Possums!!!!

Hi Everyone,
After a break from the forum due to moving house and illness, I'm back and now need your help!  My new garden, very neglected in the past, has now got a new garden bed across the back fence.  This faces South and backs onto private land with many trees growing on it.  Unfortunately, although the view is lovely, I think I've got trouble with possums!  I have planted a couple of rose bushes in this bed, including a climber. (Another to go in in June/July time.)  I noticed from the kitchen window this morning, the tallest stem on one rose which nearly reaches the top of the fence, had been "nibbled" and 4 buds had completely disappeared.  What can I do?!  I really don't want to loose flowers and buds from my climbing David Austin.  It's only recently been put in!!!
Apart from getting my gun, I don't know what to do!  HEEEEELP!!   

Is it possums or is it parrots...... what you describe is what the pesky parrots do to my roses....

Oooooh! never thought of them!!  There are quite a few parakeets around, or maybe they are lorikeets.  sorry, I'm not good on birds!  It's just that I noticed the "damage" when I was standing at the sink, just after breakfast and assumed it had been done over night. If it is the bird population, what if anything, can I do?  A scarecrow on the fence perhaps?  No, seriously, any thoughts?  

you can string over the top, old cd's or one or two of the mobile hawk like shaped characters........

Sue it sounds like possums to me. I have the same problem with a Graham Thomas that grows beside a fence within reaching distance of the possums. We have heaps of possums here. They nibble buds and young growth. I just cut the canes closest to the fence when I can be bothered. I did try sprinkling black pepper on young growth and that seemed to deter them, but you have to keep that up as rain washes it off. What else? I believe there is some strip that you can attach to the fence that works as the possums don't like to walk on it. I've heard it works OK. There's also lifesize "owls" that some nurseries sell, don't know if they are effective.
We also have an assortment of rainbow lorikeets and parrots that breeze in to feed on flowers and fruit from time to time. I've never seen them feed on my roses. They seem to prefer trees.
Hope you find some solution to your problem, I know how annoying it is.

Sue , I feel for ya , as I have the same problem here .. all my roses in the back get chewed by the possums .. pests they are grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr   

Thanks Everyone.  Well..... frustration is the word!  Last night, my little dog wanted to go out at the unearthly hour of 2 am!  She didn't bark, but ran furiously up and down the fence line.  This is why I think it is possums and not parrots.  Either way, I'm not a happy chappy!!   Will take a drive down to Bunnings and see if they have that strip you are talking about Silky.  If that doesn't work, I'll try John's suggestion of the CDs.

It think the CDs are more for deterring birds than possums, Sue. I can testify that those life-size owls don't work to deter birds either. My husband bought one because he thought it was cool - didn't realise for years that it was supposed to deter birds, which it didn't do anyway (thankfully - I love our birds visitors).

What might work for possums is installing a 'floppy top' on your fence - I know people do this to keep foxes out. If you do a google image search for 'floppy top fence' you'll see what I'm talking about. But this might not work if the possums are climbing onto your fence via trees, rather than climbing directly up the outside of your fence.

Good luck! Keep us posted.

A well known rosarian once told he kept the possums at bay by hanging small bags of dry ground dog faeces strategically throughout the garden. If you have the stomach to make up the bags it maybe worth a try. 

I must admit I haven't had any problems with possums although we live in an area in which they inhabit. 

Oh, I also heard that scattering snake skins around will deter rats and possums. We keep pet pythons and I tried it. Didn't work!

(Incase you were tempted to catch a snake and steal it's skin.... Hahah).

Hey!, Doug....you can come over here anytime and take these parrots back with you and feed them over there......they are killing my roses to a point where I am going to give it away or put fly net over the top of them....

Neptune, is it those black cockies? When I was growing up those black cockies used to descend on our backyard in a big swarm and eat all the little green almonds off our almond tree. We never got an almond off that tree, but I didn't really care because we could buy almonds at the shops whenever we wanted, but we only got to see the black cockies covering that tree for about a week every year. Mum told me they're not around Perth much anymore.

we have the white ones en mass......

Some years back we had a pecan nut tree in the backyard and the cockatoos ate the nuts.

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Cockatoos eating amongst my roses.

Well ...... thanks everyone!  At least you've made me laugh!!  Noooo, I wasn't thinking abut catching a snake, I'm terrified of them!  Will look on Mr Google for a "floppy " fence! LOL  Ir's just the visual which makes me laugh! LOL.  What would I do without you lot! LOL  

neptune wrote:Hey!, Doug....you can come over here anytime and take these parrots back with you and feed them over there......they are killing my roses to a point where I am going to give it away or put fly net over the top of them....

And being in a suburban setting you don't quite have all the "options" that we have...   

We used to find that once they had got a taste for something the only way to really put them off was a death (or two).

  :kaboom:

At our old house we have to use chicken wire over the top of the geraniums so the King Parrots don't strip them back in early autumn. And I mean shred.   

hate those cockys....... they strip the roses of all there buds, by chewing thru the stem under the bud about 3-4 inches down....... the worst part is that they don't even eat the bud.....

Your right...just   

Do you guys think that is I left food (fruit) out at night, it would deter the possums from eating my roses as Doug does by feeding the cockatoos in his garden?  OR.... am I completely nuts?! LOL  

It's a big risk as you might finish up with possums from miles around frequenting your garden and this could be disastrous for your roses. My situation wasn't by design and I went with it because it was working.

Thank you anyway Doug.  Apparently there is a product called "Poss Off".  Does anybody know anything about it or if it's any good OR.... is it's another rip off!!

Sue, are they coming from the trees to the roses or via the fence ?, if it is the fence, that is where I might start with some sort of deterrent.

SueH wrote:Thank you anyway Doug.  Apparently there is a product called "Poss Off".  Does anybody know anything about it or if it's any good OR.... is it's another rip off!!

I've never heard about really good results. Of course, your mileage may vary...

That's true.  I haven't come across anybody who has used it.  Roseman, it's a little difficult to say whether they are coming from trees or fence!  There are 2 trees on the fence line in one of the corners.  Then, presumably,  they trot along the fence top or just climb the fence!

No chance of a shot of the trees/fence is there Sue. My thoughts are to run something along the fence.