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Ozarks Gardening

**##!! groundhog!!

16 years ago

Some of the leaves of my sweetpotato vine were missing. So I sprayed with Liquid Fence. We saw the groundhog enjoying lunch the next day. So I sprayed again. He came back and ate all the leaves off the vines. Now I have a trap out baited with lettuce. Hope he comes back so I can relocate him. Is there a spray that is effective with groundhogs?

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Comments (5)

Marian_2
16 years ago
So sorry Mary. I had a groundhog eat all of my row of sweetpotatos down to the ground! I opened the kitchen window and gave it a dose of lead poisoning, right between the eyes! Then I couldn't stand to see the dead body, so I covered it up with a tub until my DH came home from work and hauled it off. That was about 25 years ago.
I really doubt that there is some repellent for them. I hope you get the problem taken care of.
gldno1
16 years ago
Speaking of groundhogs.............last week, dh yelled at me from the living room to come quick...dashed in to see something sitting on the back porch. dh said it had stood up on its legs and looked in the storm door at him. By the time he got his shoes on and got the gun, it was gone. I didn't check my sweet potatoes this morning....We finally figured out it was a very young one. He still had a very dark coat with just a few white hairs in it. It looked like a very large squirrel. That is only the second live groundhog we have very seen.
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I've killed my share over the years. I didn't like it or look forward to it, but it had to be done. No one here said anything about enjoying killing animals. They are rodents that carry diseases and eat my food. I kill them with the same mindset that I set a mousetrap with..I hope it's quick and the animal doesn't suffer, but it has to go. I grow my food because I prefer it to store bought. Gardening is not easy, and rodents make it that much harder. I've had a garden here for almost 30 years and this year is the worst I've ever seen for groundhogs. There seems to be a population explosion ...my neighbors and I have killed at least 10 between us this year, and we are very rural. In years past, maybe I had 1, some years none..but this has been a bad year.
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Vaherbmom THANK YOU!! meldy_nva Pine-Sol! The smell is overpowering but makes so much sense!! I was going to run a hose about 10’ into their hole and funnel a quart of ammonia followed by a quart of bleach. Bend the hose into the hole and cover it with dirt but the exhaust is so much cleaner:) The University uses dry ice at the same time on multiple holes covered with A LOT of wet dirt and then they hold. They standby because the students would remove the dry ice (the non home owners felt it to be cruel) My issue is living between immigrants that believe animals have a place in the world. They do! But not when they damage your property! So she continued to feed them by dumping her table scraps and compost in the alley behind our houses. She felt differently when her yard was excavated for a sewerline break. The workers explained that the absence of support structures caused it to snap. I have used conibear traps in the attic for squirrels, just be careful to do so when there is no chance youll be leaving behind unfed helpless babies. For folks that have groundhogs in open fields contact your local Jack Russell Terrier club. They might have to dig a hole or two to get the dogs out but GO TO GROUND is what JRTs were bred to do. My 16lb baby caught the 30lb animal she was feeding and I left it for her to bury so she could see what she created. Point being if your neighbors arent on board, theyll just comeback later. 16lb JRT foot, 30lb groundhog under the first step closest to the ground. JRT 1: Chuck 0
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My groundhogs come out in late afternoon and early morning..no problem seeing them. I have shot them, trapped them with conibear traps, and used gopher smoke bombs. All 3 work,,depends on the circumstances what and when you use them. I prefer the smoke bombs because then I don't have to handle a corpse...you just have to seal their other entrances, light the stick, put it in the hole and cover that hole with a garbage can lid. They come in "herds" here...they are a constant problem and can wipe out a garden very quickly. I am always on watch for them and get them before they get my food.
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christie_sw_mo
16 years ago
Sweet potato leaves must be tasty. Do you think the plants will leaf out again?
We've only seen a groundhog a few times in the 19 years we've been in this house. I've been lucky so far. They haven't bothered my plants at all (yet). Something tried to steal a watermelon one year but I don't know what it was. I found it several feet from the vine.
Maryo - Did you see the picture I posted awhile back of a groundhog in a tree?

Here is a link that might be useful: Look what my dogs treed
oakleif
16 years ago
We have a well behaved groundhog that lives by where our road joins the highway. Now i hope he stays there.

Christie, We had a deer tromp on a watermelon breaking it up and eating it several years ago. He left his hoof prints all over.
vickie
maryo
Original Author
16 years ago
Saw your picture Christie! I didn't know they could climb trees until last July 4th. Someone shot off a fire cracker in the neighborhood and I heard this commotion in the vacant lot next door. Sure enough, groundhog in the tree! The trap has been out 2 days now. Nothing. I cut the vines back to nubbins and the leaves are starting to sprout.

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