PVC Pipe In-ground Pots???

I have a problem with squirrels and raccoons digging in my garden beds. I am wanting to plant MG seeds in the ground around the picket fence bordering my patio.

Do you think that using 6" wide pvc pipe and cutting it 7" long would work? I want to bury it 4" deep in the ground and top it with chicken wire. I used chicken wire last year and it worked to keep the critters out.

My question ... If I bury the pvc 4" deep into the ground, will that interfer with the vines growing roots? Would this work or not? If not, why?

If they thought there was sommething down in the newly turned over soil they might dig them up..thinking there was something good inside.. ..
the plants if left alone willl be fine 6"is plenty of width and if they can grow down from there they should do fine..
It reminds me of a masters thesis I read... on planting pecans..... the project was about the squirrels.. they planted the pecans in a regular grid of a few 100 across a field in lines and rows regularly spaced...they tracked the location of the ones they dug up each week... I think they got 78 out of 100 after a month or two..all of them were burried and covered over and they found most of them..
I've heard on slow sprouting seeds.. one can plant them in a tin can and by the time they are sprouting and getting big..the can has rotted enough not to restrict the trunk of the tree..they can sprout and root ...with out the can having rotted away..in the beginning...
I can understand the racoon problem..but they can manage a pipe in the ground if they wish... here they have come down the circular stairway..gone into the kitchen and have taken a few packs of ramen noodles out of a cabinet..and brought them back upstairs to the roof for a snack.. Gordon

Thanks GordonHawk! I just wanted to make sure that 4" in the ground wasn't going to restrict the roots in any way. What deters the critters is the chicken wire. They don't like it! But I needed something to put the chicken wire around that was sitting up high enough from the young seedlings to protect them. I'll let y'all know how this works out.

The pecan project doesn't surprise me! I had planted sunflower seeds in the ground not thinking. I couldn't figure out why none sprouted. The squirrels had great fun digging them all up and eating them! LOL!

LOL! about the raccoons in your house! Too funny! Do they go for the twinkies too? LOL!

I took a youth group camping several years ago. We were very careful to pack all the food securely before going to our tents for bed. During the night a gang of raccoons came into our campsite and made quite a ruckus! I went to investigate with my flashlight. I caught sight of a raccoon who had bitten a coke can and was chugging it down. I couldn't believe it! They managed to puncture ALL our canned drinks. All we found the next morning were empty cans. The sodas were the only thing we left out thinking they couldn't do anything with them! WRONG! I bet those raccoons had quite a buzz that night! I don't ever under-estimate the intelligence of raccoons! LOL!

So tell me... who won the taste test with Racoons? Pepsi or Coke??? LOL

Those raccoons weren't picky about what soda they were drinking. They drank every last one!!! Sheesh!

when we had our raccoons (long story) they would steal every soda can they could get their grubby little paws on... and one day they spilled my coffee.. and drank it.. LOL hyper wasn't the word for it. Got to the point where we couldn't have anything to eat or drink in the room if they were out of their kennel ^_^

Janis

Gordan, I remember the pictures that you posted on the brug forum. Boy, that was strange! But here I don't have a problem with raccoons, its deer.

Mega848.. Dear...
It's .. it's what dear...
well like they have Avid for mites..and seven for other pests..they have one for Deer also... called
30-30... they won't let me use it here in NYC.. but then we're short on Deer.. and don't usually see them above the second floor...I heard the beavers were making a come back in the Bronx River though... NYC was founded as a big beaver pelt town.. and I saw a Hawk yesterday
I hope they come to visit the garden again this year.. perhaps on a day when the cat is sleeping in.
Here's a photo of one of the nursery benches.. well only two more weeks remaining for everyone inside... and not a moment too soon.. then they can fight for space.. with each other on the trellis.. rather than inside with me.. Gordon

That might work well. The only problem I can foresee is a possible drainage problem but you can keep a eye on that one.(Maybe, you could drill some little holes so it can drain where it will be placed into the soil?) It sounds like a good idea to try.

I have sprouted seeds in animal cages to keep critters out. I also sprinkle snail bait in the vicinity of any plantings to prevent now you see it now you don`t cotyledons.

I detest chicken wire but must agree it is the best deterrent for small critters.

Karen

This message was edited Apr 4, 2008 10:03 AM

Okay... I nixed the PVC idea for 3 reasons:

1 - Too expensive (I needed at least 5 at $13 each)
2 - Too heavy (No way was I gonna be able to lift them!)
3 - My dh would kill me if he had to cut them all down many, many times as thick as they were!

So ...

I looked and looked ALL over HD and came up with these. Cheaper, concrete solid, and I can get chicken wire around them. :-) Maybe not as tall, but I think they WILL work! Time will tell!

They are sprinkler donunts. Pretty cool, huh? LOL! And already painted green to match the vines! LOL!

GordonHawk,I immediately started searching the net for the new product to repel deer called "30-30"..LOL!!!!! Duh! Unfortunately we cannot use that "product" in our town either.It's such a shame as my husband and 2 daughters are so proficient in the use of this product.....even took a class.....

Well ... just about got my little MG garden bed project done today! I had to amend the beds deeper. Ran into hard sand, weeds with long roots, and concrete & brick chunks that the builder must of toss in as fill! Grrrr...

I got 10 of the 20 seeds planted. If growing them in the ground doesn't work, I'll go back to pots. This is an experiment to see if I can successfully grow large, healthy MGs in the ground. I am also using the watersorb crystals. I soaked them in MiracleGro Bloom Booster to expand them. We'll see how that works. It gets really hot here and my MGs look like they are melting by mid-day. So am hoping the crystals help keep them hydrated.

Though today, just as I got inside after finishing the beds, the flood gates opened and a major thunderstorm came rolling in. It has been raining all evening. I can just imagine how it will look out there tomorrow. Hopefully, it will start drying up tomorrow and we'll get some sunshine.

I hope to get the other 10 seeds planted tomorrow. We'll see how this goes.

Here is a photo of the weed block netting for the bed. Hopefully this will work and keep the vines from having to compete with any weed growth. Topped if off with pine mulch. I hope that won't be too acidic for the MGs. Any one know?

Now with pine mulch covering the area except the holes in the donuts. I placed a seed in each hole, labeled it (turned label backwards so it doesn't fade as fast), and noted on paper what was planted in what number donut hole. :-) I'll add chicken wire over each one tomorrow. And then I will wait and see how this works!

This message was edited Apr 6, 2008 11:26 PM

any bets on how many of the seeds thay will have already found by tomorrow morning. squirrels AND racoons.. I'd say1/2...75% if you had used fish oil for soaking..all the best there... ..Gordon

Good luck, Becky! Hope GordonHawk is wrong. Thank God I don't have critters 6 stories up.

It rained really hard last night! Major thunderstorms. I don't think much of any critter was out last night. I finished up my seed sowing in the rest of the MG garden bed along the picket fence. I still haven't gotten the chicken wire on them yet. Maybe tomorrow. There is squirrel food and bird seed on the ground under the bird feeder, the raccoon will probably go there rather than show any interest in the sprinkler donuts. I don't soak the seeds in fish emulsion, so I don't think the critters will show a lot of interest in the MG seeds. (I hope.) I just couldn't get to it tonight. Too many visitors dropping in Sunday afternoon and tonight. (Sigh) Hard to get my Spring planting done. Now it's wait and see what sprouts.