Pesky Possums

‘It’s just not fair!’

These are the words I hear from my client on the phone desperately holding back tears as she explains to me that now possums have eaten all the lemons from her carefully tendered lemon trees. This was one of those phone calls where the right words escaped me and all I could offer was a feeble ‘I’m really sorry this has happened to your trees’. Thankfully she followed this up with ‘I know it’s not your fault, I just needed to tell someone, and I knew you’d understand’. Considering all the obstacles we must overcome in life, this did seem a touch melodramatic to me, however she was right. It’s very unfair!

I can’t think of a garden pest that it as destructive as a possum and have yet to come across a sure-fire solution to keeping them off your garden. This isn’t to say that I haven’t heard plenty of strategies. Unfortunately, in my experience, some strategies may provide temporary relief for the gardener, but none are a guarantee. I only wish I could come up with a product that works and enjoy the riches that would come from this ingenious product.

In no particular order here are some so called solutions I’ve come across.

• Fake owls from the nursery (You all have seen them).

• CDs hanging in trees. (Apparently, they don’t like seeing their own reflection).

• Dog hair wrapped in stockings. (The smell is meant to deter them).

• Poss Off Spray (A chilli and garlic spray that I found possums to enjoy eating)

• Naphthalene flakes.

• Various plastic spikes placed along fence lines and garden walls.

• Large round discs placed on telephone wires.

• Ultrasonic repellers

This last one makes me laugh. I had a client a few years ago who declared war on possums and got me to instal some hefty timber stakes into his garden and attach some expensive ultrasonic repellers. These were motion activated and emitted a high frequency tone while simultaneously firing off lasers of light. Unfortunately, the next time I came around to do some maintenance, he failed to turn off the repellers leaving me feeling dizzy and fragile after hours of being hit with beams of light and a high-pitched ringing in my ears. Needless to say, the possums continued to strip his camellias.

If your garden is being decimated by possums it may be worth getting a certified possum catcher to trap and remove them for you. Do keep in mind though that this may only provide short term relief until another family of possums come along. Often, I see one tree in the garden that has possum damage while the rest of the garden is possum free. If this happens in your garden, my advice is to cut your losses and leave this as a sacrificial tree and be happy with the rest of the garden. If you remove this tree, you may find that possums target a lot more of your garden. In the meantime I’ll continue to think up my revolutionary possum repellent invention.