Ringtail possums eating my trees!

Aquaman · Post by **Aquaman** » January 2nd, 2015, 9:16 pm

I have a collection of about 30 young trees on a raised bench. Mostly maples, elms, oaks, redwoods and pines.

Over the past few weeks my trees have been savagely eaten by ringtail possums.

I see ringtails in the area a lot and each morning there is poo in every pot, which I have identified as ringtail possum poo (thanks Google). There are poo "pellets" of varying sizes so I am guessing there is a whole family of them feeding at the all you can eat tree buffet.

So far I have tried the following:
- Moving some tress to the ground, because I read that they don't like to feed on the ground.
- Sprayed all the trees with Poss-Off.
- Put vaseline and vaporub along the top of all the surrounding fences. Apparently they hate the smell.
- Put metal spikes on the top of the surrounding fences.
- Sprinkled generous amounts of blood and bone around the base of the trees. Apparently they hate the smell of that too.

None of these deterrents have made any difference, in fact the more I do the worse it gets. Below are photos of 2 maples that were covered in healthy leaves 2 weeks ago.

Anyone got any ideas?

I want to stop them before they kill all my trees. They have already killed about 10 of my Giant Redwoods.

I really don't want to cover the trees in netting if I can help it because it would look so ugly.

Cheers,

Derek

Andrew F · Post by **Andrew F** » January 2nd, 2015, 9:20 pm

Derek, I was just at someones place on the north shore with an old and extensive collection who has the same problem with the local possum population. He mentioned a unit that puts out a hyper sensitive sound that human ears cant detect yet drives possums away in droves. I'd have a look into that to protect your collection. HTH and best of luck.

Rustdust · Post by **Rustdust** » January 2nd, 2015, 9:30 pm

many councils hire out cat/possum trap's, bit of stuffing around to trap and relocate though ... do you own a dog ??? if not may be time to get one.

Rustdust · Post by **Rustdust** » January 2nd, 2015, 9:56 pm

Ok so Ring tails cant be trap legally in Vic,not sure about other states and as I suspected even if you did manage to relocate, the vacant territory would soon taken over by other possums.

Sounds like the suggestion by Andrew F may be your best hope especially after reading this article

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/devou ... 32mrg.html

Beano · Post by **Beano** » January 2nd, 2015, 10:00 pm

I got an owl, didn't work. I was very vigilant and I could hear my possum in the tree when it was around. I always watched with the lights off to see if it would jump onto my balcony and if it did I sprayed it with a water spray bottle (what I use on my cat when she's naughty). It would leave and I hope it made the area seem more hostile but it would still get in an occasional nibble. It was not worried by the cat at all, but she was only a threat from indoors.

You can get motion activated water jets to deter them for $99. But they're intelligent so unless you move it all the time they'll figure out ways to avoid it.

edmandy · Post by **edmandy** » January 3rd, 2015, 8:32 am

I have a few brushtail possums living in my backyard trees. I put fruit out on a tray for them every night, and they leave my plants alone (touch wood).

Post by **kcpoole** » January 3rd, 2015, 8:34 am

I had trouble with cats at my last house and got one of these to stop them
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/like/1308354 ... 107&chn=ps

mine is the one on the left.
Dunno if they work for possums, but worth a try.

Ken

Ryceman3 · Post by **Ryceman3** » January 3rd, 2015, 9:24 pm

I've had similar probs with a ringtail & it's baby, even went to the extreme of waiting up for it and then spraying "Poss Off" directly "Poss On", I even modified the spray nozzle to ensure maximum impact...! Worked for a couple of days, I was graced with their absence - but in less than a week they were back chewing on my spring growth! Others will move in if you try the re-location option... and it might well be a case of "better the devil you know" so maybe give one of the ultrasonic sound gizmos a run and let us know the results, I'd be pretty keen to hear if they're an effective deterrent.

Good luck, they're persistent little buggers...

Brian · Post by **Brian** » January 4th, 2015, 10:54 am

possums hate the smell of dynamic lifter so thats a way to stop them.

isimiyaki · Post by **isimiyaki** » January 4th, 2015, 1:39 pm

Hi If you buy fine bird nylon netting and spread it loosly around your benches, either at pot level or on ground they won't want to get tangled up.
Make sure that there isn't an overhanging tree branch as they may jump down onto your bench.

it has worked for my vegetable garden.

Aquaman · Post by **Aquaman** » January 5th, 2015, 12:58 pm

Thanks all for your replies.

It's interesting that Dynamic Lifter was suggested. When I first set up this bench all the pots had a layer of DL on top and I didn't have any possum issues. Since then the DL has broken down, the smell has gone and the possums are eating all my trees. This may be a coincidence, but I think I'll try DL again and see if that helps. I hadn't made the connection, previously.

I'll also try some fine netting around the pots.

If that fails I'll invest in an electronic device.

I appreciate all the replies.

I'll report back on what worked.

Ryceman3 · Post by **Ryceman3** » January 5th, 2015, 6:54 pm

Please do report back!
I've never used DL to deter possums but it seems like a low cost option with clear benefits if it turns out to fertilise your stock whilst repelling possums. Win/Win!
It's interesting you found the possum problem escalated when the DL broke down... very interesting...

Aquaman · Post by **Aquaman** » January 15th, 2015, 7:16 am

OK so its been a week since I added about 1cm of dynamic lifter to all of my pots. I bought the original version, not the low odour version because I want it to smell to deter the possums.

So far the results have been quite positive. I haven't found any new possum droppings.

However I think the jury is still out because there are a couple of factors that mean this isn't exactly a fair test:
1. We have had a lot of rain in the last 7 days. In the past I have noticed that possum activity is reduced when its wet.
2. All the new growth on my trees had already been eaten, so there is definitely less for them to eat now.

I think the true test will be next spring. I must remember to add some DL before the new buds appear.

Unfortunately I have lost a few trees in the past week. I guess the rather aggressive possum defoliation was too much for them.

I'll try to remember to update this in a few months time.

JaseH · Post by **JaseH** » January 15th, 2015, 7:48 am

I've had to battle with possums this year, I dont like your chances simply using fertiliser to repel them. I found that as soon as I got comfortable thinking that they weren't bothering my tree's anymore and they'd start to recover, I'd come out one morning to devastation again!

I found the only way to stop them was to physically prevent access to the trees, I did this using tree guards around the trunks of the nearby yard tree's to prevent them from descending to my poles and benches and fitting an electric fence wire so they couldn't get access from the fence. The only way they can get access to them now is along the ground and the dogs seem to be enough of a deterrent to prevent that.

My next step if this didnt work was to set up a motion trigger for my watering system so it would come on if it sensed movement amongst the trees at night.

Ryceman3 · Post by **Ryceman3** » January 16th, 2015, 4:02 pm

Sorry to hear you lost a few trees Aquaman, lets hope that the DL does the job for you from here on! I might stick a bit down and experiment too although I haven't noticed as much possum activity of late - I reckon the wet weather may have something to do with that, will post any results ...

AusBonsai