Asica
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Possibly raccoon digging my veggie garden.

I have two keyhole gardens. I had some problem with cutworms in it. One night raccoon or possum or anything that size came by and digged the entire veggie garden. I went through the whole garden and took out all the cutworms and fed them to chickens. I replanted the garden but few weeks later the animal is digging again. How can I protect my keyhole garden. I have two of them next to each other. My feeling is that I am dealing with raccoon since my Neighboor seen one in my yard before. I need to build something quick, otherwise I will not be able to have winter garden.

Asica
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After reading on it, I can confirm that I am dealing with raccoon. I read that electric wire and hot chilly pepper spray works. Any gardeners that have been successful with those techniques? Any other ideas?

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rainbowgardener
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Electric wires probably work, if there are two, placed appropriately. Hot pepper spray probably doesn't work, unless you can spray it directly in the animal's face, like mace.

What works is fencing. Deer netting is a cheap and easy fence that keeps raccoons out, IF it is fastened down securely at the bottom and then pulled over the top, so your veggies are in a cage. It's kind of a pain, because then you have to unhook the netting from the stakes and open it up to tend/harvest your veggies. But it's the only thing that worked for me, when I lived where there were lots of raccoons. I garden in raised beds, so I could wrap each bed individually in netting.

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jal_ut
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You need to kill the d----- raccoon.

Go to your local sporting goods store and they can set you up with some traps that will do the job.
You can get foot traps, killer traps and cage traps. Talk with the folks at the sporting goods store
and they can help you decide.

Asica
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Thank you for advise. I have to say, I will be kind of scared to kill a raccoon. I think, I will look into netting first.

RadRob
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The coon has to go, period. A net or fence won't help if there isn't a top on it and who wants to hassle with shock wires that probably won't work long term. Coons are smart, ask anyone who has chickens. When they know where food is they can be persistent and will also breed and then you'll have more to deal with. You need them gone so make a decision and go with it.

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rainbowgardener
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Different folks, different strokes. Yes I said the netting has to be pulled over the top, so your plants are in a complete cage. But that isn't that hard to do. It worked well for me.

My backyard was certified backyard wildlife habitat, so it didn't make sense to me to kill the wildlife that I had worked to provide habitat for. So I had to find ways to coexist with them.

Asica
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The netting is made of plastic? I was looking at it online and was wondering if the raccoon will not rip it to pieces?

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rainbowgardener
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You want the heavier weight variety. It seems like they could tear it, but mine never did. I think it being in fine filaments discourages them-- a plastic sheet would definitely get ripped apart.

You just have to see what works, but the netting worked for me for years (you can re-use it for a few seasons). And we did have plenty of raccoons. I one time saw mama raccoon walking across our patio with NINE babies trailing behind her.

Asica
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So I went with a cheaper solution and made some hot chilly pepper spray. I removed out all my plants from one keyhole garden and put it in the other. Then I looked in the empty garden for the cut worms. The planted garden I sprayed with pepper spray.
The raccoon came and looked into the empty garden and did not like the lack of food so he moved onto the planted garden, and did not do much digging.
At 3am, I heard a lot of running on a roof, just back and forth. I woke up my husband, who went outside. Saw the raccoon on a roof, they both looked at each other, and walked a way. We both lay down in bed, and next to my bedroom outside wall, I hear rocks dropping. I did not find much in the morning, but we both headed it.
We came out with conclusion that raccoon did not care for lack of food and pepper spray, so he run on the roof to wake us up.
I know this all sounds crazy, but once my husband heard the rocks falling next to the bedroom, he says to me "he is mad at you!"

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applestar
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:lol: I'm speechless!

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jal_ut
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I have found that a radio tuned to the local talk station and placed in the corn patch keeps the lil critters at bay. If you can do this without disturbing the neighbors, give it a whirl.

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sweetiepie
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I have also heard that a radio works, and yes it has to be talk shows not music. I have a 6 ft fence, two rows of electric fence plus I live trap the raccoons. We tend to have a lot of them due to we live next to a wildlife refuge. After the raccoons started goring the eyes out of my cats, I decided they could just stay on their refuge.



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