. I have never had or even heard of this before. It's new to me. .
Our Newfoundland did his best to chase all the varmints out of our garden. Unfortunately, at 160 lbs, his turning radius and girth are too large and he destroyed everything in the process. He did catch the rabbits and squirrels, but the garden was a total loss. Back to the drawing board.
I agree friend. We can coexist as long as they aint taking all the food off my table. I. Have this issue with sweet corn. I set electric fence and a live trap. Contrary to tree huger belief, animals will often multiply and over populate when man is in the neighborhood. Thinning out is a humane excersise.
Amen! They are building four new subdivisions around me and the field mice and rats have taken to my tomatoes. They struggle is real my friend. Ain’t no critter helped me amend the soil or weed the garden!
I totally feel your pain. Up North here, it's a constant battle with woodchucks, squirrels and chipmunks. I'm sick of catching the stupid things. Thought woodchuck number 3 was going to be it, until I surprised one munching away at the beans this morning. The thing that gets me is why cant they just fill up and finish what they start. Why the hell do they insist on taking a bite out of every fruit they see and ruin the whole lot. I quickly went from coexisting to efficient at taking them out! Thankfully the 3 hawks that moved into the area are helping! I'm glad to see you posting again. You were a huge asset when setting up the hydroponic greenhouse. I know you have helped many others along the way as well. Much appreciated!
I live in the middle of a city. I had a opossum who really enjoyed Dahlias, the whole plant. He would eat flowers and, when there were no flowers, he would go for the tubers. I gave him a light spanking with a bamboo stake and scolded him a little bit. He hasn't been back since.
I know this feeling - I had planted 300 ft of one of our fields with four rows each of peas & green beans. They were growing beautifully - went out with my husband after a weekend trip and found the damned deer had themselves a smorgasbord! Their hoof prints went right up the rows on one side and back down the other, they chomped off the tops of my crops! I bought tulle/mosquito netting and covered all my lower crops that year
Those people who talk about coexisting with animals have probably never raised a garden. They don’t know the hard work it takes to raise those fruits and vegetables . 🥵 We quit planting corn due to the raccoons. They have been a real problem the last couple of years. My husband had to put an electric fence around our chicken coop. Good luck with your trap.
I have seen racoons get caught in those traps and another racoon will help them get out of the trap. No lie I have seen it on a game camera not every time but it does happen...
Friend had melons like that before,but it was coyotes. They would open one up and drink what they could, then go to another. Alot of damage. Glad your back bro,sorry for the loss.
Idea: instead of trying to put the critters into the cage, put the melons in the cage. Pin the basket cage down with tent hooks and hopefully that’ll do the trick.
Around here, The Trap Plan is every bit as real and important as The Fertility Plan and The Seeding Plan and the Harvest Schedule and The Watering Schedule. Forget the live traps. Conibear 110 and 220 are WONDERFUL inventions. Snap traps and poison bait for the Mice, Chipmunks, Moles, Voles and other tiny vermin.
Listen you have to do what you jave to do. Actually your doing more than the average American family to provide and lessen your environmental impact on the world. Keep up the good fight sir.
Yep, they'll take all your melons, sweet corn, and fruit RIGHT before you were going to get them. They literally ate only part of every cob of corn...every cob...a couple years ago. Whole crop ruined. Melons too. Every time right before harvest. Oh, and if you relocate them in less than 10 miles, they will find their way back! It's devastating and I feel for you. I've had to make some adjustments myself. :O)
The battle IS real! For a gardener or farmer, having an animal destroy or consume crops is the same as a shop owner having people steal from their store: those goods were intentionally put there (at a cost to the owner) to produce a benefit for the worker, and that benefit can't be recognized if someone without authority or permission comes in and takes it without the worker getting their benefit. Farmers plant crops either for food or to be exchanged for other goods, services, or money for the other goods and services that farmer needs or wants. While some may want to argue that the animals were there first, I have a counterargument that our family manages this plot of land far, far better than the ground squirrels, raccoons, birds, deer, wolves, and bears ever did prior to our working and improving the land. When we arrived, there weren't many animals roaming the grounds because it was filled with unproductive/non-fruiting weed trees, topsoil-less dead spots, useless weeds/grasses as the majority of groundcover, rock piles, anaerobic swamp patch dead zones, sand pits, and a variety of other not-very-productive sources of food for those animals. We improved the soil tremendously, installed production-multipliers like raised beds and trellises, built infrastructure to capture and store enough rainwater to water the entire garden year-round, and installed ground barriers, fencing, and netting to keep control of the crops we plant and consume, trade, or sell. If the deer, raccoons, or ground squirrels had helped with any of these improvements, I would say they have a claim on some of the food we produce. As they didn't help at all, I have absolutely no moral qualms about preventing them from freely eating what we work so hard to grow. None of these animals are endangered species, and none of them need to eat our crops to survive. They're free to roam, eat, and live in the thousands of acres of nearby, protected forests and mountain ranges that are significantly more productive than our plot of land used to be. That's their home; this is our home.
I have a small yard so I don’t have room to share. If you have acres it’s ok to grow more for them. I only had an area of 10x20 for my corn. One morning I came out and the raccoons ate two bites out of half of my ears of corn. The next night they did the same thing. Critters can’t be reasoned with so they much go.
I have all kind of varmints also! ..trying to protect as much as I can ! I put bird netting draped over and around melons and winter squash. Doesn't stop them , but they don't like getting tangled up in it either !
Electric fence set at 4 inches hot wire and if you are on very dry soil/sand place a grounded wire one inch beside it ( or above it). Worked for me............as far as catching raccoons and possum the best bait is dry fish scented cat food. cover the cage with a burlap sack except the front 6 inches. For the deer I use the automatic movement sensing water sprayers, SOLVED that problem nicely. Cats keep the rats squirrels and voles under control. No cure for the crows yet however.
I herd that pioneers used to use the critters they were feeding to season potatoes, carrots, and onions: that way they could contribute to the indever.
Unfortunately you are correct. I had to take a pause on raising chickens because the wildlife had slaughtered over 20 chickens and guineas.I fought back with vengeance but they still won.
Canned cat food works great because it is very aromatic. Get a little can of it, and leave a tiny bit in the can. They can’t resist the smell and putting the can in the trap assures they can’t dig under to get it. Fifty four cents (38 cents if u get the cheap stuff) and it will bait the live trap for five days. Then you can happily relocate the little critters. But not near me, pls.
Well said! Kind of goes with the political debate now. Tell you what, when we lived in up north, the Boss had a garden. We tended it, babied it, was doing well. We both had to travel for work, Monday - Thursday. Come home, and every tomato had a bite out of it - what to see a woman go into orbit? She was so jacked that she said, "I am closing the salad bar."
I hear you .... I work too hard on the garden to share with critters. My biggest problem are feral cats using my containers and raised bed as a litter box ..... half of my melon plants were either dug up or busted off where the main stem meets the soil ..... to say the least, I'm not a happy camper. What even makes me more furious is that these vermin have some kind of ridiculous protected status in the state of Pennsylvania ... you basically have to put up with them because you can't kill them and no shelter will take them if you do trap them .... total BS in my opinion.
If they'd eat one, and go on, that's forgivable. (More or less.) But to ruin melon after melon after melon is a relocation sentence. Far, far away.....
Exactly! When the critters start pulling weeds and watering, they will be earning their share. Until then, I'll be guarding my GUARDEN with caging, fencing and even scraps of chickenwire piled up around produce like so much razor wire! If they ate the whole fruit, and came back to the same one when they couldn't finish it in one go, that wouldn't be so bad, but they just test - and destroy - as many as they can get to. That destruction benefits no one. With a little work, the critters have blackberries, red current, white current, gooseberries, elderberries, which I tend all around the periphery of my yard. There's no reason to even come into my garden. But it seems the big old raccoon likes a challenge! He dug out a hole in an unprotected squash. It's a new garden bed, so the fencing isn't up yet and the squash, planted up in a pot, is just setting on top. I think he's the same raccoon that tore up and ate a rabbit on my backdoor porch last year! That's right, a raccoon killed and ate a RABBIT, a full grown buck rabbit. Now, this big old raccoon doesn't wait for nightfall. He's out during the day, eating up my garden, raiding my compost bin and climbing up the trees while he waits for me to go back in the house. That's the sort of animal that will eat your small children, if you don't guard them outdoors! Yep, some raccoons are Komodo Dragons with fur. The cuteness is just a tactic to make you feel safe around them! :)))
Amen to when the deer start planting and tiling. Maybe the groundhog starts watering then we will try coexisting. Until then I will treat them like the thieves that they are!
You right we all face some setbacks, my has been few in the past 12 years just crop production has slowed in volume each year planting the same amount of feet in rows, well this year the deer found me I had 1,200' of peas that we ready to pick and some just putting on fresh blooms well Mr. Deer took care of all of that day after day he don't miss peas or blooms so I fixed him up I can't seat so he can't eat I plowed them all under will try a fall garden and maybe if he comes back I will become a deer hunter, sad to see all that gone, Joe
When I shot a Fox (with my hen in it mouth), I was told it was just feeding It's pups. Well, for every one of my young hens they STOLE (and they got 72), I lost 5 lbs of meat and about 1,000 eggs I feed my daughter or sell to buy feed for my other animals. Yep, get in my garden or mess with my animals and it just commited suicide! I'm just saying! Vivían Ann on the side of the mountain in northeast Tennessee
Yes mam, for many folks, their gardens and livestock are their livelihoods. In the end, it comes down to you or them. And since us humans are at the top of the food chain, we do what we have to do. Good bye critters ! ;)
Felt like they were plenty ripe? Guess we know who has the best melons in town....🤷🏾♂️ IDK, trying to find a silver lining here. Best wishes for the rest of the season brother....
And you can NOT plant enough for them all. They will call up their friends for the midnight picnic.
Yep! I thought I would plant enough for all of us. They just made more babies with all the nutrients.
Cucumbers might be more enticing - at least woodchucks can't resist! "Coexist" is a bumper sticker, not a garden strategy!
ive got me a pellet gun soda pop n lots a patience … sooner or later im get that smart ol groundhog under my shed...LOL
Lol- yeah, we’ll coexist when I see those critters weeding the garden lol.
Dear god no... the whole farm would be lost for sure...
Farmer: they even ate the weeds...😰
Over here they don't eat the weeds. Imagine that!
Ongoing battle, for sure. Trouble is, it's not just a nibble here and there.....usually, the garden is lost. Who would think you need an impenetrable compound to grow your food?
looks like you've been having a tough year here and there. I have myself, rats crawling up my tomato branches and taking bites out of at least half of my tomatoes, and for the first time in 3 years, japanese beetles are attacking my moscato grape bunches... and I agree with you, we don't put hours and days of work into all of this to feed the local animals, we deserve the fruit of our labor
open can of sardines in the trap will be unresistable
HOLY SHEET! I just realized this is a new vid. HEEEEE"S BAAAAAaaaaack!
My MAIN man!
Maybe an electric fence wire or cages for your watermelons?
As the saying goes "Plant 3 of everything 2 for them and one for you". The problem is "they" take it all.
As Charles Ingall's said as he planted 4 seeds in a hill, "One for a gopher, two for a gopher, three for a gopher, four don't go fur."
All that hard work and in a matter of minutes its destroyed.
I'm with you. When they start 'encroaching' into your garden, you gotta do what you gotta do; especially when your depending on that garden for your family's livelihood.
You are my hero! Do what you have to do to get ride of pest and don't worry about the naysayers. I'm behind you 100%. I run a market garden here in Virginia as well, so I have the same problems with night robbers also. keep up the good work.
Can gardeners, gardens, and critters co-exist ? Yes, you eat my garden - I eat you !!! Otherwise, I eat my garden, and you come by - and I eat you too !!! Otherwise, I'll bait/lure/trap you, then you can co-exist in a rabbit hutch, get fed - and I eat you !!! And if there are any 2-legged critters (wandering around) with beards and long hair - then I won't eat you - butt-guaranteed (!) those scorpion peppers I grow will be a pasty Klingon around Uranus - and you won't ever come around again !
LOL..... what goes in HOT, comes out HOT !
Circle of life! :)
Critters will find a way in, no doubt.
I know what you mean Bobby! Rats is after my matters, I had to set traps in the garden! Get em Bobby!
I feel for you. At first I thought birds were eating my tomatoes and put some netting over them. It didn't work. Then I realized that birds would not be eating them from the bottom and almost the whole tomato. I don't even know what kind of rats. Not mice, not wood rats, but kinda midsize rats. Somebody said field rats, somebody else said pack rats. And they didn't even stop with the tomatoes. They snipped all my cantaloupe and watermelon vines just when they had softball size fruit and they shriveled up. The only thing they have left alone is the okra and hot peppers. I have never had or even heard of this before. It's new to me. .
Tree rats get mine.
Our Newfoundland did his best to chase all the varmints out of our garden. Unfortunately, at 160 lbs, his turning radius and girth are too large and he destroyed everything in the process. He did catch the rabbits and squirrels, but the garden was a total loss. Back to the drawing board.
Electric fence is my best friend after the dog.
Add a smaller more agile dog
Heck yes. Anyone who tells you different, just say, oh well gotta keep the species "under control". Love you guys. Bev
It's almost as if the garden is a microcosm and the raccoons are a metaphor. That's why I love this channel.
Exactly Bobby, you gotta eat to
I agree with you. Good to see you, I still miss your friend The Cajon Gardner.
the squirrels already ate half the apples off the tree this year already.
the return of the caddyshacker.
Gophers are my problem...but the dam dog steals an apple a day...
My dog would have to earn his apple. Just saying.
@@tropicalco2339 He used to ...He is an old working dog turned thief.
Compost them critters the best way they can help I've found..
Once the critters start eating my crops, my heart hardens against them!
Klaus
Hey so glad to see you back, I agree there is a time and place for everything, and critters in the garden is not the right time or place.
I agree friend. We can coexist as long as they aint taking all the food off my table. I. Have this issue with sweet corn. I set electric fence and a live trap. Contrary to tree huger belief, animals will often multiply and over populate when man is in the neighborhood. Thinning out is a humane excersise.
Deer ate all of my corn and rabbits ate my cabbage. Boy that would’ve been a nice stew if I could’ve caught them
I Agree, until they help plant and care for the garden it is off limits to them.
Nice...found ur channel while surfing u tube..decided ta give the hydro a try...theyre just now popping...thanks for ur time n effort...God bless
Lost 1700 squash transplants to deer just the other night. I went from coexist to all out war !
You need friends that hunt ;)
Forget that live trap and use a kill trap.
Got a skunk in my live trap last week.
@@jeffsullivan3362 Uh oh. Now what? In my area, drowning is not considered humane.
Man that sucks ! I been there several times . Your own animals can do number on things as well .
critters can make good meals too.
A day in the life of a Grower. 🌱
Thanks for sharing.
WAIT WAIT WAIT!!!!!
Are You Back??????? I Sure Hope So!
Your comments cracked me up an excellent reply.
Amen! They are building four new subdivisions around me and the field mice and rats have taken to my tomatoes. They struggle is real my friend. Ain’t no critter helped me amend the soil or weed the garden!
They are good for the soil. Compost your enemies.
I totally feel your pain. Up North here, it's a constant battle with woodchucks, squirrels and chipmunks. I'm sick of catching the stupid things. Thought woodchuck number 3 was going to be it, until I surprised one munching away at the beans this morning. The thing that gets me is why cant they just fill up and finish what they start. Why the hell do they insist on taking a bite out of every fruit they see and ruin the whole lot. I quickly went from coexisting to efficient at taking them out! Thankfully the 3 hawks that moved into the area are helping! I'm glad to see you posting again. You were a huge asset when setting up the hydroponic greenhouse. I know you have helped many others along the way as well. Much appreciated!
It's great to see you back!
Thanks!
Your logic is why I watch! 😎
I live in the middle of a city. I had a opossum who really enjoyed Dahlias, the whole plant. He would eat flowers and, when there were no flowers, he would go for the tubers. I gave him a light spanking with a bamboo stake and scolded him a little bit. He hasn't been back since.
I know this feeling - I had planted 300 ft of one of our fields with four rows each of peas & green beans. They were growing beautifully - went out with my husband after a weekend trip and found the damned deer had themselves a smorgasbord! Their hoof prints went right up the rows on one side and back down the other, they chomped off the tops of my crops! I bought tulle/mosquito netting and covered all my lower crops that year
Those people who talk about coexisting with animals have probably never raised a garden. They don’t know the hard work it takes to raise those fruits and vegetables . 🥵 We quit planting corn due to the raccoons. They have been a real problem the last couple of years. My husband had to put an electric fence around our chicken coop. Good luck with your trap.
Glad you’re back. I consider you one the most honest and realistic gardeners around. The loss of Donald is great.
young man we have not seen you in years, where have you been
Been posting videos for almost a month now....but indeed, I did have quite an absence.
I have seen racoons get caught in those traps and another racoon will help them get out of the trap. No lie I have seen it on a game camera not every time but it does happen...
That explains it.....they ate the tuna, reset the trap, and left.
😂😂😂😂 this is so funny because I wholeheartedly believe it! 😂😂😂
ruclips.net/video/91lwMQmC3Ds/видео.html check out this racoon getting out of a trap...
How about giving them some mineral like copper with lead.
@SeriousName Copper coated Lead shot from a shotgun shell ... he didn't mean literal poison.
Bang! Now that's Holistic K9 food.
I would "relocate" the vandals into a compost pile.
22. My favorite number for those varmits
Friend had melons like that before,but it was coyotes. They would open one up and drink what they could, then go to another. Alot of damage. Glad your back bro,sorry for the loss.
good luck with your critter problem
Jeb Gardener congrats on your Channel
My dog likes our tomatoes as much as me!
Mine steals tomatoes...and apples.
It's not PC now-days' to begrudge freeloaders. But, I can't argue with your logic. Blessings!
Ain't it the truth?
Troll much do ya? Comrade.
@@leschab What's a troll? Like a Garden Gnome..
Know a man had the same problem, set up a game camera and it was coyotes biting hole in his melons.
Coyotes have invaded North Carolina killing cats little dogs and eating Gardens
Sure am glad you are back! I face the same problems.. Caught two raccoons already... Looking forward to seeing some hydronic videos.
Welcome back, love your videos man!
I'm with you on that one. If they are not helping with the work they are not eating the goods.
Ground Squirrels coexist with my rat traps. Nearly 2 dozen so far this summer.
In Charlotte the ground squirrels are unlimited. Could feed an army with them.
Idea: instead of trying to put the critters into the cage, put the melons in the cage. Pin the basket cage down with tent hooks and hopefully that’ll do the trick.
Mice are eating my tomatoes. Grr
Fuckers were a problem for me too...then they learned to eat peppers...they like red.
Always good to hear from you,
depending on your area a little 22 cal pressure should be enough to put them back in the woods and out of the garden.
Also raccoons and possums can be VICIOUS and dangerous to you and your house pets.
great to see your back. love the new ending. i see you caught the fig bug :)
Around here, The Trap Plan is every bit as real and important as The Fertility Plan and The Seeding Plan and the Harvest Schedule and The Watering Schedule. Forget the live traps. Conibear 110 and 220 are WONDERFUL inventions. Snap traps and poison bait for the Mice, Chipmunks, Moles, Voles and other tiny vermin.
some years we just eat our veggies on the hoof... the struggle IS real
Listen you have to do what you jave to do. Actually your doing more than the average American family to provide and lessen your environmental impact on the world. Keep up the good fight sir.
Brother you said a mouthful. I have almost half an acre of watermelon, cantaloupe, peas turnips, cucumber and even okra destroyed by critters.
Great to see new videos from you
Yep, they'll take all your melons, sweet corn, and fruit RIGHT before you were going to get them. They literally ate only part of every cob of corn...every cob...a couple years ago. Whole crop ruined. Melons too. Every time right before harvest. Oh, and if you relocate them in less than 10 miles, they will find their way back! It's devastating and I feel for you. I've had to make some adjustments myself. :O)
Racoon stew?
I have chipmunk problems by the hundreds. They walk the plank into a bucket of floating sunflower seeds. About 4 a day.
Also, so far it seems only 0.88% of people disagree with your "coexist" strategy
The battle IS real! For a gardener or farmer, having an animal destroy or consume crops is the same as a shop owner having people steal from their store: those goods were intentionally put there (at a cost to the owner) to produce a benefit for the worker, and that benefit can't be recognized if someone without authority or permission comes in and takes it without the worker getting their benefit. Farmers plant crops either for food or to be exchanged for other goods, services, or money for the other goods and services that farmer needs or wants. While some may want to argue that the animals were there first, I have a counterargument that our family manages this plot of land far, far better than the ground squirrels, raccoons, birds, deer, wolves, and bears ever did prior to our working and improving the land. When we arrived, there weren't many animals roaming the grounds because it was filled with unproductive/non-fruiting weed trees, topsoil-less dead spots, useless weeds/grasses as the majority of groundcover, rock piles, anaerobic swamp patch dead zones, sand pits, and a variety of other not-very-productive sources of food for those animals. We improved the soil tremendously, installed production-multipliers like raised beds and trellises, built infrastructure to capture and store enough rainwater to water the entire garden year-round, and installed ground barriers, fencing, and netting to keep control of the crops we plant and consume, trade, or sell. If the deer, raccoons, or ground squirrels had helped with any of these improvements, I would say they have a claim on some of the food we produce. As they didn't help at all, I have absolutely no moral qualms about preventing them from freely eating what we work so hard to grow. None of these animals are endangered species, and none of them need to eat our crops to survive. They're free to roam, eat, and live in the thousands of acres of nearby, protected forests and mountain ranges that are significantly more productive than our plot of land used to be. That's their home; this is our home.
I agree 100%! If they help with the work then they can eat.
Co-exist with a Remington 870 and I have a great Raccoon Recipe for ya Pal.
LOL...... I've been known to tote a brown stick from time to time. ;)
@Benjamin Zev Lord Son you want to wake everyone up don't you, mine is LOUD...lol
Higgs Rock Farm,
Tan that hide, fur a hat!
@Benjamin Zev my kinda neighbors
I have a small yard so I don’t have room to share. If you have acres it’s ok to grow more for them. I only had an area of 10x20 for my corn. One morning I came out and the raccoons ate two bites out of half of my ears of corn. The next night they did the same thing. Critters can’t be reasoned with so they much go.
I have all kind of varmints also! ..trying to protect as much as I can !
I put bird netting draped over and around melons and winter squash.
Doesn't stop them , but they don't like getting tangled up in it either !
Electric fence set at 4 inches hot wire and if you are on very dry soil/sand place a grounded wire one inch beside it ( or above it). Worked for me............as far as catching raccoons and possum the best bait is dry fish scented cat food. cover the cage with a burlap sack except the front 6 inches. For the deer I use the automatic movement sensing water sprayers, SOLVED that problem nicely. Cats keep the rats squirrels and voles under control. No cure for the crows yet however.
Trapped and relocated 13 squirrel's last year. I guess you could say I've learned to coexist!
Relocating is illegal in a lot of States. Or least I know it is in SC.
Can't help wondering if....while you're relocating your 13, other people are relocating 20 to your area (garden)! Sure feels like it sometimes.
@@paulreid7370 You live down the road? Lol
Amen brother. Chip in or get out!
Amen to that!!!!
Squerals took out most of corn trapped the possums were moved about 2 miles The square did not make all 29
I herd that pioneers used to use the critters they were feeding to season potatoes, carrots, and onions: that way they could contribute to the indever.
Our field corn is just beginning to silk. It's' surrounded by electric fence this time, so there pesky raccoons.
They love cheap hotdogs
Unfortunately you are correct. I had to take a pause on raising chickens because the wildlife had slaughtered over 20 chickens and guineas.I fought back with vengeance but they still won.
Learn to trap, you'll win the battle.
Canned cat food works great because it is very aromatic. Get a little can of it, and leave a tiny bit in the can. They can’t resist the smell and putting the can in the trap assures they can’t dig under to get it. Fifty four cents (38 cents if u get the cheap stuff) and it will bait the live trap for five days. Then you can happily relocate the little critters. But not near me, pls.
Well said! Kind of goes with the political debate now. Tell you what, when we lived in up north, the Boss had a garden. We tended it, babied it, was doing well. We both had to travel for work, Monday - Thursday. Come home, and every tomato had a bite out of it - what to see a woman go into orbit? She was so jacked that she said, "I am closing the salad bar."
It's good to see you back. Get them Critters don't worry about any snowflakes
Thats right! You're not doing all that work to feed the animals. Let them eat what they were eating before you were planting crops!
Exactly, they were existing and doing very well thank you long before you planted a garden and they can do it again.
I hear you .... I work too hard on the garden to share with critters. My biggest problem are feral cats using my containers and raised bed as a litter box ..... half of my melon plants were either dug up or busted off where the main stem meets the soil ..... to say the least, I'm not a happy camper. What even makes me more furious is that these vermin have some kind of ridiculous protected status in the state of Pennsylvania ... you basically have to put up with them because you can't kill them and no shelter will take them if you do trap them .... total BS in my opinion.
I agree 100%
If they'd eat one, and go on, that's forgivable. (More or less.) But to ruin melon after melon after melon is a relocation sentence. Far, far away.....
Exactly! When the critters start pulling weeds and watering, they will be earning their share. Until then, I'll be guarding my GUARDEN with caging, fencing and even scraps of chickenwire piled up around produce like so much razor wire! If they ate the whole fruit, and came back to the same one when they couldn't finish it in one go, that wouldn't be so bad, but they just test - and destroy - as many as they can get to. That destruction benefits no one. With a little work, the critters have blackberries, red current, white current, gooseberries, elderberries, which I tend all around the periphery of my yard. There's no reason to even come into my garden. But it seems the big old raccoon likes a challenge! He dug out a hole in an unprotected squash. It's a new garden bed, so the fencing isn't up yet and the squash, planted up in a pot, is just setting on top. I think he's the same raccoon that tore up and ate a rabbit on my backdoor porch last year! That's right, a raccoon killed and ate a RABBIT, a full grown buck rabbit. Now, this big old raccoon doesn't wait for nightfall. He's out during the day, eating up my garden, raiding my compost bin and climbing up the trees while he waits for me to go back in the house. That's the sort of animal that will eat your small children, if you don't guard them outdoors! Yep, some raccoons are Komodo Dragons with fur. The cuteness is just a tactic to make you feel safe around them! :)))
Amen to when the deer start planting and tiling. Maybe the groundhog starts watering then we will try coexisting. Until then I will treat them like the thieves that they are!
Set a couple of DP's baited with a marshmallow
You right we all face some setbacks, my has been few in the past 12 years just crop production has slowed in volume each year planting the same amount of feet in rows, well this year the deer found me I had 1,200' of peas that we ready to pick and some just putting on fresh blooms well Mr. Deer took care of all of that day after day he don't miss peas or blooms so I fixed him up I can't seat so he can't eat I plowed them all under will try a fall garden and maybe if he comes back I will become a deer hunter, sad to see all that gone, Joe
Squirrels are my biggest problems. I've tried to coexist, no longer. Got to try and get them under control.
When I shot a Fox (with my hen in it mouth), I was told it was just feeding It's pups. Well, for every one of my young hens they STOLE (and they got 72), I lost 5 lbs of meat and about 1,000 eggs I feed my daughter or sell to buy feed for my other animals. Yep, get in my garden or mess with my animals and it just commited suicide! I'm just saying! Vivían Ann on the side of the mountain in northeast Tennessee
Yes mam, for many folks, their gardens and livestock are their livelihoods. In the end, it comes down to you or them. And since us humans are at the top of the food chain, we do what we have to do. Good bye critters ! ;)
Yeah! I am with you on that one.
Felt like they were plenty ripe? Guess we know who has the best melons in town....🤷🏾♂️
IDK, trying to find a silver lining here. Best wishes for the rest of the season brother....
All I’ve got to say is trap and relocate!
Chuck
Know any jerks? 2 birds, one stone 🤫