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Garden Pest
updated: Oct 06, 2012, 3:33 PM

By Edhat Subscriber

In Santa Barbara, a heavily populated area of town, I have quite a few potted plants. Every night now for months, many of them, citrus, guava, blueberries, chile peppers, flowers, have been raided, with holes dug down and sometimes the plants uprooted. This happened in a vegetable patch, as well, digging up onions, cucumbers and uprooting tomatoes. I've tried fox urine powder, bird proofing netting, and recently cayenne powder.

The cayenne deters slightly - but whatever it is must have eyes much less sensitive than mine. I am guessing whatever is going for worms, but what is it? Raccoon? Possom? Skunk - but there's no smell of skunk about?

About to give up on deterrence, I am looking into getting a trap and relocating? But I need to get the right kind/size of trap. The final choice is pest control but that trapping means death. It's at the point now of my plants or whatever it is. Any thoughts, suggestions?

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

YIN YANG	2012-10-06 03:57 PM
Recent post on the same topic: http://www.edhat.com/site/tidbit.cfm?nid=99938 Good luck!
COMMENT 328671	2012-10-06 03:57 PM
My first guess is raccoons or skunks. Skunks are far less destructive and rarely damage the plants themselves. They carefully pick the snails from our baby lettuce without trampling the lettuce. Racoons tear up everything. Be aware that raccoon feces is a vector for a number of human diseases. Clean it up wet (no dust) and use strong bleach/water.
COMMENT 328675	2012-10-06 04:09 PM
Could be skunks, there are a lot of them this year. We have a tightly fenced yard and something dug up my root vegetables (GRRR!) that were in tall pots. It must have had a small reach though because it dug only a few inches.
COMMENT 328677	2012-10-06 04:14 PM
I'd go with skunks, we have a lot of digging and stinking.
YIN YANG	2012-10-06 07:37 PM
Google "raccoon feces diseases". It's not common. Yes indeed, there WAS a case of raccoon roundworm in SB at IV School in 2002: http://plpnemweb.ucdavis.edu/NEMAPLEX/General/News/Raccoons.htm Kids tend to eat dirt more than other members of the population. "Fewer than 25 cases of Baylisascaris disease have been documented in the United States. However, it is possible that some cases are incorrectly diagnosed as other infections or go undiagnosed. Cases that are diagnosed tend to be severe. Cases have been reported in California, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, and Pennsylvania. As of 2008, there were 15 reported human neurological cases in the US; five of the infected persons died." http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/baylisascaris/epi.html Raccoons can carry and suffer from distemper. They get so sick; it's like a human with real, severe, deadly influenza. Vaccinate your pets. I think your garden pests are more likely to be skunks. Who knows. Don't sprinkle cayenne pepper, pour it on! Go to Costco or a tienda and buy the biggest bag of it you can find. Or ask a friend if they have ground habanero.
BULLSEYEB	2012-10-06 08:31 PM
Raccoons dug up and ate all of my tulip bulbs that were potted one spring. They even washed them off in the pool and left the dirt on the the first step in the pool. There were 6 bulbs. I took two nights and they got em all. Argh.
COMMENT 328760P	2012-10-07 03:22 AM
I'm impressed that you are taking the trouble to grow tulips in Santa Barbara. Next time, plant 'em 8 inches deep,in a 9-inch deep hole, with the bone meal (one tablespoon each hole) at the bottom, and covered with one-inch of sand. I assume you are planting these bulbs in a group. If so, lay down some heavy wire mesh atop the freshly planted bulbs, and anchor each corner with a big rock. Remove mesh when tulips show first leaves. My garden has loads of bulbs, corms, dahlia tubers. I also have the full complement of night visitors. I have yet to find any bulbs/corms/tubers dug up (and lots of my plantings are only inches deep). Have you been mixing the bone meal into the top of your soil? Putting it at the bottom should help----I hope. The "Landscape Mix" sold at Island Seed & Feed attracts digging animals, too. It's the kelp in the mix. Are you using kelp as an amendment by any chance?
COMMENT 328785P	2012-10-07 08:34 AM
Questioner here: There's no smell of skunk --- I know there are skunks in the area; occasionally on night dog walks, I've seen them and/or smelled them. Occasionally, pre digging problems, I have smelled them in the yard. Possoms have also been seen. I put down a thick layer of cayenne on one of the favorite-for-digging pots last night and this morning saw there had been intense digging. (Whatever, seems to have favorite pots: potted blueberry, a peony, breaking the leaf stems, but also smaller pots, including one right next to the house and kitchen door.) The digging is sometimes only a couple of inches; other pots, deep and there seem to be favorite pots, favorite places. Also, it's in the fenced backyard where there are dogs in the daytime, not the front yard. Wildlife care people say remove one (whatever) and another will take its place, but with more than 10 years in this neighborhood, this is a first. Motion-activated sprinklers and lights are not possible alternatives. I am very reluctant to call in a trapper, but....
COMMENT 328795	2012-10-07 09:18 AM
I've had the same experience this year. I decided to let the garden go rather than get rid of the animals.
COMMENT 328807	2012-10-07 09:49 AM
It's racoons, and it will stop soon. It happens every year when the babies are growing up and getting ready to leave. If you can't put your pots up high or inside at night, try a few sacrificial ones. Just dig some garden soil and fill with potting soil and keep them damp. Put them where they always go to the other favorites. With any luck they'll just keep digging those up . Seems to work for me ! The only other thing I found that kept them out was shultz bulb food. Racoons wouldn't go anywhere near it. Can't find it anymore. Oh and don't use any fertilizer with fish or blood meal ! That's asking for trouble ! Good luck ! (And people say they're cute...)
COMMENT 328808	2012-10-07 09:51 AM
If not raccoons, could be chipmunks. They dig and eat vegetation in my yard including roots.
COMMENT 328826	2012-10-07 10:48 AM
Buy a trail cam and find out who your visitors really are. We bought one new on eBay for about $125 and are having a lot of fun with it. It is triggered by motion at night. Our visitors thus far are: a pair of raccoons; a very pregnant striped skunk; a cute-as-a-button native wood rat (Neotoma sp.) aka pack rat; and sunrise crows strutting about. It is a wonder to think of all of the activity going on around us as we sleep snugly in our beds!
COMMENT 328913P	2012-10-07 01:41 PM
Angelica: I gave up on the vegetable garden this year, but am not willing to give up on basically all potted plants (about 20 or 30+) and never having a garden. Good idea about sacrificial pots but there are too many of them! I'll try with several, though. Thanks, 328826! I was wondering about that but didn't know what it was called. Looking now, I see there are a lot of models; which one did you get?
COMMENT 329156	2012-10-08 09:10 AM
Hope this response isn't too late...you might try "mulching" (temporarily) with the balls from a liquid amber tree.

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