How To Protect Your Garden From Rodent Attacks - Hares, Mice And Our Trees In Winter

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Winter brings changes to the life of rodents and forest dwellers. The search for food brings hares to our sites. There is no danger here and plenty of food available. How to protect your garden from rodent attacks

Why do hares go to orchards?

Hares are attracted to gardeners' plots by fruit trees. It is a light and nutritious food. They eat bark on trees, young seedlings are especially tasty for them, which they destroy completely, cutting off at the root. Irga, plums, apple trees, currants, apricots, hawthorn are a special delicacy. Pear and cherry are usually left untouched. The height of the "dining area" is 80-100 cm. Particular activity is February-March.

Hares eat at night, so these animals come to summer cottages in the evenings and their meal continues until morning. Having chosen one site, the hare returns there again. Having dined on a juicy young tree, he takes up bushes and adult plantings. An uninvited guest is capable of completely ruining the entire garden. By the way, they are not afraid of dogs and your street watchman will not help.

Protecting the garden from hare visits

Signs of the first foray are not hard to spot. Thin trunks and shoots have a smooth cut, like a pruner; traces in the form of holes are visible in the snow. After repeated visits, large trees remain damaged: their bark is partially or completely destroyed at a height of one meter from the snow level. If you are geographically close to the forest, the likelihood of hare raids is quite high. You need to prepare and secure your garden in any way.

Fence

When creating protection, it is advisable to build a complete fence around the perimeter of your land. Hares are well-known jumpers who can also crawl. Therefore, a fence or a chain-link should be a real inaccessible obstacle. The height must be calculated so that from the snow shaft, which appears in winter, the upper bar of the fence extends not less than 1, 2 meters. The bottom should be in contact with the ground so that the hare cannot crawl.

Winding

With the likelihood of the arrival of hares, you need to prepare in the fall. On the trunks, a winding from a durable material that saves bark and shoots is made. The height should be calculated for the level of the future snowdrift. Therefore, it is better to play it safe and make it higher (1.5 m).

Each owner chooses the material available to him. Some people use old nylon tights, non-woven fabric. The winding is created in several layers in a spiral, this will also serve as protection against freezing. Someone mounts glassine, metal mesh, roofing felt. Recently, plastic bottles have been popular. Cuts are made from them from the middle: the bottom and neck are cut off, the rest is cut lengthwise. In this form, it is easy to put on and remove.

Plant material helps well. For example, fir spruce branches, they are usually covered with bushes. You need to install the branches with the needles / tops down. If there is a cattail growing nearby, which many call reeds, bring it home and line the trunks with it. This plant will perfectly restrict access to the bark. It is only necessary for the stalks of the cattail to make an attachment of strong ropes or wire, so that it does not crumble.

Smells

By the way, it is useful to know the trick with smells. The hare will be scared away by pepper, naphthalene, rosin. To do this, hang a couple of plastic bottles with slots on the lower branches. Smelling substances, rags with rosin varnish are put in them. Given the ability to fizzle out / erode, such "flavorings" need to be renewed several times during the winter.

An effective method is sawdust impregnated with lysol, creolin. They are laid out under the tree in the fall. The impregnation compound is prepared with 50 g of chemical per bucket. During the winter, you need to renew 3-4 times.

Rodent protection

The ubiquitous aggressors are rats and mice, water voles. They eat not only the lower circumference of the bark, but also get to the roots. The fence does not save them from them, and the metal mesh, spruce branches are not an obstacle. We need other ways.

Coating

Reliable methods include applying a clay mixture with a mullein (1: 1) to the stem. When the consistency becomes creamy, carbolic acid is added to the bucket, a tablespoon is enough. The acid can be replaced with slaked lime or add peppermint oil, creolin. Copper sulfate, whitewash VD paint, which are applied in autumn, as well as Bordeaux liquid will help scare off rodents.

Folk ways

Trampling down the trunk circle complicates the movement of mice under the snow. Bunches of mint tied to a tree scare off rats and mice. Elderberry branches and wild rosemary shoots fixed on the trunk will help.

A set of activities will preserve the garden, and you will enjoy a bountiful harvest in the summer.