AusBonsai

Hi,
I am based in Melbourne.
Something appears to be eating the needles off my pines and blue atlas cedars. Plants are half destroyed in only a few days.what could this be and how can I protect them?

Also they are in an enclosed backyard in the suburbs so I don't think it is deer.

It's helpful if you can post a picture or two clearly showing the damaged parts of the tree, it makes it much easier to narrow down.

Have you inspected the trees to see if there is any sign of pests?

Is there any sign of other activity, like pots being bumped?

I get possums, at my place they only eat certain species and others get left alone. Have you heard or seen activity of possums or other creatures roaming at night.

Pets like cats and dogs have also been known to occasionally have a go.

alpacas or goats.

TimIAm wrote: ↑June 13th, 2024, 1:41 pm It's helpful if you can post a picture or two clearly showing the damaged parts of the tree, it makes it much easier to narrow down.

Have you inspected the trees to see if there is any sign of pests?

Is there any sign of other activity, like pots being bumped?

I get possums, at my place they only eat certain species and others get left alone. Have you heard or seen activity of possums or other creatures roaming at night.

Pets like cats and dogs have also been known to occasionally have a go.

On the cedar whole branches have been chomped off.

The white pines look like something has bitten and chewed the needles, with just stubs left at the bases.

Another post suggests ringtail possums - I've definitely seen these around and trees are close to a fence.

I've got ringtail and brushtail possums here, not sure which is the culprit but they will strip a tree bare if they find one that they like.

If it is possums one option is nylon netting, but that means putting it on and taking it off every time you want to look at or work on your trees.

This may not work for everyone, but I believe possums have preferred routes when they travel about yards. Usually if I move my trees 5 metres away or obscure the tasty ones by putting them away from easy climbing locations they tend to survive a lot longer. But, I wouldn't be doing this with expensive trees, only rough stock.

You can also get possum repellent sprays at a bunch of retailers, just do a search for it. Not sure if others have had success with the spray. The ones I can see online say safe for spraying on plants, but if it is a tree you value, maybe try it out on a section first or maybe try spraying around the pot.

If the problem gets too bad or costly, I'd look at a camera with night vision capability. You can get battery operated ones with usb cards that don't need any cabling now for around 100 bucks.

Possums drove me mad. They are essentially big rats, occupying a similar niche. In the areas around me they certainly don't seem scarce. They chew trees, they push off pots, they piss on the fence. The simplest solution is as said, to make the 'tasty' trees inaccessible. Seems that possums have their local preferences, because other members of the local club told me their junipers get eaten, but I never saw that. They certainly ate my cypress, maples, roses. I had no success with trying to erase their scent trail or mask it with products. An idea which I never put into play is as follows.

Get a large pot tray. Cheap plastic. Cut a long notch out of it and mount that onto the fencetop. Now the main way the animal travels is blocked, and they may choose a new path.

Blasting them with the hose feels good, but doesn't stop them returning.

Grasshoppers and caterpillars could eat leaves, but won't snap branches.

A minor possibility is that birds are landing on the trees or benches and knocking things, or that wind is blowing them off benches.

I’d put my 2c on possums.

I fought a fruitless battle with them for 10 years.
The only thing that will work is to build a cage for your trees.

You can do it on the cheap, with poles and just wrap thick chicken wire around the poles.

But obviously you’ll need to cover the top as well. And do it strongly so it supports the weight of one of the fat hairy turds walking across your makeshift cage.
It worked for me. I had mine with a tie down and opening ‘lid’ section that allowed me to easily work on my trees.

But possums are relentless savages. Nothing will stop them. Even with dogs, they’ll just come when the dog is asleep.

I did have bandicoots at one stage, but usually they just dug the pots looking for funnel webs or curl crubs.

My solution has been to place a bunch of galvanised metal rat traps around my benches. It's also deterred the birds from digging up my substrate.

I've walked around my garden and only had to reset the odd trap here and there. The animals seem to learn their lesson after getting a fright the first time.

If I notice a tree has been tampered with, I'll put more traps around that area and cover it lightly with some moss or similar.