Possum problem

[permy-ate]

Hi all,

I'm new around here, but from looking at some of the forum posts there seems to be a lot of knowledge and inspitation floating around.

I live in lovely brisbane and have a problem with some pesky possums... they seem to like my basil as much as I do, only they get to it before I get the chance and destoy it! Does anyone know of a non invasive solution to this problem? I've heard that moth balls may work but am unsure about that. I do put netting over the plants but they do still trample on it and break the small amount of new growth that's occuring.

Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[DonHansford]

You could try peeing around the bed - garden bed, that is :rofl: (apparently works best if you are a carnivore)

[permup]

I used to have problems with possums eating my veg, and tried Quassiar (I think that's how its spelled) chips, but they didn't work. Then I found permaculture and realised I needed water ponds throughout my garden to not only attract the predatory critters to my garden, but also to give the possums some moisture. Apparently, that's all they are looking for when they eat our veg. Since putting the ponds in, I haven't had any more problems.

[sun burn]

Wow what an amazing insight. I hope you are right because that sounds better than magic.

[pebble]

That's very interesting Paula. People get mad about the possums here esp when they eat things like roses and veges. I never had any problems (although they did bother me on the roof) and I assume it was because I had an open compost bin and plenty of trees. I think they did eat my neighbours fruit from the trees though. Permy, you could build something stronger for the basil too - try the recycle centre, there's always useful things there for protecting plants.

[permy-ate]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I think I'll try to make something a little sturdier to try and kepp them off, and in time maybe a pond. Not too sure about the peeing though. :rofl: