Possums eating our new citrus trees

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by david, Aug 17, 2005.

  1. david

    david Junior Member

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    We've just planted a mandarin, dwarf Meyer lemon and Washington navel in our suburban Melbourne back-garden. All of these were young trees ranging between 18 inches and 3 feet high. Over the last few nights something - I'm guessing possums - has stripped all the leaves off the mandarin and started on the lemon and orange.

    I knew possums would sometimes eat citrus fruit but I had no idea they would eat citrus leaves. This is quite disheartening as we were planning to plant up to 30 fruit and nut trees on our block. Which doesn't seem as attractive if they're just going to get munched.

    They've also eaten some silverbeet that I had in pots from when we moved in June that I planted out the other day.

    So it looks as if we're going to have to do some serious possum-proofing. Having grown up in the country I confess I'd like to possum-proof through the agency of a shotgun but I guess if I go letting off a 12-gauge in Cambie I'll have the SWAT squad on my doorstep.

    These are steps to take I'm aware of. If anyone has any other suggestions please pass them on.

    a/ Make sure there's no nesting sites on teh property. House roof all sealed up etc.

    b/ Put wire cages around the trees. We're going to try that with chicken wire around stakes and over the top as well. You could also use a slippery plastic barrier but may be a bit unsightly.

    c/ Trap. But you're legally only allowed to release them within 50m of where they're trapped. Which should give them a nice, healthy appetite as they run back for another feed of juicy young citrus leaves.

    d/ Plant stuff away from the fence. They don't like running along the ground if they can avoid it.

    e/ Get a cat/dog. This is supposed to be effective but raises other issues.

    f/ I've seen reference in NZ literature to a herbivore repellent. This sounds worth investigating.

    g/ Electric fence. https://sureguard.com.au/possum_electric_fence.html I guess it depends on what it looks like, how much it costs to run and install and it if works.

    h/ Put metal caps on the fence in an inverted V shape. This stops them from using the fence as as route.

    i/ Make sure there's no trees overhanging your garden or with limbs leading from your garden onto neighbouring rooves.

    Sigh. What a nuisance.

    David
     
  2. ~Tullymoor~

    ~Tullymoor~ Junior Member

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    My answer...don't shoot me :lol: :lol: :lol:

    Feed them!!

    What I did in suburbia where I had cherries, plums, peaches, apricots etc was put a nice sized board with nails in it up in the fork of the big old tree on the fence line. Each night stick some apples and veges and whatever scraps you have onto the board and they come for a free feed, get full, leave the trees alone and everyone is happy!
    My trees were never touched by possums.

    I LOOOOOOOOOOVE possums :D :D :D

    PS Dogs make possums even more a pain in the neck. My two just stood at the foot of the tree and barked at them, causing other issues.
     
  3. matta1

    matta1 Junior Member

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    possums

    They are cute but the most retched animal when it comes to thieving ones fruit and veggie.
    I once had ten acres of fruit trees in an area of broad acre farming. The neighbor who prided himself on feral kill shot 300 in a season. The other neighbor didn’t count. I being the great animal rights organic farmer tried more "civilized" methods. A square kilometer 2meter chicken wired fence was erected. A bottom run of wire was buried so they couldn’t get under and three runs of electric fencing on top right the way around. We had a good dog but needed three. I had plenty of veggie scraps they could have but nothing kept them out or satisfied their insatiable appetite nor could I reform their thieving nature.
    In short if I want fruit I have good possum dogs. I also have four ferial boys that love to catch them. Other than that buy your fruit or try possum stew. I will be interested in any thing that works apart from what I have tried.
     
  4. matta1

    matta1 Junior Member

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    possums

    They are cute but the most retched animal when it comes to thieving ones fruit and veggie.
    I once had ten acres of fruit trees in an area of broad acre farming. The neighbor who prided himself on feral kill shot 300 in a season. The other neighbor didn’t count. I being the great animal rights organic farmer tried more "civilized" methods. A square kilometer 2meter chicken wired fence was erected. A bottom run of wire was buried so they couldn’t get under and three runs of electric fencing on top right the way around. We had a good dog but needed three. I had plenty of veggie scraps they could have but nothing kept them out or satisfied their insatiable appetite nor could I reform their thieving nature.
    In short if I want fruit I have good possum dogs. I also have four ferial boys that love to catch them. Other than that buy your fruit or try possum stew. I will be interested in any thing that works apart from what I have tried.
    Matt
     
  5. The Phoenix

    The Phoenix Junior Member

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    ok Matta1, what sort of dogs are good possum dogs? I know our border collie kelpie x barks at them and they tease her. When one fell of the wires and stunned himself she barked incessantly (till we took her in the house) and in the morning she went back to the same barking but never attacked. We ended up getting a ranger to collect it as this was in suburbia. But its mate continued teasing the dog.
     
  6. matta1

    matta1 Junior Member

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    dogs

    All my dogs have been farm animals and working dogs. They have been kelpies. The current dog is a bitch Border collie x kelpie and she will kill them if the boy’s don’t get there first. My work dogs are not allowed inside unless it is very cold and then they are only allowed a designated spot. I notice a difference between the pampered dog such as suburban dogs and farm dogs. This affects their hunting skills. While our dogs are loved they know who the master is. Lady will bark a bit sometimes.
    So I’m not sure why yours doesn’t catch them.
    Regards Matt
     
  7. ~Tullymoor~

    ~Tullymoor~ Junior Member

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    Um, 'cos it knows they are a protected species????? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
     
  8. matta1

    matta1 Junior Member

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    enviromentalist

    Yeah my dogs arnt real green! But least I get a bit of fruit now but than there is the problem of birds now thats another story.
    Bretherians dont seem to have too much trouble. :oops:
     
  9. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

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    I'm sure you can get solar electric fence chargers, but you would probably need a battery, too.

    I don't know about Oz herbivores, but many people here swear by eggs as a repellent. It seems to keep the deer away, but I don't know about opossums.

    Sue
     
  10. Tamandco

    Tamandco Junior Member

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    I think it's been a possum that's been stripping my new rhododendron and camelia which are sitting on my verandah awaiting planting. There was definitely possum poo around. Why don't they get sick? After all, they're supposed to be dangerous for most animals (horses, goats, alpacas, cattle).

    If my dog's out side in the evening, he just stands at the base of trees and barks, 'woof, woof, woof, woof, woof...........etc'. Most annoying. So we have to bring him in to keep the peach. The possum, probably a few, but they all look the same, big brush tails, just look at him and sneer. :twisted:

    Something has also gotten into my vegie patch the last couple of nights and uprooted some spinach and onions. I don't think it's possums as there's a 6' high chicken wire fence all round, so it must be some sort of bird. I'm thinking of using bird netting this year. Sick of them taking a nibble out of each tomato. They even started on the cucumbers last year, or it could've been rabbits. The garden's rabbit proof this year, unless they start digging, but I've got enough chicken wire left to bury under the perimeter, so look out! :wink:
     
  11. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

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    Our American opossums have 4 hands, and climb easily over any size fence (esp wire). Ours also have ugly scaly, rat-like tails.

    Sue
     
  12. david

    david Junior Member

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    We spoke to a guy in teh garden section at Bunnings in Nunawading the otehr day who turned out to be something of a possum enthusiast. He hand raises them, has them in the house on his couch, they let themselves in teh cat-door and open the pantry door!

    This is a level of possum interaction I could do without but his recommendations were:

    1/ Fence around anything you want to protect with a fairly fine mesh chicken wire that leans outwards. And hang dangly stufffrom the wire. He claims this puts them off.

    2/ He says that brushtails are quite territorial. They will scent an area to let other possums know they're not welcome. They will alos defend an area from other possums. He says that if you put an apple or two on a nail in a fence somewhere the possum can get to it they will eat this, fill up, leave other stuff alone and keep other possums away. Some of teh otehr posters above suggested something along these lines. I have to say that I'm wary about doing anything to attract the little buggers. And he says that it won't work for ringtails who live in colonies and will all come along to feed on whatever.

    He said that citrus isn't good for them in that it gives them teh runs but they will eat it, particularly when their normal feeding routine is disturbed by cold and/or rainy weather.

    We're thinking that we might do the citrus grove in the chicken yard thing and (hopefully) possum proof the chicken yard by using either electric fence along the top or the bendy fence thing suggested on the DSE site.
    https://www.dse.vic.gov.au/dse/nrenpa.ns ... enDocument

    We'll plant other fruit trees away from teh fences, start them with a chicken wire guide and put a plastic collar on them as soon as their lowest branches are sufficently removed from the ground.

    We'll fence the veggie beds/cane fruit etc with the bendy fence thing.

    Really is a pain.

    David
     
  13. sab

    sab Junior Member

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    I think possums are so cute. :lol: We used to have them in the roof when I was a little kid. One of my earliest memories is of lying in my cot watching the possum pee stain on the ceiling!

    I lived in a tent in Central Tassie for a few months and one came into the tent and had its nose in our compost bucket. I pulled its tail and it jumped up about three feet and took off.

    The people there used to put chicken wire topped with eletric wire run off a car battrey to deter them
     
  14. sweetpea

    sweetpea Junior Member

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    An egg yolk spray works for me. There is a chemical in the yolks most mammals don't like. I have protected an unfenced 2 acre garden this way for several years against deer, possum, raccoons, mice, etc..

    Start out with 2 yolks per gallon of water. Separate the eggs, mix the yolks with a little water, pour them into a sprayer through a strainer to keep the whites and bits out. Spray thoroughly, and be sure to dump any leftover mixture. Don't save it, and unscrew all of the parts of the sprayer to let it dry out so you don't get "fried egg" bits stuck in there.

    It should last maybe 2 weeks if it doesn't rain. If it rains, repeat it. The animals will still go through the garden, testing, but they won't eat. Until it wears off, and they'll be right there again, so keep an eye on things to see how long it lasts where you are.
     
  15. matta1

    matta1 Junior Member

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    Der Great Australian Possum

    What do you spray? The crops? Shall try it but Australian possums are bushman and they are maters in their territory! I knows that they will raid the nest of a hen and devour her eggs. But ill try it.
     
  16. david

    david Junior Member

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    We put chicken wire on stakes around the orange and the Meyer Lemon. The Meyer lemon is in half a wine barrel so we put the stakes straight into the soil in the barrel. This seems to be working fine so far.

    We also put stakes with chicken wire around the orange. Again, so far so good.

    We didn't put anything around the mandarin. Now the possum has just about ring-barked it, gnawing the bark up to possum height.

    What kind of sick individual eats the bark off a young mandarin tree? I can't believe there's much there in the way of nutrition.

    We've planted a number of camellias, a cherry and a rhododendron which so far no damage.

    We're thinking that we will probably plant the citrus in the chicken yard when we build it. And we're seriously considering making what would essentially be an aviary around veggies, cane/runner fruit and so on.

    One interesting thing. The possum has also been munching on some silverbeet. When it leaves these alone for a while these are going great guns with lots of healthy new growth. Maybe the possum isn't such a bad gardener in some respects :)

    David
     
  17. hedwig

    hedwig Junior Member

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    I read - but not tried - that the possums are in your garden and under your roof because they can enter into the roof. So you have to look where the possums go out at night and when they are out (during the night) close the hole (you can do it properly during the day).
     
  18. barely run

    barely run Junior Member

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    Saw a product at the ABC Garden Expo last month...D-Ter...it's a magnesium based spray to deter mamals, rabbits, roos, possums from eating trees. The testimonials were impressive...have lost their card but a google search might find it. Was an australian product.
    And if you think possums are a problem....neigbours sheep got in my garden paddock...3 citrus trees stripped, lettuce, broccoli and snow peas completely gone.....was not very happy.
    Cheers
    Cathy
     
  19. baldcat

    baldcat Junior Member

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    LOL yeah but think, you will not have to mow your lawns for a month :).. Sheep are also good at spreading weeds, especially stingy netles.. They also like Ivy ? which is a good thing..

    From

    https://www.yarriambiack.vic.gov.au/index.php?f_func=animals_possums
    Also try

    https://www.faunarescue.org.au/possum flowers.html
    https://www.globalgarden.com.au/gardenbegin_techniques_2.htm#Dealing with Possums
     
  20. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    Possums

    Possums love parsley, sweet peas, bird seed, and violet leaves.
    The bastards!
    You could try a spray made from Quassia chips.
    it is very bitter and discourages the possums from eating your plants.
    Some say they don't like the smell (It has no smell to me)
    It doesn't last long so you may have to spray ever day. (The good news is that it is fairly cheap 100g makes a couple of gallons of spray.)
    It wont kill bees if you spray it late in the day.
     

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