Making cages to keep animals away from plants

[007.]

It's tough to give a good answer on that. It's the interplay of a bunch of factors. Like what kind of other vegetation is around and at what times, and what kind of critters you have to deal with. In the Rockies, there's a shit ton of deer, sheep, moose, bear, and even Steve French to deal with, so I'm never outside the chance of some curious critter coming along and getting stoned. But if you've got more rabbit/racoon/etc. than deer trouble around your parts, you won't need to worry about upper parts of the plant so much.

There is an aspect though of animals seeming to be less interested in spicy flowering plants in my very limited experience than they are with vegetative ones, or even ones just less ripe. So I'd say early growth is more important to protect.

 

[GAME]

I decided to slack on cages this year and paid with some losses. Every securely fastened cage has been just fine though.

 

[Ribsauce]

hey guys found this book called Outwitting Deer: 101 Truly Ingenious Methods and Proven Techniques to Prevent Deer from Devouring Your Garden and Destroying Your Yard by Bill Adler...its actually a pretty decent read and is only like 3 dollars...its a few years old but it helped me out so i figured id post something up in case anyone else is looking for some more info on the subject

 

[007.]

Have you guys looked at these deer devices they have that spray liquid, emitt piercing sounds our of our hearing range, or otherwise startle shit that gets within its IR range?

I'm just making decisions about deer protection versus stealth/risk now, and it's got me pretty stressed.

I suffered a 12 plant, 100% plot loss last year on my best girls because of a lack of deer protection, but having a plant in a cage versus having a plant among plants makes such a difference stealth-wise.

I guess really its a question of numbers. If you have the clones, then go ahead and plant patches all over the goddamn place without worry of deer, cops, or rippers. But if you've got only so many seedlings or only so much summer, you need to make each baby count.

 

[TokerOftheSouth]

Have you guys looked at these deer devices they have that spray liquid, emitt piercing sounds our of our hearing range, or otherwise startle shit that gets within its IR range?

I'm just making decisions about deer protection versus stealth/risk now, and it's got me pretty stressed.

I suffered a 12 plant, 100% plot loss last year on my best girls because of a lack of deer protection, but having a plant in a cage versus having a plant among plants makes such a difference stealth-wise.

I guess really its a question of numbers. If you have the clones, then go ahead and plant patches all over the goddamn place without worry of deer, cops, or rippers. But if you've got only so many seedlings or only so much summer, you need to make each baby count.

I would consider any deer device 100% Trash and a waste of time and $...

Farmer's around here will even tie dogs in soybean Fields to try and prevent crop's from deer damage...

This in return keep's deer from eating only where the Dog is tied lol

So permits to shoot deer 24/7 are then issued

Are u guys sure its not Rabbits or groundhogs?

Ive never hade 1 single plant eating by deer and i jump deer everytime i go to any of my plants, and yes i use cages 2' tall for rabbits but not deer

Maybe put out/spray Moutain lion, Coyote, Bear, or Your Own Urine each time u visit..

 

[thing]

Chicken wire works pretty well, especially if you wrap it around a couple times to make smaller holes, but make sure its at least three feet tall.

A few other ideas:

Collect your piss lol, and pour that all over.
Drop leftover meat scraps near by to attract carnivorous animals. I use fish.
Drive tons of little sticks straight up into the soil around your plants, kind of like a punji pit.

^Seems to work especially well on squirrels, since they like to dig into my roots and bury nuts.
Copper wire around the stalk doesn't hurt either, when I have slugs.
Other than that, I always spray with neem.

I live in an area where deer walk through my backyard at least once a week. A good veg, goes a long way.

 

[dirt farmer]

Mouse Traps worl great for deer and other small animals.

I pile some twigs all around my plant. I then set the traps upside down on the twigs. When deer or other small animals step on the twigs the traps go snap and scare the deer.

I used this method when I had smaller plants years ago. It worked great. I could see hoof marks where deer left in a hurry.

 

[D.S. Toker. MD]

When I checked yesterday afternoon, the cage around the DP was ripped out of the ground, the DP was laying on its side with roots still attached and there was a 6 inch hole in the ground where it was planted. I replanted it, gave it a shot of water with sea kelp, threw some wolf crap (long story) around the outside of the cage and sprayed deer/rabbit repellant around it also.

Central usa, i cant help but pass on my experience to you. You can consider it as you wish.

The ingredients that make up organic fertilizers can be extremely problematic for guerilla growers. You see, animals need trace elements and minerals that arent plentiful in their food sources so they smell and find soil that constains these elements and eat it. Every animal from dogs to bear are attracted to a "lick": an area of soil rich in the needed minerals. You mention skunks, i fight off wild boar hogs and the occasional bear. Either will take the most extensive cage ever made apart in about 2 seconds and rip out that "6 inch hole" just to eat the soil beneath it. They can smell the soil from hundreds of feet away.

You can conduct a simple experiment to get a sense of the problem. At your site, off to the side, dig a hole and fill it with Epsoma natural or any similar product. Theres no need to plant anything in it. Its very likely that everytime you go back to the site, that hole will be dug out.

Every grow location is specific and has its own set of horrors but here in the upper southern US, anything with blood/bone meal, alphafa extracts or trace elements is the kiss of death.

 

[TokerOftheSouth]

Central usa, i cant help but pass on my experience to you. You can consider it as you wish.

The ingredients that make up organic fertilizers can be extremely problematic for guerilla growers. You see, animals need trace elements and minerals that arent plentiful in their food sources so they smell and find soil that constains these elements and eat it. Every animal from dogs to bear are attracted to a "lick": an area of soil rich in the needed minerals. You mention skunks, i fight off wild boar hogs and the occasional bear. Either will take the most extensive cage ever made apart in about 2 seconds and rip out that "6 inch hole" just to eat the soil beneath it. They can smell the soil from hundreds of feet away.

You can conduct a simple experiment to get a sense of the problem. At your site, off to the side, dig a hole and fill it with Epsoma natural or any similar product. Theres no need to plant anything in it. Its very likely that everytime you go back to the site, that hole will be dug out.

Every grow location is specific and has its own set of horrors but here in the upper southern US, anything with blood/bone meal, alphafa extracts or trace elements is the kiss of death.

Very true Doc, here is a grey fox using a lick, that i made for deer(mineral salt)

 

[GEMiNi GENETiCS]

Im using regualar circular tomato cages, cutting them in half .. wrap them with field fencing (larger holes than chicken wire but much stronger (10-12guage wire) then top it with another piece of fencing, use black zip-ties to secure fencing and cage together

If possible use 2-3 wooden(2-3'tall) stakes driven into the ground and used as additional support

Hang a stocking full of blood meal off a thin tree branch at least 8' high and way out to keep climbing animals away from it and animals that can jump away from it .. This will help attract coyotes, foxes, coons and such closer to your area which will help scare off rabbits, deer, ect .. .. I put 1-2 stockings up around each plot but at least 100ft away from any plants

Then get the nastiest strongest smelling bars of soap and shave them down and sprinkle it around each plant .. The scent will be so strong to deer they keep away

Careful with pissing around your plants .. Sometimes it works .. And sometimes it attracts them closer

 

[Vampire]

Love the input here. I've spread human hair and urea around the outside of the cage too. Animals run from human smells.

 

[sixpak]

Rats will eat human hair! LOL

 

[dnabud]

check out the plastic chicken fence 3ft high at home depot works great
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...fence&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

 

[Happy Kush 09]

I use old blackberry stalks in my area (eastern US), and it works great! I just gather them on site and surround the plants with them, eventually adding taller ones as the plant grows if needed.

 

[Happy Kush 09]

I use old blackberry stalks to make a cage in the central appalacians. It works great, but AGAIN!, the deer have plenty of vegetation to brouse in my region, so experiment with caution! Elevate, bro, if you aren't already try burrying your containers for twice the yield and half the care

 

[Tiami]

Hi people.
Anyone knows how to stop rats? destroyed all my plants this summer.

 

[noyd666]

tape all around the bare stuff, should survive, bastards those bush rats, deer or rats?

 

[Tiami]

gray rats. need to think of some defensive system. not sure they would survive after being taped?

 

[fukndenny]

Tiami, can't you just wrap some chicken wire around the base?

 

[Hashishh]

gray rats. need to think of some defensive system. not sure they would survive after being taped?

Last year while tending to my plants (they were disappearing) I buried a water bottle half-way into the ground (to keep it from falling over). Of course, my stoned self forgot it there and the next time I went out I found a good old mouse.

I would personally make a bucket trap. Good luck.