Forest garden in an area with wild boar?

Discussion in 'Designing, building, making and powering your life' started by DryadsRest, Dec 9, 2015.

  1. DryadsRest

    DryadsRest New Member

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    Hey folks.

    I'm in the planning stages of a small forest garden and I have failed to find any info on a very likely future obstacle that I have no clue how to tackle. The land in question is inhabited by European wild boar, and I need to plan the garden in such a way that they do not become a major problem and uproot all my work. They are not a pest or overly numerous here, but obviously if I do this wrong, the garden will still be screwed. Setting up an electric fence is not going to help, as the boar here have learned to ignore them and go straight through. It would also go against my goal of self-sustainability as I don't have any means to power it except from hooking up to the grid.

    I know I can never truly remove the risk, but what could I plant that wild boar would not actively seek out? I have already ruled out most vegetables, legumes and root vegetables, because they'd be pig candy before they grow big enough to harvest. The garden will focus on hazel nut trees, but I want to be able to grow edibles that can, eventually, support my family from spring to autumn. I live in a temperate climate, in the middle of Sweden and have about half an acre to do this on. Any sources on gardens in pig land would be absolutely appreciated!
     
  2. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    no pig experiences yet here (there are some feral pigs but they've not gotten to this area)

    i suspect if you don't want to use electric fences you'll have to come up with physical barriers or think about this as defense in layers (plant things along the edges that they like the best and hope they don't get further in before you can chase them away.

    or get motion detectors and hook it up to your cell phone and then you'll get alerts any time something moves that shouldn't...

    or... (just kicking ideas around here :) ).
     
  3. 9anda1f

    9anda1f Administrator Staff Member

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  4. Nicolai Barca

    Nicolai Barca New Member

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    I know this is an old post but I wanted to give it a go.

    I helped set up a food forest out here and eventually the pigs found it and ate all the cassava and many other things. It took them a year to find it, but once they learned the food forest was there, they came back almost nightly until all the cassava was gone and then they would move on to the next preferred planting. ...It would almost be better to farm pigs with it purposefully.

    If your forest garden is small (like 100 sq meters), just put up a perimeter fence. If it's really small, then just three feet might deter them, unless they already know whats inside there. If it's a larger area (like an acre) go with four feet. Make sure it is tight, posts every 8 feet and achored every 4 feet so that the bottom is tightly stretched and very taut. You don't want any play. Pigs do not dig under but rather will squeeze under the fence and once they learn they can squeeze under a spot, its very hard on the fence and it will get flimsy from the activity. VERY IMPORTANT: Fence it BEFORE they learn whats inside. You need to make a really strong fence if you want to stop a determined wild boar and most people do not possess that expertise in fence construction.

    I have seen some electric designs that claim to work with multiple strands so that once they go through the first, they hit a second. ...I'm skeptical that they actually deter pigs. But an electric strand near the bottom of a wire fence would be very beneficial if they are testing it or trying to squeeze under, but then again, it's more to maintain.
     

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