This is a follow up to a recent post by Pam Moore.We had serious
problems on our allotment site in the last two years with badgers
eating carrots,parsnip tops and sweet corn.On the latter they usually
wait until the cobs are quite ripe,and then pull the sturdy stems over
(badgers are strong) and eat the cobs.Pigeons also attack sweet corn
if they can find a suitable perch to attack them from-then the sweet
corn plants remain vertical with the husks eaten away on the plant.
I am just beginning to harvest my sweetcorn now and am in fear and
trepidation of seeing a demolition site whenever I go down to the
allotment.This year I have grown courgettes between the sweetcorn,so
at least have one crop if I do suffer damage.I have also erected a
cover of 6" square plastic netting as a canopy to stop the pigeons
flying in,and also to make it difficult for the badgers to pull the
stems over.
One other thing-if it is badgers there will be other evidence such as
a large dug hole (12" wide)used as a latrine.Foxes make much smaller
holes.
Let me know if this agrees with your observations
Michael

On Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:59:02 -0700 (PDT), michael
wrote:

This is a follow up to a recent post by Pam Moore.We had serious
problems on our allotment site in the last two years with badgers
eating carrots,parsnip tops and sweet corn.On the latter they usually
wait until the cobs are quite ripe,and then pull the sturdy stems over
(badgers are strong) and eat the cobs.Pigeons also attack sweet corn
if they can find a suitable perch to attack them from-then the sweet
corn plants remain vertical with the husks eaten away on the plant.
I am just beginning to harvest my sweetcorn now and am in fear and
trepidation of seeing a demolition site whenever I go down to the
allotment.This year I have grown courgettes between the sweetcorn,so
at least have one crop if I do suffer damage.I have also erected a
cover of 6" square plastic netting as a canopy to stop the pigeons
flying in,and also to make it difficult for the badgers to pull the
stems over.
One other thing-if it is badgers there will be other evidence such as
a large dug hole (12" wide)used as a latrine.Foxes make much smaller
holes.
Let me know if this agrees with your observations
Michael

Thanks for that Michael. As you describe, the stems were bent right
down to the ground, and the corn totally eaten off the husks, some of
which were still on the stems, some off. The cobs were just ready for
picking; I'd had 4 or 5; delicious!!!
The guy who told me it was foxes mentioned a latrine hole on another
allotment, but I don't know the size. I must ask him. Interesting.
A couple of neighbouring allotment holders had put wire mesh screening
round their corn, about 4 or 5 feet high, with strong poles. Theirs
suvived. Plastic netting was trampled. Mine had no protection.
We have no deer in the area and certainly no wild boar. Nobody has
reported either.
We have a lot of pigeons about but they would not pull the stems over,
nor could smaller animals. Deer would eat them without breaking the
stems, I think?
There's no certainty. I've not heard anybody mention turnip tops but
carrots were the other crop eaten all over the allotments.
Good luck with yours.

Pam in Bristol

In article ,
Pam Moore wrote:

We have no deer in the area and certainly no wild boar. Nobody has
reported either.

Er, have you any idea how rarely muntjac and roe are seen, even
where they are resident? Unless you live close to the centre of
Bristol, you assuredly DO have them in the area.

We have a lot of pigeons about but they would not pull the stems over,
nor could smaller animals. Deer would eat them without breaking the
stems, I think?

Eh? Why? Muntjac are c. 18" high at the shoulder with low heads.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:39:25 +0100 (BST), wrote:

In article ,
Pam Moore wrote:

We have no deer in the area and certainly no wild boar. Nobody has
reported either.

Er, have you any idea how rarely muntjac and roe are seen, even
where they are resident? Unless you live close to the centre of
Bristol, you assuredly DO have them in the area.

We have a lot of pigeons about but they would not pull the stems over,
nor could smaller animals. Deer would eat them without breaking the
stems, I think?

Eh? Why? Muntjac are c. 18" high at the shoulder with low heads.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Our allotmenteers have complained about badgers, but
nobody has mentioned seeing deer or hoofprints. However the ground is
so dry and dusty that no incriminating footprints of any sort were
left, but a latrine hole was mentioned though I didn't see it. My
remaining corn cobs were around 2 feet above the ground, which sounds
about right for deer of that size.

Thanks. Nothing will bring back my sweetcorn but I don't like
mysteries. Badgers having been the only larger animals experienced
here before, so I still think they are the culprits.

Pam in Bristol

In article ,
Pam Moore wrote:

Thanks. Nothing will bring back my sweetcorn but I don't like
mysteries. Badgers having been the only larger animals experienced
here before, so I still think they are the culprits.

Could be. My point was merely that you can't rule out deer just
because you haven't seen them. The same as for foxes and badgers,
incidentally. Sweetcorn is a more likely deer target, but that
doesn't prove that it is deer.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick wrote ..
Pam Moore wrote:

We have no deer in the area and certainly no wild boar. Nobody has
reported either.

Er, have you any idea how rarely muntjac and roe are seen, even
where they are resident? Unless you live close to the centre of
Bristol, you assuredly DO have them in the area.

We have a lot of pigeons about but they would not pull the stems over,
nor could smaller animals. Deer would eat them without breaking the
stems, I think?

Eh? Why? Muntjac are c. 18" high at the shoulder with low heads.

We would never have thought we had Deer in this quite built up area but a
neighbour was sitting out in his garden this summer when there was a clunk
on the 5ft tall fence and a Muntjac deer landed next to him much to the
surprise of both. He has now seen it a few times eating the windfall apples
etc so it must be living in the back gardens all around.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London

On Sep 18, 3:23*pm, Pam Moore wrote:

Thanks. *Nothing will bring back my sweetcorn but I don't like
mysteries. *Badgers having been the only larger animals experienced
here before, so I still think they are the culprits.

Ho ho ho, big greenie's back! ; }

On 2009-09-18 15:23:20 +0100, Pam Moore said:

On Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:39:25 +0100 (BST), wrote:

In article ,
Pam Moore wrote:

We have no deer in the area and certainly no wild boar. Nobody has
reported either.

Er, have you any idea how rarely muntjac and roe are seen, even
where they are resident? Unless you live close to the centre of
Bristol, you assuredly DO have them in the area.

We have a lot of pigeons about but they would not pull the stems over,
nor could smaller animals. Deer would eat them without breaking the
stems, I think?

Eh? Why? Muntjac are c. 18" high at the shoulder with low heads.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Our allotmenteers have complained about badgers, but
nobody has mentioned seeing deer or hoofprints. However the ground is
so dry and dusty that no incriminating footprints of any sort were
left, but a latrine hole was mentioned though I didn't see it. My
remaining corn cobs were around 2 feet above the ground, which sounds
about right for deer of that size.

Thanks. Nothing will bring back my sweetcorn but I don't like
mysteries. Badgers having been the only larger animals experienced
here before, so I still think they are the culprits.

Pam in Bristol

No danger of it being human animals, presumably?
--
Sacha

On Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:57:42 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2009-09-18 15:23:20 +0100, Pam Moore said:

On Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:39:25 +0100 (BST), wrote:

In article ,
Pam Moore wrote:

We have no deer in the area and certainly no wild boar. Nobody has
reported either.

Er, have you any idea how rarely muntjac and roe are seen, even
where they are resident? Unless you live close to the centre of
Bristol, you assuredly DO have them in the area.

We have a lot of pigeons about but they would not pull the stems over,
nor could smaller animals. Deer would eat them without breaking the
stems, I think?

Eh? Why? Muntjac are c. 18" high at the shoulder with low heads.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Our allotmenteers have complained about badgers, but
nobody has mentioned seeing deer or hoofprints. However the ground is
so dry and dusty that no incriminating footprints of any sort were
left, but a latrine hole was mentioned though I didn't see it. My
remaining corn cobs were around 2 feet above the ground, which sounds
about right for deer of that size.

Thanks. Nothing will bring back my sweetcorn but I don't like
mysteries. Badgers having been the only larger animals experienced
here before, so I still think they are the culprits.

Pam in Bristol

No danger of it being human animals, presumably?

Certainly not 2-legged rats! They would have taken the whole cob.
The empty husks were all over the place!

Pam in Bristol

On 2009-09-18 21:15:34 +0100, Pam Moore said:

On Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:57:42 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2009-09-18 15:23:20 +0100, Pam Moore said:

On Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:39:25 +0100 (BST), wrote:

In article ,
Pam Moore wrote:

We have no deer in the area and certainly no wild boar. Nobody has
reported either.

Er, have you any idea how rarely muntjac and roe are seen, even
where they are resident? Unless you live close to the centre of
Bristol, you assuredly DO have them in the area.

We have a lot of pigeons about but they would not pull the stems over,
nor could smaller animals. Deer would eat them without breaking the
stems, I think?

Eh? Why? Muntjac are c. 18" high at the shoulder with low heads.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Our allotmenteers have complained about badgers, but
nobody has mentioned seeing deer or hoofprints. However the ground is
so dry and dusty that no incriminating footprints of any sort were
left, but a latrine hole was mentioned though I didn't see it. My
remaining corn cobs were around 2 feet above the ground, which sounds
about right for deer of that size.

Thanks. Nothing will bring back my sweetcorn but I don't like
mysteries. Badgers having been the only larger animals experienced
here before, so I still think they are the culprits.

Pam in Bristol

No danger of it being human animals, presumably?

Certainly not 2-legged rats! They would have taken the whole cob.
The empty husks were all over the place!

Pam in Bristol

I hope that's verging on some kind of comfort! At least it's natural
and not malicious. ;-(
--
Sacha

On Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:43:22 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2009-09-18 21:15:34 +0100, Pam Moore said:

On Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:57:42 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2009-09-18 15:23:20 +0100, Pam Moore said:

On Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:39:25 +0100 (BST), wrote:

In article ,
Pam Moore wrote:

We have no deer in the area and certainly no wild boar. Nobody has
reported either.

Er, have you any idea how rarely muntjac and roe are seen, even
where they are resident? Unless you live close to the centre of
Bristol, you assuredly DO have them in the area.

We have a lot of pigeons about but they would not pull the stems over,
nor could smaller animals. Deer would eat them without breaking the
stems, I think?

Eh? Why? Muntjac are c. 18" high at the shoulder with low heads.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Our allotmenteers have complained about badgers, but
nobody has mentioned seeing deer or hoofprints. However the ground is
so dry and dusty that no incriminating footprints of any sort were
left, but a latrine hole was mentioned though I didn't see it. My
remaining corn cobs were around 2 feet above the ground, which sounds
about right for deer of that size.

Thanks. Nothing will bring back my sweetcorn but I don't like
mysteries. Badgers having been the only larger animals experienced
here before, so I still think they are the culprits.

Pam in Bristol

No danger of it being human animals, presumably?

Certainly not 2-legged rats! They would have taken the whole cob.
The empty husks were all over the place!

Pam in Bristol

I hope that's verging on some kind of comfort! At least it's natural
and not malicious. ;-(

C'est la vie!

Pam in Bristol