Deterring foxes from digging up my garden/eating roots

Deterring foxes from digging up my garden/eating roots

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AC43

Original Poster:

11,489 posts

209 months

Tuesday 14th July 2015
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I spent a huge amount of time yesterday digging up, moving and replanting some laurel bushes. I went out earlier to get the hose on them to make sure they don't dry out and some fox has dug about 180 degrees round the base of one of them. Lots of the root structure is now open to the elements. I wouldn't normally be that bothered but I've already disturbed them and this won't do them any good at all

I'll stick a load more topsoil down tonight and lay down some hardcore round the base of the plant but are there any other suggestions as to how to deter foxes?

AC43

Original Poster:

11,489 posts

209 months

Tuesday 14th July 2015
quotequote all
The Nur said:
If you could just pretend I've posted a picture of a claymore and a link to that clip of jasper carrot talking about swivelling about on an office chair with a 12-bore that would be great.
:-)

AC43

Original Poster:

11,489 posts

209 months

Tuesday 14th July 2015
quotequote all
Hard-Drive said:
Buy yourself a horse, a red coat, a trumpety horn thing and some dogs. Loiter in the patio area on horse drinking brandy. Should scare 'em away.
This sounds good. Although I might also have to take on a few Scottish Nats in the process. Which is also good.

AC43

Original Poster:

11,489 posts

209 months

Tuesday 14th July 2015
quotequote all
onedsla said:
I've had some creature digging around some recently planted berry bushes. A few rocks around the stems seem to have sorted.
Good to hear. Yesterday was hard work not least because whilst digging I came across loads of broken up concrete and paving slabs.

I've put the remains to good use.

AC43

Original Poster:

11,489 posts

209 months

Tuesday 14th July 2015
quotequote all
Crusoe said:
don't hammer in any sausages HTH wink
Yeah good point.

Also, thinking about it, I did put some chicken pellets and bone meal under this particular plant. And, as it was at the end of the day, probably didn't fill the whole think in properly either.

From a fox's perspective that's probably too much to resist.



AC43

Original Poster:

11,489 posts

209 months

Wednesday 15th July 2015
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5potTurbo said:
Are you sure it's foxes and not badgers?
I don't know if the deterrent's any different though.
I'm in London, deffo foxes - I see them all the time.

They don't particularly bother me apart from digging things up and crapping in odd places - middle of the lawn, back patio, front drive, that sort of thing.

AC43

Original Poster:

11,489 posts

209 months

Wednesday 15th July 2015
quotequote all
blearyeyedboy said:
I had this problem. I used a couple of containers of "Get Off" dog and cat repellent sprayed liberally all around my garden and it worked very well.

Foxes are creatures of habit. Once they get out of the habit of using your garden, you don't have to use it very often at all. Just a little squirt every few weeks after, to remind them that a Big Nasty Predator uses this garden.

The downside was that my angry-psycho-neighbour then accused me of training the local foxes to use her garden instead. hehe

Sadly there is no repellent to deal with disturbed neighbours, so I had to move to solve that one.
I'll give it a go if they keep having a go at my laurels. It turned into a huge job to move them and replant them. Don;t want to lose them.

AC43

Original Poster:

11,489 posts

209 months

Wednesday 15th July 2015
quotequote all
blearyeyedboy said:
I know it's not relevant to the OP but in case you're interested: Badgers are surprisingly lazy, and if you block their usual route they usually can't be bothered to find a way around and go somewhere else instead. The way to keep badgers out is a physical barrier- find out where they're getting into a garden and block it off if you can. I found a hole in a fence blocked by a big rock solved my badger issue.
Foxes, meanwhile, just respond by digging deeper....

AC43

Original Poster:

11,489 posts

209 months

Thursday 16th July 2015
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CoolHands said:
I bought 500g bag of Cayenne ground Pepper powder from these people: ebay and mixed with 500g of bicarbonate of soda to pad it out, bought a cheap flour shaker from a pound shop. Mixed it up in an old tin, filled shaker, liberally shook powder of an evening over entrances to garden where I knew fox was coming in. You could sprinkle on plant base to deter as well. Worked for me.
Good tip, thanks

AC43

Original Poster:

11,489 posts

209 months

Thursday 16th July 2015
quotequote all
onedsla said:
I've had some creature digging around some recently planted berry bushes. A few rocks around the stems seem to have sorted.
Update; this has worked on the original one - once I'd filled in the hole I put dowm the old rubble I'd dug out. I can see where the foxes have been back and have had a half-hearted attempt and have given up.

Just put a load off rubble round the base of the second one.

AC43

Original Poster:

11,489 posts

209 months

Tuesday 28th July 2015
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A few weeks on and all four have taken well. I made sure they'd be well nourished and have been soaking them frequently.

No more fox digging either. The rubble helped, I presume.

Footnote on the rubble; I dug this out when I was planting the bushes. There was loads of it, all tangled in tree roots; looked like it had been there a long time, probably the remains of an old bomb shelter from WW2.

I took it all to the dump the other day and, as it was building waste, I had to have it weighed and pay for the disposal. Turns out there was 120kg of it. Plus another 30kg or so of old paving slabs that I've used to pave in front of the shed.

No wonder it was such a ball ache digging those holes....