From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Canada

Ive got, Rabbits, Birds, skunks, ratcoons, you name it
in my patch they have been doing all of damage eatting
all set pumpkins on both plants and also chewing off the flowers to get to the pollen inside. Ive now got my cuke bettle problem under controll and plants are growing well
but everytime i get a pumpking pollinated a few days later
it gets taken off the main vine.

What can I do besides the use of a gun ?

ive worked very hard on keeping my patch up its now getting later in the season and ive got 2 nice females around the 14-15 ft mark which will be pollinated probably wed or thursday of this week, is there anything i can do to protect these pumpkins so they dont get attacked?

any sprays or some kinda of barrier i can build around the plant ( fruit ) to protect it?


Thanks

Dave

7/17/2004 10:06:49 PM

San Luis Obispo Ca

I think King Kong is looking for side work?

7/17/2004 10:16:40 PM

Woodburn, Indiana

moth balls and marigolds. rabbits hat marigolds

7/17/2004 11:00:01 PM

Woodburn, Indiana

hate not hat

7/17/2004 11:00:10 PM

Kitchener Ontario

hi dave, try www.liquid fence.com will look into there stuff myself

7/17/2004 11:38:57 PM

buy a cheap clothes basket at walmart. cut two divits in the side for the vine to go in and out, and set it over the fruit. then use stakes to hold the basket in place. that will keep the pests out until the punkin outgrows it.

7/18/2004 12:52:29 AM

In the shade - PDX, OR

Baskets work well as Brig has suggested. Have seen some chicken wire around some as well.

I ALWAYS cover my fruit.

An old towel, rag, carpet sample, blanket, sheet, weed block, burlap, netting, shade cloth, use something.

B4 and especially AFTER fruit set.

7/18/2004 1:57:45 AM

Key West, FL

yes, cover fruit

7/18/2004 12:46:42 PM

Woburn, Ma

I don't understand it? I always have wild rabbits in my back yard. I have four bird feeders and because I have trees all around I have more squirrels then I would like in my yard. No animals ever bother my plants!! I don't understand why it seems some growers plants are always under attack and yet nothing seems to bother mine?. There must be a reason.

7/18/2004 1:14:54 PM

Massillon, Ohio

yeah i try not to say anything normally.....but me too blaine !! (i am knocking on wood a lot right now). i have watched all season as groundhogs have severed vine after vine after vine on my boyfriend's plants up at his house. animals around here stay clear of my stuff. maybe there is just too much better stuff to eat around !!

7/18/2004 1:33:34 PM

Joliet, IL

i have a stray cat that i feed cat food to near the patch.
it's a big scared up old taby that i have gotten close
enough with him to put on a flea coller. now he likes the
scratching and petting and the food and i see him around
the patch every other day when he makes his alley cat
rounds. he hunts baby rabbits and mice. i have a skunk in
the area that i almost ran into one morning in my garage.
luckily no spray, but it doesn't bother the patch with
the cat around now. that cat barely even touches the leaves
while stalking prey and will sit under the leaves waiting
to pounce for hours. i also have a hawk and it's baby chick
living in my big blue spruce on the other side of the house.
that might scare the rodents a bit too. the hawk was a fluke, but maybe get an out door cat.

7/18/2004 9:44:09 PM

White Bear Lake, Minnesota

I had read an article a few years back, that cats in Wisconsin kill about 50 MILLION song birds a year. The article was in "The Nature Conservancy" or "Audubon" magazine. Just another thing to consider if you feed and enjoy wildlife.
James

7/18/2004 11:59:32 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

I believe they acquire tastes for plants..I had old Hosta's huge plants that came up every year and grew enormous...about three years ago..the deer decided these would be suitable for breakfast...now there is not a hosta above the ground, all are nubbed...my garden was that way to now it is impossible to keep them off the property and out of the garden..The chipmonks are flourishing now that the cat is twenty and can't hear or move to good anymore. Time for a new mouser....

7/19/2004 7:13:49 AM

New Brunswick

Yes I agree, cats do help. I had moles eating my artichokes and beets. A year ago, We got a couple of cats at the s.p.c.a., that would be happy living in our barn. We feed them well and they hunt for the joy of hunting. They caught dozens of moles. However, one must have eaten something he shouldn't have this summer. He is very very thin. I wormed him and am giving him antibotics...tho I have no idea what elso could be wrong with him besides worms. He is still eating...but is so numified that he will allow the horses to step right over him when they come in for grain in the mornings...almost like he has a death wish. My friend had skunks or coons in her garden. They were digging up her squash plants. She put out mothballs and the problem was solved...no more damage.

7/19/2004 8:13:12 AM

Billerica,Massachusetts

skunks digging in your garden usually indicates you have a grub problem, grubs are a favorite food of skunks.

Glenn

7/19/2004 8:25:34 AM