Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: harry on March 22, 2010, 12:42
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I've been told not to grow carrots or sweetcorn on my plot because there are badgers on the allotments. Has anyone had experience of this :ohmy: :mellow:
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yep
Badgers love sweetcorn.
I had less thefts with the ones grown amongst the squashes.
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All I know is that when the farmer used to grow sweetcorn in his field behind our house,you could hear the badgers crunching on it at night! ::)
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Same here - I think it was three or four years ago, before my time, they got all the sweetcorn on the site. Rabbit fencing seems to have done the trick though. No problems with carrots though, that I heard.
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I know it must be terribly annoying but I must admit the image of a badger crunching on sweetcorn does make me smile :)
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No badger,as far as know. but we do have a fox that eats sweetcorn, and worms out of the compost heap.
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we do have a fox that eats sweetcorn, and worms out of the compost heap.
:lol:
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I have only heard of one guy who had a problem with badgers and his solution was to deposit dog sh- poo in piles at intervals around his plot.
I think this is a bit extreme and wouldn't recommend it, especially if you have children loose on your plot. Apart from the smell, it can be very toxic, and it mustn't come anywhere near crops.
If your patch is too big to securely wire all around, then prioritise your high risk plants and fence them in.
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you will need to dig your fence in as badgers will dig underneath if they want what you grow . I have heard of them eating carrots as well . The farmer grows afield of maize behind us and the badgers have a rare old time in it as do lots of other animals including my dogs.
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I think i may grow a small patch of carrots and let the badgers have a feed, as long as they don't damage other crops. :D :nowink:
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They just love peanut butter sandwiches - an old boy I know gets them to take them out of his hand. Give them enough and they might just leave your sweetcorn alone> :tongue2:
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yes the cunning fox does like sweetcorn :)
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We have badgers and we put food out for them and they mostly leave the garden alone. We put out peanut butter sandwiches and a handful of peanuts plus any left over dog food or meat scraps. Occasionally we get a stand off between the fox and badger which is quiet a spectical. We do get the odd digging along the edge of the drive but nothing destructive and we have the veg fenced anyway because the rabbits and pheasants are far more of a nuisance.
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I have only heard of one guy who had a problem with badgers and his solution was to deposit dog sh- poo in piles at intervals around his plot.
I think this is a bit extreme and wouldn't recommend it, especially if you have children loose on your plot. Apart from the smell, it can be very toxic, and it mustn't come anywhere near crops.
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I don't think 'Dog S1t' is toxic.
Yes, there is a risk of picking up parasites. Don't get me wrong, Toxoplasmosis caused by a parasite is a big issue.
However, if it is your dog and regularly wormed there should not be a problem. No one is suggesting you or yours should be handling it directly anyway.
Incidentally, you are much more likely to pick up the Toxoplasmosis causing parasite from undercooked meat than you are from dog faeces.
However that cute fox on the allotment may be more of a danger to you than your chickens.
I'm considering using my Millie's deposits along my allotment/field border to deter the deer which graze the adjoining field.
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TRIKI
You are getting slightly confused here Toxoplasmosis can be caught from cats and farm animals and certain types of meat , Toxocara is the worm passed on by dogs,foxes,cats, dog sh1t is nasty but not toxic unless you eat to much of it,
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Talking to an 85 year old who has had an allotment for 50 years and he tells me that they used to get sacks of clippings from the hairdresser's and hang them round the perimeter. Reckons it kept badgers, deer and rabbits out. Don't know if H&S would allow that today. Also used to spread it round his seedlings and slugs won't cross it, and put it in the compost bin. Only moving thing it did not deter was his mother-in-law!
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We've got badgers that come into the garden, and have been told by numerous people that there is nothing you can do if they really want to come in - and they especially love broad beans, so we've decided not to grow any, as the badgers cause too much destruction.
I did speak to a NT head gardener, who used to work at a large estate that was plagued by badgers and she said the only thing that worked for her was to get her male assistant to collect his urine in a bottle, which was then poured on the ground in various places around the estate. Apparently it took 6 weeks of doing this and she didn't have any further bother from them. The urine acts as a scent marker for the area. Haven't had chance to try this yet, but we will be if they come back this year!
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yep male weewee, will stop or at least reduce badgers foxes and deer activity but you do have to keep it going,, as its the scent that puts the animals off..