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Home > Bob on TV > CBS > The Early Show
September 6, 2001
Control the Critters In Your Garden
Helpful strategies for keeping unwanted visitors away from your prized plantings
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Across the country more and more houses are being built in areas that were once the uninhabited stomping grounds for deer, rabbits, raccoons, woodchucks (groundhogs), and many types of birds. So it goes without saying that all too often these critters become pesky nuisances when they wreak havoc on backyard gardens. Successfully protecting a home garden from woodland animals that go shopping for home grown tomatoes, other vegetables and flowers can be very frustrating. We've gathered together a few products that can help save backyard gardens from the pesky critters many home gardeners' love to hate. Many of these items have sound or visual effects; others are time tested home remedies.
In general most animals shy away from pungent or spicy flavors. Therefore, lemon, mint, sage, bitter, and any plants that yield fruit with capsicum (the hot stuff in hot sauce) will prosper in a home garden. If one is unable, or prefers not, to grow plants that deter animals consider any number of the following as a means of saving what is left of a prized garden this season, or the one planned for next year. Keep these tips in mind as you plan a critter control strategy:
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Avoid toxic chemicals - Select Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved chemicals that will not harm animals or children.
Be a good neighbor - Check city noise ordinances and consult neighbors before installing loud noise deterrents.
Team up with the neighbors - Consult with neighbors about common animal control problems; develop a strategic plan of attack all can benefit from; share resources.
Change the deterrent method regularly - Animals can grow accustomed to some deterrents so keep the little critters guessing; try new products in different places.
Deer adapt fast - Be patient, deer can adapt to many uncomfortable situations so be as relentless as they are.
Product Resources:
Yard and Garden Protector - This ultra sonic device works as a deterrent for many mammals. I's so annoying to them, they look elsewhere for food. Deer, by far, do the most damage of all garden offenders--and that's across the country. (America's deer population has soared to 15 million). People build homes bordering on woods. It's natural for the deer to come out of the woods and browse on a homeowner
Ultra sound is also effective on raccoons that destroy tomatoes, lettuce, and carrots, skunks that dig for grubs, and dogs and cats that mess in a garden. What's great about the ultra sonic unit is that it will not offend the neighbors because it emits a sound only animals can hear. The built in motion sensor will detect pests up to 50 feet away and the ultra sound covers an area of 4,000 square feet.
Source: JWB Marketing; $64.00
(URL: www.birdcontrolsupplies.com)
Deer Gard Pro -This "barking dogs" device helps prevent deer damage, however you may want to check with your neighbors first before you let it rip. The Deer Gard Pro uses a recording on microchips of a pack of vicious barking dogs and barking coyotes. Barking sounds alternate randomly to each of two weatherproof speakers creating the illusion dogs are running throughout the area. According to the manufacturer, the device is proven to be effective at night and in situations where the deer's vision is partially obscured. The two speakers protect up to three acres. It uses four different cycle patterns, short, long, medium and extra long so deer don't get use to it.
Source: JWB Marketing; $325.00
(URL: www.deercontrol.com)
Scare Windmill -
As much as deer and other animals like woodchucks and rabbits damage your garden, birds can do damage too. Birds typically damage fruit trees like cherries, small fruit like blueberries, vegetables like sweet corn, and crows pull ups seeds at planting time.
In the past decade Canada Geese have become the scourge of suburbia. Non migrating Canada Geese have grown from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands. Hence, geese can be a nuisance year round. They love grazing on your lawn. Each goose can leave up to 2 pounds of droppings a day. And their droppings can contaminate ponds or spread disease to your children when they play on the grass.
The Scare Windmill has blades painted with a special UV light-reflecting paint. A university professor recently discovered 50-percent of a bird's vision is in the ultra-violet light range. To the geese and other birds the uniquely painted spinning blades look like the flapping of wings of a flock of birds taking off in fright. According to the manufacturer, the 36-inch blades repel birds in up to a two-acre area. The Scare Windmill is a good visual scare device if you have birds damaging your fruit trees, blueberries, vegetables like sweet corn, or tomatoes at planting time—or even if birds are making a mess around your patio or swimming pool.
Source: JWB Marketing; $59.00
(URL: www.birdcontrolsupplies.com)
The Bird Gard Pro - This audio scare device uses digital recordings of bird distress calls in a random pattern. You can program the calls yourself...depending on what species of birds are doing the damage. And the selections can be easily changed. All scare devices should be moved around frequently so the birds don't get used to them. Every unit has seven distress calls and one predator call, a hawk alert call: Starlings, Robins, Linnets (House Finch), Ring-Billed Gulls & Crows, Grackles, Sharp Skinned Hawk (alert call), Blue Jays, Red-Winged Blackbirds. The Bird Gard PRO has a volume control and does not have to be played loud to be effective.
Source: JWB Marketing; $175.00
(URL: www.birdcontrolsupplies.com)
Scarecrow Motion Activated Sprinkler - Gone are the denim pants, straw hat and dangling metal pie pans. Instead, this type of scarecrow is a battery powered motion sensing lawn sprinkler. It detects animals when they come into range and briefly squirts water from the sprinkler head. The water sprays for 3-seconds at a time so there is very little water waste. The device works to scare birds, cats, deer, dogs, opossums, rabbits, pot bellied pigs, rabbits, raccoons, and squirrels. It has a range of 35-feet, and a 110-degree spread that protects up to 1,000 square feet of garden.
Source: Contech Electronics; $79.00
(URL: www.scatmat.com)
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