Protect your precious produce from pesky possums | Wow to | Gardening Australia
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- čas přidán 8. 03. 2021
- Jerry has urban ecologist Darryl Jones over to his garden, who shows how him how gardeners can learn to live with Australia’s most controversial native animal; the backyard possum.
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Chances are if you’re a gardener in Australia (or even NZ), you’ve had a run in with possums. You may even have a few hair-raising possum stories to share. These fearless raiders know how to make their presence felt, and there’s nothing they like more than pilfering your vegetable patch at their surly leisure, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.
The culprit is the common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). Their range includes all capital cities of Australia, and urban populations are booming. “They’re pretty much everywhere we are” says Darryl.
HOW IT’S DONE
First, some ground rules. Brushtail possums are a native animal, and were here before we arrived. As such, they are a part of our natural environment and are protected under federal environmental legislation. Harming or interfering with a possum in any way is illegal, and this includes trapping and transporting.
Conversely, possums are not a danger to humans. Like any wild animal if they are cornered and stressed they will try to defend themselves to escape. However, as small herbivores they are low on the food chain and so their primal instinct is to avoid danger.
WHAT DOESN’T WORK
Darryl says it’s important to start by pointing out “what doesn’t work”. “There’s been so many things attempted. Taste sprays, strange devices that emit sounds and frequencies. Absolutely none of them work. And those plastic owls don't work either.
Some gardeners recommend installing a nesting box; the idea being that one territorial possum will set up shop, and expel all other possums frequenting the area. Darryl says the reality is often the opposite; “More places for them to sleep during the day actually increases densities and territorial behaviour rather than reducing it”.
Feeding them is not a good idea as it will just cause them to be familiarised with humans and their numbers to grow artificially.
PRUNING TO REMOVE ACCESS
Darryl says the first thing to do if possums are attacking your fruit trees is to prune to remove access. “They will avoid at all costs going to ground; it makes them more vulnerable to predators”. “Overhead cables and fence lines mean it’s possible to never go onto the ground for them in our cities”. If you can physically exclude them from your tree by removing overhanging branches from other trees or pruning it away from the fence line, the possums won’t be brave enough to go to ground.
NETTING & BAGGING
Darryl says the easiest way to save your fruit is “physical exclusion”. For smaller trees, this can be as simple as slipping mesh fruit ripening bags over the fruit. You can use old stockings for a recycled option.
If your tree is a bit bigger, or if you want to exclude an entire garden bed, hail protection netting will also work.
It’s important to use to use netting with a fine gauge-anything too wide will run the risk of not only entangling wildlife, but the hungry possums being able to stick their snouts through to browse.
RING OF WIRE
What about tender seedlings? Possums will often hang off fences to browse on young growth. To protect individual plants until they reach maturity, Darryl recommends a simple ring of chicken wire tied in a circle and placed over the top of plants to act as a cloche.
CELEBRATE THEIR SURVIVAL
While a familiar sight in our urban backyards, possums are up against it in wider Australia. “From a conservation perspective so many Australian animals are doing badly, we should be rejoicing that something is doing well in the city when it could be going extinct in the wild. We need to celebrate the fact they’ve found a way to live with us.”
Darryl’s simple DIY ways to protect crops can be applied to any garden, and allow us to share our space with these native neighbours.
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Wish I watched this video before contributing so much to Bunnings' share price with my useless plastic owl, anti-pigeon spikes and repellant spray. The possums in my yard are having a laugh! Time for some netting and chicken wire. If those possums want to feast on tomatoes, they can pay $4.99/kilo at Coles like everyone else!
Why are you paying $4.99/kg at Coles when (the far more popular supermarket) Woolies does them for $3/kg?
smh
Wish there was a way to deter them without making the garden look like a plastic covered eyesore
Agreed. Im using black barriers so they disappear... more so than the white ones. When i use mesh i try to build it with asthetics in mind. ... its a work in progress but it must be possible .. right? 😀
We have ‘Barry, in his bloody big boots’ run across our metal roof every night at 10:30. Sometimes he brings mates, sometimes he has pub brawls. I would LOVE them to find a different route. I’m going to seriously prune some trees I think!! I’ve tried everything 😖
I live on 40 acres with open fencing. My 2 dogs have the run of the garden area. Never had a problem with possums or rabbits. Figure they the smell the dogs. Rabbits are rampant around here. I see them in the paddocks but never in my garden. Snakes however have zero respect for dogs!
Happy to share our garden with our possums, although I caught two eating one of my climbing roses a few nights ago. They got a stern talking to and an apple and haven’t touched it since 😂
a possam whisperer? 😮
I receive regular visits from possums ❣️
I love them and hate them. The only deterrent is a dog or plant protection. Bird spikes on fences do help. They often go to ground and actually have very bad eyesight when a light is shone on them. They seem to excel in the dark and as soon as I catch them on my patio I swear they are half blind and can't see me coming with the patio lights on
Morning ☀️ from LEBANON 🇱🇧
Nice video 👌
Thanks for sharing ☺️
Stay safe and connected 🙏
Do those protection bags work for figs? And do they stop brushtail possums? I don't have fruits yet but I have young trees in my yard and I don't live there so there's not much I can do about possums. There's a part of the bark missing from the trunk of my first tree too I'm pretty sure possums did that.
I've heard blood and bone fertiliser repels them too but i don't wanna make an imbalance in the soil.
Give them a feeding station. Give them something to eat every night. I love them.
If they have nest in your roof you will regret .
saved me from buying the crap that doesn't work. Thanking youuuu
What about keeping them off roofing? Can't really put a net over the house. What works to make them stop running along the roof and tunneling into the roof cavity?
just search entry points from your roof and proofed it.
put a trap cage with an apple, catch an release it at your back yard.
Yeah this video is pretty useless
my possums ate through the fine mesh bags. didnt stop them
Where do you get the bags
they eat through that mesh, even tho none of it goes in there mouth lol ring tails are nicer tho i have about 5 brushies, love hate relationship i tell ya, they are lucky im vegan
Hi guys ..i'm Gardenning from Indonesia
We are neighbour👍😁
Your gardens are so beautiful. Wish you well, neighbour. Xxxxx
You have better soil and weather than us
That's a cute possum. In america there ugly and scary looking.
Weird critters.
Jerry i cant resist they are so cute even if they eat my Guavas and every other thing in my Brisbane garden. im sure they fill them selves up for months ant want come back btw ive tried the Chinese tea Lapsang souchong its a nice tea to drink and the left over spayed on to foliage. The owl is broken and next bin day will be binned as you say fake owls dont work. Ive got a solar animal repellent ultrasonic but it works during the day and not during the night. I think i will have cut trees to my reachable height so i can net them thats the only way.
Hi I’d like to know when you plant seed potatoes Kingston Beach using containers. I ordered seed potatoes but they arrived today March 12. Trying to work out online most info is UK or USA. I’d like to know how long I now have to store them I’ve bought Dutch Cream and Russel Burbank I also gave some home grown King Edwards I stored after harvest. Please help.
I have my pet snakes go to the toilet outside to deter possums and other animals from wanting to go near parts of the garden
Or how about we take some semblance of responsibility for destroying their habitat and realise we should actually be trying to provide for them.
It's not the possums that are pesky. It's the constant destruction of their habitat that drives them into gardens to survive. Have a heart and put food out for them instead.
They look cute Please feed them
Well I'm in Germany and I wish I had some possums gnawing in my tomato field. It's always sad to see how little Australians appreciate their native wildlife.
Yeah , I’m American and moved to Australia about 7 years ago. For the longest time I had a possum visit me in my wood shop every night on the way to my garden. Didn’t take long before she was eating treats from my hand and letting me gently pet her. Was the coolest thing ever and I didn’t mind one bit sharing a bit of the garden with her. Lot of people here talk about them no different than rats which is a shame.
@@paganpride464 yea i used to pick em up and feed em n all, and then i started only growing food plants, and now im chasing them through the bush everynight all night long till the sun comes up, its the only way to beat them lol i might aswel just live outside at this point, 2 bad its cold in tassie
I have to disagree with you there. Most Australians do appreciate our wildlife. That's why we have so many laws protecting them. People can like an animal and still want to try and prevent it from ruining their hard work.
But I think it's true people can be inclined to take it personally when animals inconvenience them and that's nothing new anywhere in the world. Just consider the attitude people have toward squirrels. I think they're gorgeous and would love it if they were native here, but most of what you hear from people is how annoying they are, and the crazy lengths they go to to get rid of them. Even so, that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of people in those countries that love squirrels. The same is true here. :)
@@dunnart7827 Don't get me wrong, the methods shown in the video are absolutely fine to protect your crops. The measurements against invasive species aren't always nice, of course, but justified.
There are certainly also a lot of Australians who wholeheartedly protect the local nature. But many people's actions really don't reflect that. The amount of roadkill i've seen in parts of Australia is quite terrible. And urban development invades natural spaces in a way that it brings many plants and animals to near extinction. I just think we all have an equal responsibility to protect our local natural heritage, and accepting the native life around you is one small step towards that.
@@dunnart7827 oh god squirells please no.. now thats something i can not out smart lol
Get a dog or cat that usually stops them
I have a dog and they seem to tease him and he barks at them which the neighbours are not happy about so i have to lock the doggy door at night
That’s a bit specist calling a possum pesky. The ABC wouldn’t dare call a koala or flying fox pesky!