I planted 10 unprotected blueberry bushes this spring and something has been occasionally shearing off the growing tips - not eating them, just snipping off anywhere from a few inches to a foot of cane with a clean diagonal cut and leaving the cut piece next to the plant. Likeliest candidates seem to be rabbits or deer, as I haven't seen any groundhogs this year. I don't know if this is going to harm the bushes' growth over the long term and if the critters will back off once the bushes are bigger, but it is distressing. ~emmers

We have about 6 of them. There were two last year, but DH refused to do anything about it. Next year it'll be 18? They are very wary of us. If they hear a door or window open they run into their burrow. No way we could get close enough to clonk them with a bottle of Poland Spring. They are odd creatures. They don't touch the hosta, but they ate a sea holly to the ground. Sea holly? It's all prickles! I had trouble potting up the darn thing, and they ate it. Our battles haven't begun, but my father had one with them on the order of Caddy Shack. He would sit by the window overlooking his garden for hours, screen removed, with a gun across his lap just waiting for them. I think the only thing he managed to shoot was the sprinker system. One year he tried a quarter stick of dynamite and all he managed to do was blow up one of my mother's gardens. He tried concrete as well. Crushed stone. You name it. He gave up. Years later there don't seem to be any more of them. Maybe Coyotes eat them? He's got a lot of those now. We have a friend who has had great success keeping them out of his vegetable garden with an electric fence at about ankle height (nose height to them). His must be stupid ones. They haven't figured out they can burrow under it.

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

Below is an example (not mine) of the retaining wall I have across about 25' of my backyard. The two lower rows of "planting pockets" are being dug out by groundhogs....and when vacated (for NEW groundhog holes)...these "holes" become home to possums and skunks. Chipmunks make a mess in the upper planting pockets. I used to trap the groundhogs but our city no longer "relocates" them...they say you must release on your own property (sort of self defeating isn't it?) and I really do not like to exterminate (there is a lot of land around me where the groundhogs wouldn't be in anyone's way).....anyway I was thinking of shoving strong welded wire mesh deep into the holes. Figure that the wire mesh would deform enough to "lock" in place. then repacking with soil for planting. We actually built a low garden bed (with retaining wall border) at the base of the LARGE retaining wall (to try to dissuade the animals) and now the groundhogs just dig at a higher row of blocks. LITERALLY PULLING MY HAIR OUT!! Does anyone have similar problems? Do you think the mesh might work?