Problems with raccoons in veggie gardens?
Question:Have any of you out there had problems with raccoons eating veggies out of your garden? If so, what did they eat?
I have a lot of raccoons near where I live, they get into my birdfeeder/suet if I forget to bring them in at night, and they get on my porch and try to eat my garbage all the time.
We just planted our veggie garden last week, and have seen tracks all through our veggie beds, but there's no plants up yet so they haven't actually done anything wrong yet. I'm curious as to whether I should expect complete destruction in my precious garden this summer! The garden is fenced in with chicken wire, but that's mainly to keep the rabbits out, since raccoons will obviously easily climb fences. I know they love corn and we haven't planted any, but will they destroy my tomatoes, peas, melons, etc.?
Answers:
We have had raccoons for years that climb onto our deck and drink the hummingbird food. We had to put special locks on the bird seed barrells so their fingers can't pry the lids open. They get into the garbage, etc. We have also had a vegetable garden for years, also surrounded by chicken coop wire, and have never had a problem. From my experience, they prefer sweet food to tart vegetables.
aww
dude theyre hungry
just plant a separate garden w/ stuff that they eat so they wont destroy urs and u would be helping them
Raccoons will eat just about anything they can get to. Try sprinkling some moth balls in the garden + this will keep them away.
I'm not sure what they will specifically target, but if were you, I would go to lowe's, home depot or a pet store and buy a have a heart trap and try and catch them and take them off someplace else. Raccoons are a real pain and they can be real destructive. In the early spring at my father's house, big patches of his grass were pulled out by the roots all over the place. It looked like someone just reached down, grabbed a handfull of grass and pulled it out. Turned out it was a raccoon that was pulling the grass out to get a grubs in the roots.
Anyway, if you get one of these traps it will set you back about $35 and will get rid of your raccoon problem indefinately. Just put an open can of tuna in the back of it and if you catch one in the trap, just throw a sheet or towel over the trap and let it set for 10 or 15 minutes before you go to move it so the animal calms down and then take it for a ride in the country. This is also a good way to get rid of stray cats, oppossums, etc. I've done this numerous times with success every time.
Sprinkle Cayenne pepper on your plants, they won't eat them. It won't hurt your plants either.
Raccoons are ravenous and will gorge on just about anything they can get those little hands on. Many of them aren't even afraid of humans anymore. They used to eat my catfood on the back porch and went I opened the door to shoo them, they just ignored me! You can turn 5 gallon buckets over some of the stuff at night, but when it gets bigger I'm not sure what you can do.
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