Date: Fri 14-Jul-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

critters-woodchuck-raccoons

Full Text:

SUBURBAN GARDENER: CRITTERS IN THE GARDEN

B Y  A NTHONY  C. B LEACH

On summer evenings, after stooking wheat all day, it would be too dark to play

cricket, so Grandfather and I would slip away into the dusk to see if we could

get a rabbit. He carried the 12-bore and a forked stick to support it when he

fired, and I watched over his shoulder as families of rabbits came out of the

hudges to feed at the meadow's edge, ears alert.

I always get a thrill at being surprised by mammals. To see an opposum with

babies on her back in your garden is as exciting as your first look at a

giraffe in the Serengeti. But when they start eating the flowers or fruits,

the sense of betrayal can be acute.

I have just read a fascinating article by Margaret Pratt Hagen, an extension

educator at the University of New Hampshire, on these creatures. She

recommends we develop an understanding of their habits and then we can start

controlling and minimize their damage.

Most gardeners do not have problems of ambivalent feelings about woodchucks.

They relish young vegetables and in a few days can lay a garden to waste.

Primarily vegetarians, woodchucks prefer to feed during early morning and at

dusk. They eat vegetables, grasses and legumes in general, and love peas,

beans and carrot tops.

A hungy woodchuck can consume the equivalent of one-third of its body weight

in a day. They live in burrows or dens in the ground, with a mound of

excavated dirt at the main entrance. Hidden entrances are used for quick

escapes. I surprised one on campus last week, grazing on crown-vetch. There

was a brown swish and he was gone aground before I had seen the whole of him.

The burrows are typically near the edge of woods, although they are also found

near stone walls, under buildings or in woodpiles. The burrows may be 25 to 30

feet long, two to five feet deep and have three or more entrances.

Woodchucks usually feed in field borders or gardens close to their dens. Young

lettuce, bean or squash plants may be eaten, or you may find roundish holes in

squash. The most permanent method to control woodchucks is fencing. Fencing

should be buried 10 to 12 inches into the ground to prevent burrowing, and

should extend three to four feet above ground to prevent climbing.

An electric fence, plugged into the house electricity supply, almost always

deters woodchucks from returning to the feast. Trapping and gassing are other

ways. But if you live at the edge of the woods, Hagen wryly warns, "You will

probably have to learn to live with the animals or move back to the city."

Rabbits tend to concentrate in places like field edges or in gullies filled

with brush or junk. In summer they live in shallow hollows, hidden by grass or

weeds. They eat flowers and vegetables in spring and summer. In fall and

winter, they nibble the bark of dormant shrubs, particularly those in the rose

family. But corn, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and potatoes are for

some reason not touched.

There are a number of commercially-available repellents that are successful,

but the best control, again, is a fence. A two-foot fence of chicken wire,

with the bottom burled a few inches, should work. But be sure that the mesh is

smaller than one inch so that young rabbits cannot slip in.

Occasionally, chipmunks and squirrels will damage plants. They may dig up

newly-sown seed, feed on leaves or eat strawberries. An electric fence is

good. A young cat is, too, if you don't mind the spoils of war on your

doormat.

Raccoons, alas, probably doomed because they carry rabies, den in hollow

trees, burrows, brush piles or abandoned buildings. They are omnivorous, and

seem to be especially attracted to sweet corn, and seem to know exactly when

the corn is ready to eat. Ears will be bent down or torn off the stalk. Husks

will be removed, and some of the kernels will be eaten.

Since they can climb, fences must be bent one foot outward or have a single

electric wire on top. An alternative control is to sprinkle moth crystals on

the ground in the corn patch. When raccoons walk on the crystals, they get

some on their paws. When they eat, they associate the unpleasant taste with

corn and so learn to avoid it. Re-sprinkle the crystals after each rain.

Of all the mammals in the east, the raccoon has to be the most interesting to

watch. What other animal washes its food?

(Anthony C. Bleach coordinates the certificate and degree programs in

horticulture at Naugatuck Valley Community-Technical College.)