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prairiemoon2

Woodchuck! Now what?

We started seeing a few tomatoes on the ground with bites out of them. I thought it was the squirrels because little else was being disturbed. Then I put some broccoli transplants in and some of the leaves were quickly missing, looking like they were snapped off. We had a sunflower growing out front and the seeds were ripening and I noticed something had started eating them. I wondered if it was birds, but I wasn't seeing it happen.

Then I saw that it looked like a plant next to it was a little disturbed and a chunk was missing from a sunflower head, branches on the ground. I still thought maybe a squirrel.

Today we were looking out the window and started to see a Brussels Sprouts plant start shaking and something moving around in the bed. My DH thought it was a bird. I tried to get the binoculars but still couldn't see anything and then the bed seemed empty. I kept looking around the yard, and suddenly saw a woodchuck dashing into the back bushes. Had to be an adolescent, it was not very large.

So, this is the time when the youngsters in a family start looking for their own territory, right? We have been picking the tomatoes with a blush now, to avoid losing them. There's really no more broccoli plants for them to be attracted to. I haven't seen them eat the older Kale plants, didn't touch the string beans or cucumbers, that I can see. I am just sowing spinach and have some small lettuce seedlings just coming up.

Any suggestions? I would like to eat the lettuce and spinach but other than that, not a lot growing in the garden. We had a lot of cover crop growing which we are
in the process of turning under.

My biggest concern is that he will designate our garden as his territory for next year. If I pull all the vegetables out of the garden now, will that encourage him to look elsewhere? I already cut down the sunflower and have the rest of the seed heads in the house drying.

Comments (23)

  • grandma44
    9 years ago

    Your biggest concern, that he will designate your garden for next year, isn't a realistic concern. A lot can happen between now and next year including his demise. And since the garden won't be producing during the winter he will have moved on to greener pastures.

    Or you can just trap and relocate him now if truly worried.

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks grandma, I did look them up and they do hibernate in late October. So if he has a den nearby, he could fatten himself up on my garden and go into hibernation. They wake up in March, just as I'm starting my spring garden. So that seems like more potential for nothing bad to happen to him between then and now.

  • Peter1142
    9 years ago

    There are a lot of Woodchucks in my neighborhood. They tend to eat grass and weeds, and in the fall they have been eating flower heads. They do not prefer fruits. My 6 foot fence has kept them out of my garden this year, but my neighbors with a 3 foot fence did not spare so well. They pee on my house, dig under my porch, and are a major nuisance. The 6 foot fence also did just fine to keep out the deer we have heavy pressure from, they could jump it if they wanted but with all the other things they have to eat they aren't motivated enough.

    They come and go and I wouldn't worry too much about it for next year, if you are concerned about animals eating your vegetables put up a fence with an underground skirt. You could just as likely get a swarm of rabbits or whatever else next year, and that will keep a lot of animals out.

  • sunnibel7 Md 7
    9 years ago

    Pretty much your options are the same whatever the pest- tolerance, deterrence, exclusion, or death. I find woodchucks to be very aggressive eaters who will decimate the things they like and quickly. Makes sense, they are trying to put on a good layer of fat before they hibernate for 4-5 months. I can't tolerate them for that reason, and they are hard to deter. If your garden is a reasonable size, a fence might be a nice option. Be warned they can climb, so you need a floppy-topped fence. You can humane trap them and (less humanely some say) relocate them. The usual option taken around here is to shoot them. But that is only doable if you live in this sort of area. They can live a long time, I've been watching the same one in the bottom field for 4 years now. She's got a characteristic red belly that is like a beacon when she sits up to check for danger, so we call her Big Red. I often contemplate the fact that she is likely the source of the annual woodchuck invasion but always decide to leave her alone. After all, she is staying put down there. The dog does the job of deterring (or deathing) the ones that try to make a home near the house and garden. Good luck.

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for all your input. We have a fence around the property, unusual in that two sides are 6ft stockade and two are 4ft post and rail and picket. Not wanting to replace the fence at this point.

    We've been vegetable gardening here for 30 years and had a woodchuck problem only one season so far. A Rabbit or two, we see occasionally, but we have clover in the yard and so far that is all they've eaten. Had one or two chipmunks for a few years, didn't see any this year. Never see a raccoon. Have seen a possum a few times and used to notice a skunk in the neighborhood once in awhile, but not for awhile. No deer. I feel very fortunate.

    The one season we had a woodchuck, it was intolerable. They ate everything in sight. I may borrow my son's dog for awhile to see if that won't deliver a message.

    Thanks!

  • calliope
    9 years ago

    Yes, and next spring there may be groundhog pups with which to deal. This year, they've been my garden nemesis, and not racoons or deer. They turned on bed of green beans into bonzai, just now producing for the first time since planting and I lost the last of my spring cabbage from a one night foray of a g'hog into the cabbage patch. Here is the second run or early fall cabbage, note the fence around it? Ha. He got in, but couldn't get out and was trapped with the evidence. Twelve heads devoured and numerous younger plants nipped on the stalk and left lay. He didn't eat the carrot foliage, but it was beaten into the ground by his pacing around the fence, trying to get out.

  • calliope
    9 years ago

    flattened carrots

  • planatus
    9 years ago

    You have my deepest sympathies.

  • Persimmons
    9 years ago

    I had the exact same issue with a woodchuck who would get trapped inside the garden bed. The first year I ever successfully grew zucchinis, the woodchuck had managed to get inside the fence and devour the entire garden patch. He took a few bites of tomatoes, ate all of the beans, etc etc.

    My cat didn't like being attacked when mr. woodchuck'd roam the garden, and was bitten by the woodchuck on the head! Luckily the cat is sly and once recovered, ended up killing the woodchuck by trapping him inside the garden. It was a gross clean-up, but it solved our woodchuck problem!!

    I wish you all the luck, they're frustrating to eliminate.

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Calliope, Wow, thatâÂÂs a great photo of how much damage they can do. So crazy isnâÂÂt it, that the fence couldnâÂÂt keep him out but locked him in!

    Persimmons, very annoying when they take a bite of a tomato then leave the rest of it on the ground. WhatâÂÂs with that? [g]

  • galinas
    9 years ago

    I heard they are pretty testy) After I lost whole second crop of carrots due to the woodchuck eat all the foliage I am thinking about eating... a woodchuck) Just need to come up with a way to convince my hubby) He has special thing to furry guys and can't agree with me on the next dinner menu)

  • tommyr_gw Zone 6
    9 years ago

    They are rodents. Where I am you can't shoot them (Houses are too close) and it's illegal to trap and release them elsewhere. And costs $200 - $250 to have them removed by a company. So I will trap and drown next year. They decimated my Dino Kale this year.

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    Original Author
    7 years ago

    Luckily I didn't have any damage from the woodchuck at the end of the 2014 or the beginning of the 2015 season. I just stopped seeing him and I don't know what happened to him. I really dodged a bullet. But this morning, I saw a juvenile woodchuck in the next yard on the other side of my 6 ft stockade fence. He was investigating under a porch. That neighbor has a dog, so I can't see how it will set up house there. We have my son's dog all day, so I hope that will deter him.

    I just planted out seedlings into the garden this afternoon. For overnight, I've turned pots upside down over the broccoli and kale plants with bricks on top, but in my other bed that has lettuce, onions, cabbage and bok choy, I couldn't do that. I covered them over with argon and anchored it down with bricks, but I doubt that will keep one out.

    We are considering trapping him. If I did do that, what do you bait it with? I'm out of broccoli, is there any other vegetable that they can't resist? What about an apple? Would peanut butter make it more enticing? Any other ideas?


  • Barrie, (Central PA, zone 6a)
    7 years ago

    Agree Tommy, those work the best if you have access to their hole.

    For havahart traps salt seems to work best as bait. The smell of another groundhog is even better so if you catch one and another is around you'll likely catch it too without bait. Likewise if you get rid of one from a hole others will move in.

  • rgreen48
    7 years ago

    I've caught woodchucks in Havaharts using apple slices smeared with peanut butter.

  • Allison NWNJ 6a
    7 years ago

    I recommend a terrier. I have two terrier mixes and they dispatch of any groundhog foolish enough to enter my yard. I used to try to stop them, but those rodents are nasty and will destroy a garden. My only fear is the dogs tangling with a rabid one. In the meantime, they are an efficient team and I let nature run its course.

  • dbarron
    7 years ago

    Allison, I'm really surprised that as small a dog as a terrier can handle a groundhog, unless yours are smaller than ours. My australian shepherd got some bites and cuts dealing with one, and he would be several times the size of most terriers.

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    Original Author
    7 years ago

    RGreen - thanks, I thought I heard apple and peanut butter worked.

    Allison - that is interesting - I wondered about that. I have a dog here during the day only and two neighbors on either side have dogs. It's not a terrier but a 60 pound lab mix.

    Will just having a dog in the yard deter them from coming in the yard? What about having the dog mark it's territory along the lot line?

    And is it true that Woodchucks are not around at night?


  • Allison NWNJ 6a
    7 years ago

    I have two mixes each half pit. One if half boxer and one half hound. They're both about 60 lbs. simply having them around certainly does not scare off the vermin. The fools keep showing up. So far this spring, the dogs have caught 3 chipmunks and a small woodchuck, but they have gotten very large ones in the past. And they've occasionally gotten the scars to prove it. Those woodchucks are mean!

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    Original Author
    7 years ago

    Oh that's too bad Allison, that just having a dog won't keep them out of the garden. Actually, they've always seemed pretty bold to me, either that or not too smart. You would think that any wild animal would try to avoid another animal three times larger though. Your dogs sound like quite an asset in the garden!

  • zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin
    7 years ago

    "Woodchuck! Now what?"

    Chuck roast? ;-)

    I've found them to be pretty easy to trap, once I know that I have one...usually in a day or two. The Havahart traps work quite well. If you can find the path where the woodchuck enters the garden (or enters your yard), place the trap there, either under existing vegetation, or covered with leaves or hay. Dried apricots work well as bait for any rodent; the strong scent attracts them, and the apricots will last for days regardless of weather.

    Placing the trap next to an existing fence has worked well for me too, since the animals (almost any herbivore trying to get in) have become accustomed to the smell of the metal, and as they explore the fence perimeter (I've watched them do this), the open cage will just look like a way in. Last year I caught a woodchuck that way with no bait at all (but see next paragraph).

    Just a note of advice on live traps... you don't always know how many animals visit your yard, until you put out a trap. Woodchucks should be killed, but other animals should be released - and releasing an angry adult possum or raccoon can be a challenge to your good intentions. After a couple scary experiences, I rigged a wire (something they could not chew through) to open the trap remotely.

    Helpful hint: the time to install that remote release wire is before you catch something with claws and teeth. :-0

  • rgreen48
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    "Helpful hint: the time to install that remote release wire is before you catch something with claws and teeth. :-O"

    Or white stripes down its back!

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