Raccoons
Procyon lotor
Clever, dexterous night raiders that take sweetcorn the night before you would have picked it. Electric wire is the one thing they respect.
How to know it
Seldom seen at work, but the tracks are unmistakable: a five-toed hand print like a small child, front and back, in soft ground or on a bird bath rim. The damage is characteristic too — stalks bent over rather than broken, husks peeled back neatly, and a mess left behind rather than a clean theft.
What you'll see
- Sweetcorn stalks pushed over and the ears stripped and half-eaten, the night before harvest.
- Hand-like five-toed prints in wet soil, mulch or on the edge of a water feature.
- Melons and watermelons holed and hollowed out, with the rind left as a bowl.
- Compost heaps and rubbish turned over and scattered.
- Turf rolled back in strips on a lawn as they hunt for grubs beneath it.
Where it comes from
Resident year-round and active mostly at night, denning in hollow trees, chimneys, attics and under decks. Young are born in spring and travel with the mother through the summer, which is why raids often involve three or four animals at once and escalate through August.
Suburban gardens near water, mature trees or storm drains have the highest pressure. Damage is concentrated in the two or three weeks when sweetcorn and melons ripen, and on lawns in autumn when the white grubs are near the surface.
Dealing with it
- Run two electric wires around the corn patch at 15 cm and 30 cm, switched on at dusk for the fortnight that matters — this is the only method that reliably works.
- Tape or band each ear closed once pollination is over, or slip a paper bag over it.
- Harvest at the earliest acceptable moment rather than waiting a day for perfection.
- Take away the other attractions: secure bins, lift pet food, and fence the compost heap.
- Deal with the white grubs if the lawn is being rolled back; the raccoon is the symptom.
Keeping it out
- Close off den sites under decks and sheds and cap chimneys before spring.
- Do not leave windfalls, spoiled fruit or an open compost heap out over the summer.
- Fit motion-activated sprinklers, which work for a while and then stop working, so save them for the critical fortnight.
- Interplant winter squash among the sweetcorn — the prickly vines genuinely discourage them from walking in.
- Keep the sweetcorn block away from fences, sheds and overhanging branches that give a covered approach.
What it goes for
Sweetcorn above all, then melons, watermelons, grapes, strawberries and tomatoes.
See also
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's bestiary at cottagegardencompanion.com