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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 28, 2023 2:18:24 GMT -6
Tucson,
I hate that!
I've had similar things happen here in the past. I know how frustrating that can be.
I've found that the only fence that will stop a determined hog is an electric fence. They'll demolish anything you put in front of them. I've had hogs take out 1/4" inch diameter cattle panels like they were not even there. I mean just wad them up and go right through! They hate an electric fence though. They respect the heck out of that.
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Post by Tucson Grower on Feb 8, 2023 19:38:38 GMT -6
And, apparently their exists a small point of egress for the javelina, immediately adjcent to the gate is a spot where the storm run-off has opened a small channel immediately beneath the chain link fence and a few feet before the gate - I had filled it with cactus branches; apparently the javelina had no problem moving those branches out of their way. I filled that loop-hole with several concrete blocks. Their sortie, has, this time, completely eliminatyed my chances for more daikon radishes or lettuce. I don't plan to check on the bok choy, until tomorrow morning.
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Post by Tucson Grower on Feb 9, 2023 20:02:16 GMT -6
They had not gone into my bok choy area, this last visit. The bok choy were still completely nearing recovery from their first harvest by javelina and nearing their second harvest by me. The daikon radishes and lettuce were, however, wiped out.
I had recently planted out a few trees, 3 Vitex, 2 fig, and 1 lemon. They ignored all of those except the lemon tree, they uprooted it. I might have gotten it replanted soon enough that it will be okay. They also ignored a container of bareroot maximilian sunflower rhizomes.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Feb 9, 2023 20:44:20 GMT -6
I’m sorry to hear about the return of the javelina, @tucson Grower. I know how disheartening that can be. I’m glad they spare your bok choy this time, but I’m sorry to hear about the daikons, lettuce, and lemon. I do hope you can save the lemon.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Feb 9, 2023 21:20:11 GMT -6
So sorry to hear that, Tucs! I know how you feel.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 10, 2023 14:29:48 GMT -6
Tucson,
The javelina going right through your cactus roadblock sounds reminiscent of the times I've seen our hogs eating poisonous snakes. The hide on their jowls is so tough that snake bites bounce right off, They grab the snakes headfirst and gobble them down despite being struck in the face.
I've seen this firsthand. I was chasing a copperhead out there in our pasture one day, looking for a rock or something to kill it with, when it veered through the chainlink fence into the hog pen to avoid me. The next thing that snake knew, two hogs were gobbling it down like it was in that scene with Lady and the Tramp eating the last piece of spaghetti on their plate.
After seeing they don't seem to mind snake bites, and knowing that barbed wire does very little in the way of slowing them down, I'm not sure why eclectic fences work so well on them? Nothing else seems to phase them. There can be a potential drawback when using an electric fence to deter them though. Pigs have a crazy reflex response to the initial shock. If they get hit in the nose, they run backward, but if they get hit anywhere behind the eyes or on their front legs, they'll likely lunge forward or jump right over the wires instead, destroying your fence and creating a hole for the other pigs in the process. You have to place the wires low enough to hit them in the nose, but not so low that they can jump over it. That usually means two stands. The lower strand is right down by the weeds and can be a real pain to maintain during the growing season.
Hogs love their feed though, and that makes them fairly easy to trap. If you find a hole they are using regularly, a hog trap placed right in front of it with some corn inside will usually result in a trapped hog.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Apr 19, 2023 17:37:17 GMT -6
I thought of this thread this morning when I went out to check my garden areas and discovered that I must have left both gates open yesterday. We had workers at the house, and I must have been distracted. I really don’t remember what did it, but the gates were open this morning. Thankfully one gate wasn’t wide open, so that garden area was spared (the one that my youngest calls his garden and which has my lettuce, brassicas, and red noodle beans in it right now). The other gate was pretty wide open, and there was some damage, but thankfully I don’t think anything was destroyed, just browsed.
The peppers seem to have been the most popular. Almost every one of them had some nibbling. I was sorry, in particular, that the Beaver Dam pepper which had its first flower yesterday was pretty well topped. Most of the plants were, but none was uprooted, and I expect that they’ll regrow.
Some of my tomatoes were also browsed but not as heavily. The cucumbers and radishes weren’t touched. The rhubarb leaves were eaten, and I believe that one large purple asparagus spear was eaten off. I can’t tell that any of the clover was touched, and the bush beans were spared as well.
I also had some sweet potatoes volunteering that I was going to use for slips. They’ve been nibbled down as well, but they should come back.
Really, I’m very thankful that nothing was uprooted or chewed to the point where survival is in question. It just sets some things back, which I’m not thrilled about, but it could have been much worse.
There were no tracks, but I’m assuming it was a very well-mannered deer. I don’t know for certain, though.
I made sure to close the gates the times I visited the garden today. I usually do, but yesterday was an exception. I was glad the damage was pretty minor considering what it could have been.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Apr 23, 2023 6:33:22 GMT -6
I’m so sorry your hard work was damaged or lost! This spring everyone is having predator problems except for the boys who put up tall fences.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Apr 23, 2023 16:52:10 GMT -6
Thankfully it really wasn’t as bad as it could be, and it was early enough in the season that the plants will recover. It will make me double certain to close those fences after this!
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Post by chrysanthemum on Apr 27, 2023 22:26:48 GMT -6
I took some photos tonight of a couple of plants that got nibbled down by the deer (?) that came when I left the garden gate open. The first is the Beaver Dam pepper that had just flowered the previous day. I’m glad it’s growing new leaves under where its main stem got chomped. This next one is two Shishito peppers. The one on the left didn’t get eaten. The one on the right did. I figure it will be my own little experiment to see how a topped pepper does compared to an untopped one. I have two of each.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 28, 2023 23:42:43 GMT -6
Chrysanthemum,
I know that has to be frustrating to see your plants chewed up that way. When I went to check the mail this morning, I was greeted by three full-grown deer standing in the flowerbed, busily munching spiderworts between the house and the mailbox about thirty feet away. Sometimes, they are way too tame for their own good. They seem to have no boundaries when it comes to destroying one's hard work.
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