Badgers

[brewood19]

Badgers have set up home in an old fox set at the top of my allotment. Does anyone have any advice how how to deter them from uprooting everything on my allotment?

[faerieprincess]

It doesn't look good, not sure there's much you can do!!! Have a look at this site, it gives you a few things to try.

Garden Damage by Badgers

[Two_Sheds]

chris Beardshaw says there's nothing more destructive in a garden than badgers. Even builders aren't as bad!

[Creemteez]

I'd feed 'em If I were you! Invest in a huge bag of bird peanuts and leave trail from near the set AWAY from your allotment. Then leave a huge pile of nuts and a couple of jam sandwiches (badgers LOVE jam) at a safe distance from your lottie. Hopefully, by the time they've polished off their meal, they will be heading in a different direction to your veg, and be too full up on the return journey to bother with anything else! Good luck!

[tricky]

arnt badgers a protected species ,if so maybe the rspca could advise.

[Victoria26]

I like badgers but not when they're eating my hard work and destroying my plot!! I have 4 words for you... "Dougie...Get my gun!"

Hehehehe joke!

[snohare]

There's a reason why there is a saying, "being badgered"...
The damn things are like tanks, there is little will stop them. If their path meets a fence....the fence disappears where the path goes through, they don't do detours !
I am quite fond of them myself, not long since helped do a habitat survey of them, but I wouldn't want to have them on my allotment. I think Creemteez has got the right idea, particularly since once they have established a path they always stick to it. The best remedy is likely to be behavioural - some kind of loud noise, bright light or perfume that is triggered when they appear, that seems to do the trick every time I am with a group waiting long midgie-ridden hours at dusk for the local brocks to appear !

[Eyren]

The resident fox on our allotments does a good job of keeping the rabbits away (nobody keeps chickens on-site) - I'm glad I don't have badgers to contend with!

Perhaps a carrot-and-stick approach will help? Some kind of deterrent, such as a motion-activated light (move it from time to time so they don't get habituated), and a trail of treats to reward them for searching elsewhere?

Re the treats (and the deterrents), learning proceeds more slowly if the reward/punishment is intermittent, but is then slower to be forgotten. The randomness of the reward pattern is what makes gambling so addictive!

[Paulottie]

We have badgers in an abandonned garden near the allotments. yes, they are a bit of a pain when grubbing for worms the odd plant destroyed or uprooted, but not really too much damage.....but when it comes to sweetcorn!!! they flatten the lot just before you harvest. difficult to keep out without an electric fence. I have lost more crops than not over the years.

I love to see the odd badger but this govn't as ever meddling with country affairs of which they know nothing have now caused an epidemic. It is not only illegal to cull them but the sets are protected too. DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO ESTABLISH A SET. There are a few things they dislike the smell of...a spill might encourage them to start a family elsewhere. Wonderful creatures ... but crap neighbours for a veg patch.

[trolleydolly]

We have a badger set at our allotment, and were informed, that the Badgers had managed to upturn a large tub filled with compost, to feast on the carrots! (I didn’t realise they were so strong!!) Apparently I can forget about growing sweetcorn as the Badgers get to them before you can harvest

[snohare]

Found this, sounds like someone is pretty certain what stops them....
[URL="http://www.allotment.org.uk/vegetable/garden-hints/garden-hints-tips-henry-1.php[/URL]
Enjoy !