Two large green tomatoes got chewed up yesterday -- who knows about electric fences?
Hey everybody, I'm thinking an electric fence around the existing fence would be a good idea. I've found a solar device which can power 3 to 5 miles of fencing, and we only need about 300 feet, perhaps doubled or tripled -- have a loop at ground level, or an inch or so above the ground; one halfway up; and one at the top.
https://www.harborfreight.com/solar-fencer-47454.html
However, I'm not sure whether this is the best device in class; and, I also need the accessories, like the wire and wire holders. Our existing fence is 5' (1' buried in the ground) galvanized steel with 2-inch squares I think, on these green metal posts. We also put 2' of chicken wire at the bottom, to keep critters out.
I'm thinking those ceramic holders that kinda look like an empty spool of thread, could be secured with twine or something non-conductive, through the holes in the green metal fence posts. Does that sound right?
Walking back from the garden this morning I saw a woodchuck run under one of the sheds. That may be the culprit!
@grow-pro can you help here? Do you know anybody who could?
Thanks in advance!
Hello again, my friend! @libertyteeth, you are too kind! You're a true #libertyprofessional.
I'm not able to speak on which electric fence in the best, but I have had a few. The property we bought last year had an electric fence (what was left of it anyhow). I removed it because we typically do not have a problem with critters and we don't have pets that require one. The deer are my biggest issue with my garden, but a crossbow solves that problem 😆.
I had to dig around my hardware in the garage, but I found something that works great for running electric fence through. It's non-conductive and it screws into a post (might want to have a screwdriver handy to leverage/turn it). These were what our electric fence had cable running through. It can handle some hefty cable gauge - 1/4" opening in the eyelet
I have a split rail fence and at one point, the previous owner, had about an acre fenced in for his dogs. They had a tornado that took out a large section of the fence and I have been removing (slowly..haha). The dog fence was wired directly into the garage panel, so solar might be a better option.
I'm not sure what these are made out of, but it looks like cement with a porcelain coating over it (though I'm not certain). Wanna find out what it's made of?
Say the word... We'll find out what's inside 😋
Open 'er up! :)
We got another large chewed tomato on the ground today, this time half-eaten! The new position of the camera didn't detect anything either -- but it's at the back of the garden, and the tomatoes are at the front. I'll move the camera towards the front.
It had been watching the squash, as I kept finding blossoms on the ground and thought a critter was eating the developing squash and leaving the blossom. I even spent $200 on an A24 rat trap (thankfully, they've said I can return it) but that wasn't the case for the squash -- I looked it up, and the male flowers fall off; it's only the female flowers that turn into squash. So, no wonder the camera never found anything back there...
Considering keeping the trap, as it might lure the woodchuck in as well. Don't like killing things I don't eat, but then, don't like them taking things I'm supposed to eat!
Oh, and neat hashtag, it converts it into a link to that topic -- but there aren't any liberty professional posts! Think we'll need to rectify that. :)
Dang, @libertyteeth that's a wise move placing a camera out there. What kind of support are your using for your tomatoes? With a typical tomato cage
I use a bird netting mesh to wrap the lower portion of the cage, once its set up. I have a similar problem with robins nesting in the tomato plants! And they peck holes in the tomatoes. I don't really know if raccoons eat the fruits, but we have them around here too. I use a combination of things because I haven't really found anything that works 100%. It also makes some of the pruning and picking obstructed - which wouldnt be all that bad if it worked better! I laid chicken wire across the ground when I had some ground-critter issues. That seemed to slow down the problem because animals don't like to step on chicken wire. But, neither do I! And when weeds grow through it - forget about it.
Are the tomatoes that are half eaten - green or ripe red? I find overly ripe tomatoes will fall off the vine sometimes if you look at them funny. I was picking yesterday and had a few fall off as I reached for them - simply from moving the vine a bit. If the tomatoes are overly ripe - collect seed from them. (if they are not a hybrid variety of tomato.)
The squash can be tricky, but the bees usually take care of the flowers. I know at least for a femal pumpkin flower to produce a fruit it takes 10 or more trips of a bee from a male to a female flower! You can also try hand poliinating the female flowers with the males that dropped.
The #libertyprofessionals tag has been having issues for some reason. We have a few posts on steemit regarding our plans, but @finnian explains it much more eloquently than I - Liberty Professionals: Friends Who Are Fighting To Further Liberty's Cause
As the "communities" feature becomes a reality for Steemit - we are preparing to gather. It is an open group, similar to a guild, that we hope will further provide networking for those who support liberty. We are still in the very early stages here on Steemit, but the concept is one that we have been tossing around for a few years. As I can free up some time towards the end of the growing season, I will be focusing more on this platform. Thanks to @finnian, we've got a steemit.chat channel - Liberty Professionals Steemit.Chat if you ever care to join us there.
As far as the garden goes, maybe setup a decoy - pile some tomato scraps near the camera to see what has the most interest in those tomatoes of yours. That trap might just have to be set. I agree, "Don't like killing things I don't eat", but I'm not a fan of being starved either 😉 I was a graphic artist starved into tomato farming, so the next thing to try starving me goes on the grill.
LOL loved your ending!
Yeah we're using cages right now, the kind you showed and also the square type which hooks to itself. Next year I think I'll use what I saw at my friend's landlord's this past weekend! Of course then netting becomes more difficult, but we've got time to figure something out. :)
Perhaps netting would keep both birds and walking critters out?
The chewed ones are green, both the one with a bite that I saw today, and also the three we've found on the ground.
We have some extra chicken wire, so I could put that around the tomato plants -- they're all at the beginning of the garden, first four or so plants in the right-most three rows, so I could surround them without using too much fencing. But now something is attacking our pepper plants! Removing leaves and flowers but I didn't see any missing peppers. So I need a solution to that as well, which just might be that A24 trap I haven't returned yet...
Yeah I've been seeing bees hard at work on the squash, and we have several now developing and took one zucchini last week for a salad!
I'm actually following @finian, I recognized the name -- but I haven't seen much from him. I don't like the feed, I've followed too many I guess... :) I'd like the ability to make categories for those I'm following, e.g. "close friends", "liberty-related", "gardening", "abstract art", etc, and then have each of those categories appear in the top menu, e.g. "home new hot trending promoted" would have the extra groups I create, to the right. That'd give me much better interacting capabilities, and interacting is why we're here, right? :)
I liked the hand pollinating article -- it didn't mention that after removing the male blossom to pollinate the female with it, you can bring it inside and fry it up! :)
Neat to see your artwork on finnian's post!
I just took some time to read some of the #steemgigs, and found a disabled graphic designer in the Phillipines who I most likely will have do an intro for my videos! https://steemit.com/steemgigs/@oppaniayu/my-first-steemgigs-offering-logo-animation-services-for-video-intros-or-openers-for-vlogging-dtube-youtube-and-more
Just joined Steemit.Chat, and said hi on the channel (but nobody was there it seems :) ). Now I can't seem to get back into that room; I have three, that one, and "general" and "postpromotion". Any idea? I just see a blank page to the right, when I click either #libertyprofessionals, or the link in your comment above -- do I need to be approved, or something? Here's a screencap:
Thanks for your help and friendship.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment, @libertyteeth. I am dealing with a hot water heater issue here at home base, but I will absolutely give this a proper response as soon as possible. Thanks again, my friend! I've got to shop vac some water 😬
You're welcome! While you're running the shop vac, enjoy Jonathan Coulton singing about it! :)
That song is great, but accompanied by the graphic art video - It really kicks ass! I can appreciate the talent involved and the musical notation on the guitar solo was super creative! It was all around well done. I'm going to bookmark this 😆 I hope there's more like this @libertyteeth
Yeah I love almost every one of his songs; I think there are two that I skip, out of hundreds.
A good intro is his movie/concert, "Best. Concert. Ever.", which is also on YouTube:
And, I believe the same artist who did the Shop Vac animation also did Weird Al's "Word Crimes":
JoCo's "The Presidents" is another favorite, and I'll stop here! :)
Haha...yep...just the female flowers on squash, melons, pumpkins etc.
As for rat traps.... I set two old fashioned wooden spring traps(rat size).... And after a couple days, caught two big rats.... But now they all avoid them. Have had a couple springs, but no catch. Rodents are pretry smart with good memories!!
That's funny, that was similar to my experience. A month or more ago, I had set the 8 $2 rat traps I bought out, with half a grape on each I think, and the next morning one trap was sprung but nothing was in it. No traps ever sprung after that!
I'm ambivalent about the $200 A24 rat trap. I want them to stop but I don't much like killin'...
@libertyteeth, YOU ARE A LIBERTY PROFESSIONAL - #libertyprofessionals
Nice, thanks! :)
Thank YOU, @libertyteeth! And also a thanks for the tag error headsup - I made the tags both plural and it seems that might have been user error (me), not the platform.. I did correct that in the post.
I'm guessing the critters will find their way around an electric fence especially if you have some diggers.
4 of these on a perimeter pointed into the garden might work. Since it is hard to keep them out you can try to make them feel uncomfortable when they get inside. Reviews seem to be good. Less work too. Solar powered and motion activated.
https://www.amazon.com/Ultrasonic-Repellent-Operated-Waterproof-Repeller/dp/B06XTLFTDG/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_86_bs_tr_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=W48AB7370CKM59C87186
Neat, thanks!
it's too bad to hear that a woodchuck chewed your large tomatoes. yes i also think an electric fence is a great idea. i hope you fix your electric fence soon.
Looks like you've got a stalker as well...
yes he is pressing the wrong button continuously.
Birds get our tomatoes... And sadly, electric fence won't do anything about them!!
I'm thinking of setting up mirrors around...their own reflection might scare them away....that is.....if the mirrors aren't too fogged up in the mornings...we have had really high humidity.
Set a $200 A24 rat trap up yesterday, along with 8 cheese-baited $2 rat traps. None of them triggered. I had forgotten to put the SD card back in the game trail camera, so didn't capture anything.
Garden looked good while watering, and also I noticed high winds were waving the tomato plants in front of the solar-powered owl, so it was hooting every five seconds or so. If it did that all night, that might have been the trick.
Would a scarecrow work for birds? I saw reference to a "water scarecrow" recently and searched for one on Amazon and read up on it, neat device; uses 3 cups of water each time so it's not wasteful either.
Thinking of putting up a scarecrow on a swivel, so the wind will turn it. I'll watch for damage over the next couple days. Really cold this morning, might not have a lot of growing time left!
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
I tried to chuck some wood at it, but I missed. :)
I have known @grow-pro a little bit and i think he is doing a good job with his farm and so i know he would have an idea of what to be done. I think you found the right person.
Thanks!
electric fence will be good ,if you have the finance.you can try solar fence. do you know how to install the solar fence?
Well, never done it before, but it shouldn't be too difficult. Just need to keep the wires from touching the existing fence. Looking for advise from those who've done it before with this post -- does the one I posted a link to look good, cost too much, etc. Thanks!
wow high tech
Yeah, the issue needs to be dealt with one way or another. Already got a game trail camera, which isn't capturing them! Moved it today to get a better view of the tomatoes. So, expect them to attack the lettuce tomorrow. :)
I dun not wanna spam you, but I do some gardening myself... Imma send you a link and spam your wallet in a minute lolz...
Anyway what I do, is like building a "tent" for them, gonna have to take some pics tomorrow for you to see... But pls check on my these years tomato's:)
And that 60$ bucks thing seems cool to try if you wanna go that way... But what do I know about electricity haha
Cool thanks yeah I saw that in the wallet and upvoted and stuff. :)
I just read a book "Basic Wiring" (a Time-Life book from decades ago), it's really simple! I think it's really neat. I'm getting ready to install a ceiling fan, perhaps I'll do a time-lapse or something. My background is software and there tends to be a "wall" between the hardware and software side, even more so between software and "trades" like electrician, farmer, etc. Really cool that I'm learning the other side now. :)
Ty Bossman!
That post is around 20days old so I hope your SteemJuice wasn't taken...
Ahh books. Its been a while since I read anything on paper unless it was from IRS lolz I do read a lot online and try to build my knowledge up every day!
Was always "nothing" just a regular guy who left high-school to play poker full time. After 10 year I realized "I have to do different things to get different results", moved from the city to kinda a #wild-man area. Found crypto along the way, @steemit & we are here lolz... I still play(NOT AS MUCH) as its a cool income to have from time to time, but I see now that nature was missing in my life to fully enjoy it... Makes any sense?
Good luck with your learning, I think you will do just fine;)
Oops, I don't always look to see when a post was made. Oh well! Back into the reward pool it goes!
hehe sometimes it happens to me 2, but a few times it refused to take a vote... Like in the 12hour period, but it was not 12hour before payout... Weird... lolz