Posted on 07/01/2025 5:32:22 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
They seem less likely to burrow under an electric fence, but a really determined groundhog will try to find a way over/under whatever you put up.
Here’s a fencing ‘solution’ with pictures that seems to have worked:
https://ourediblegarden.org/gardening/solution.html
My previous post was at 4:30 in the morning, so it’s obvious I’m not sleeping well. Got up at 5:45 to a very foggy morning, totally socked in. We’re 1/2 mile from the river so we get a lot of river fog in the mornings & it usually burns off fairly quickly when the sun comes up - today the fog is especially heavy.
I have the irritating task of dealing with/canceling our trash pickup service today. Back in late May/June, they didn’t pick up our trash for a month, despite multiple contacts (you have to do everything online). I finally got a call from the local operations manager who convincingly told me he just heard about our issue(s) & whatever trash mess we had (a months worth), they would clean it up. They did, so I gave them another chance & didn’t cancel. Now the problem has started again - missed pickup, filed a report that was confirmed by email, trash should have been picked up yesterday at the latest & I still have a can full. They’re getting canceled today because I just can’t stand the hassle any more. The local landfill is 10-15 minutes away & I’m going to see how much of a hassle it is to take the trash there myself. There’s also a local company that I am considering with an office just down the road in town - the current company is a national one.
More enjoyable ... going to check out some bagged compost at the Farm Bureau today. If it’s not too pricey, I’ll get a couple of bags for one of the metal raised beds that just got filled with dirt. I want to plant my red hot poker plant & the ‘clearance’ echinachea that is hanging on, but looking poorly. Being out of a pot and in decent dirt should help both of them.
Thursday is a rough weather day with flood watches in the offing. That is the day the cooler front with lower dew points moves through. EVERYONE is excited at the thought of a break in the brutally muggy, hot weather. I have a couple of projects I’ve put on hold until the heat dome is gone so I’ll have plenty to keep me busy outside. After Friday, the forecast is showing 0% chance of rain for the next 7 days and temps in the upper 70’s low 80’s. What a gift that will be!
Howe can you tell when tomatoes are ripe enough to pick and let finish indoors?
And what conditions do they need?
I started bringing my tomatoes inside to ripen, with great success. I would bring them in when they started to show a blush of color. I put them on the kitchen counter in a low-sided cardboard box or on a cookie tray lined with newspaper. I read somewhere NOT to put them in a window & from experience, they don’t need sun to ripen at that stage. Our house was air conditioned so in the 70’s. The tomatoes ripened up beautifully, still tasted great and no bugs, birds taking hunks out of them, etc.
One year, I brought in a bunch of green tomatoes before a freeze was forecast that night. Several of the larger ones ripened - I have a picture of a ripe red tomato in my hand early December, with snow in the background!
I haven’t lost a tomato to varmints since the electric fence was deployed.
Over the years I’ve had some success live-trapping groundhogs. A watermelon slice is good bait for that.
I’ve also had a lot of success feeding them a 40gr. lead pill from Mr. Ruger.
Haven’t tried tossing smoke bombs in the hole.
Thanks, all. The little critters are incredibly cute—and destructive.
Pete! Ping to Post #823.
Metmom: Pete does this, so I pinged him for you. At the end of the season I take whatever mature GREEN tomatoes I have left and wrap them in newspaper, put them in a cardboard box and keep them in my pantry/laundry room (unheated, but still stays in the 60’s) and check them for ripeness each week and use them as they ripen.
I don’t have a problem with critters stealing ripe tomatoes, so I leave mine ripen on the vine.
Tunnels are popular for tomatoes for small farmers but they tend to have more than one tunnel and use one or more just for tomatoes. They did a survey of Kansas farmers using tunnels and some were starting tomatoes 4-6 weeks earlier than in the field so there's definitely a benefit.
I really should start shopping Johnny's for seeds because no one else has the filters they do including greenhouse/tunnel rating.
Cauralina looks like a good candidate for a dual purpose tomato for the tunnel. Johnny's is very proud of them at almost a dollar a seed ($13.75 for 15) but if I could grow 15 plants in one row in the tunnel and get 2-3 loads of sauce plus a few to snack on, that would work.
Getting enough at one time from an indeterminate for a canner load is another story. Cauralina are 8-14 oz so at 8 oz, two per lb and I need 30-42 lbs which is 60-84 tomatoes? (Pozzano are 4-6 oz - if 4 oz, four tomatoes per lb or 140-168 fruits - insane)
So for all you tomato sauce/juice makers; Does 30-40 lbs or 60-80 or more fruits seem right for a canner load? How do you store tomatoes until you have enough for a load? Peel and freeze?
Once they start undermining major structures (like our horse barn & shop) & tearing up the garden, climbing into the fig bush & depriving us of fruit, etc., they aren’t so ‘cute’ any more. Around here, it’s “war”!
It’s humbling to realize you’re matching wits with a rodent!
Yes! :-) In addition to digging like a backhoe & climbing (I’ve seen one go up a tree), they are exceptionally wary & very determined if you have something they want to eat.
A good dog (one that will chase & potentially kill) is one of the best deterrents.
We only had two this year. Thankfully. I kept trying with the .22 but they were always looking up towards the house and they run and are fast. Asked a friend whose son is a farmer. Groundhogs can cost him 20K a year in lost soybeans. He sets 5 traps a day each right inside the hole entrance. When the varmint comes up it trips it and in killed at the neck. He is over 95 as of last week from those 5 holes. Probably has hit 100 since we talked last. His dad brought a trap over and within a week had gotten them both.
This is what our farmer friend and his Dad use. It comes in a couple of sizes. I am guessing the large one. I would say 100 is pretty awesome success for 5 holes around a soybean field. https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/insect-and-animal-control/animal-traps/8680837?store=15625&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20158972738&gbraid=0AAAAADtqLJEIYgZ1XqhaQgUjo68ARwzu1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwhafEBhCcARIsAEGZEKJPhcqViU7A_nNX_i_hwo-pCM43Uya91qVZDiqE2nJYXKjHgHcliKMaApB3EALw_wcB
The farmer is probably using Conibear body traps. You can put them in a hole, blocking it, & it can get them by the neck or body as they go through. These traps are dangerous to handle & you have to make sure domestic (pets) dogs & cats don’t have access, or any other animal you don’twant to kill. There are also laws in some places that apply to these kill traps.
I wish I could use them, but the neighbors have cats that visit & while they aren’t likely to go in a hole, I don’t want to chance it.
Yup, that’s a Conibear type trap.
That makes sense. They can easily be hit with a .22 as long as they don’t see you first. Good luck!
That’s the problem: “if they don’t see you first”!
The rascals are SO observant, if they see a door or window open, they’re gone. I read about one guy who got so frustrated with a groundhog diving in its hole every time he opened the screen door, he finally just shot it through the screen!
At the end, the author gets libby / greenie silly. Hunting IS possible in a suburban area IF one wishes to put the time in: Get proficient with a bow and arrow, or, get a .22 subsonic pellet rifle with a scope for "quick" accuracy if desired. A subsonic .22 pellet is not very loud and should still kill a groundhog, but if one doesn't wish to hunt the varmints, the fence will work. Which costs more in terms of time would be an interesting study. I'm not sure how long the chicken wire in the ground will last in various soils (alkaline to acidic.)
The Coleus canina plants I'm using are annuals, but, may (may?) come back from seed by themselves? According to Brave Search:
Coleus canina plants can self-seed, particularly in growing zones 7 and above.
That has both good and bad aspects depending on location. Who wants to have to pull up stinky weeds?
Continuing, Brave states:
The plant's flowers can produce seeds that may lead to new plants, but it is recommended to pinch off the flower stems to prevent self-seeding and encourage the plant to focus on root and leaf development.
Additionally, the plant can take root at the point where trailing branches touch the soil, and these self-layered rooted branches can be severed from the mother plant and transplanted.
I forgot to mention, the potted Romas had an “ok” early “first wave” of a few fruits, and then a pause, and now look to have a pretty decent 2nd round (more and larger fruits). It’s as if each plant is in lock step with the other Romas, despite not all in exactly the same conditions.
The Mortgage Lifters are curious plants. Left in a small pot, but otherwise good conditions, they behave like happy little dwarf tomato plants, instead of trying to outgrow the pot, as most varieties do. In a big pot or in the ground, they grow big, but somewhat slowly.
I had a very similar darn problem with my trash pickup company. They missed me for over a month, I complained repeatedly, no result, so I didn’t pay them and they terminated my service. Wifey has started service with another company, but their reviews are not great. So, we shall see. A LOT of stuff I can burn, but not the plastic and metal based stuff, of course. :-(
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