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Will these pods survive?

gasificada

gasificada

Recently I've been having dramas with possums and have had to bring *all* my plants inside at night to avoid slaughter (temporary until I get spare time to build some protection cages). Lugging 30 or so pots in and out every night is no fun (as you can probably imagine). I got lazy last night and left a few out...

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orange habanero plant... stripped

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'Minnesota Midget' rockmelon babies... mauled... which by the way, I resorted to growing in pots in an attempt to avoid a mauling in the first place!

It seems the only plants so far that the possums avoid are my cilantro and curry leaf tree (touch that and they're asking for it!)... but even then I'm not taking any risks and bringing inside at night. Thankfully I still did bring 90% in last night or I would not be one happy chappy right now.

Reckon the O Hab will survive? There is still a few new growth that was overlooked by the pests (that's right, I said it... *pests*). Or will I at least get the pods to still ripen? This plant has been through so much (poor thing) and I will settle for even one pod from it!!
 
you are going to have to work fast. I would make a epsom salt mix with chamomille tea. 500ml water, teaspoon epsom salts, very mild chamomille(made a cup of tea for yourself, to calm your nerves, then use the bag.

put it in a mister and lightly mist the plant.

The magesium is like giving it a b12 shot or viagra - you can pick the analogy. Its not the pod you have to worry about it is the plant. if the pod drops and rots, so what, if the plant is too weak you will lose everything. Then grind egg shells and sprinkle around the plant or ceyanne pepper, something to humble the criters away.

The plant on the left is already dead-no nodes for new growth, the plant on the right has a 50/50 chance.
 
Burning Colon said:
made a cup of tea for yourself, to calm your nerves, then use the bag.
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hahaha but I need something a little more than chamomile to douse my anger!

Burning Colon said:
Its not the pod you have to worry about it is the plant. if the pod drops and rots, so what, if the plant is too weak you will lose everything.
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If I lose the plant, really no biggie, I have more orange hab seedlings growing. But yeah, it would be nice to keep it alive and at least get the two pods to ripen - especially after all the plant has been through (don't go there... the list is long). I must say though, it is one tough plant! It's bounced back from various problems a few times now (for a while there I didn't even expect to see any pods).

Burning Colon said:
The plant on the left is already dead-no nodes for new growth, the plant on the right has a 50/50 chance.
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haha I figured that :) I'm not really concerned about the rockmelons... they were only babies anyway and I have plenty more seeds actually, only just sowed more not long ago). I was just trying to make a point about just how annoying these possums are..!
 
Novacastrian said:
Poison the little rat bastards!
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Ah, it's good to see that not everyone sees them as these funny little critters. To me, they are just big rats.

Of course, I would *never* poison a possum, nor even a rat... I even have a hard time squishing bugs! haha
 
then shoot the bastages if you can't poison them...they are vermin IMO

or at least trap them, skin them, boil them and feed them to your dogs or your neighbors dogs...
 
AlabamaJack said:
then shoot the bastages if you can't poison them...they are vermin IMO

or at least trap them, skin them, boil them and feed them to your dogs or your neighbors dogs...
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:rofl: You and i think very alike AJ!!
 
Damn evil bastards. What a mess they've made. If you have the space, you'd be better to knock up some sort of cage to protect them instead of lugging them in and out every day. Might save time in the long run.
 
Hes Gas,
I'm in Bris too, and we have possums, but they stick to their highway (telegraph poles and wires). I'm guessing you don't have dogs? I have two that constantly annoy the possums, and perhaps thats why I haven't lost anything...tho' now I'm starting to get nervous!! All my plants are in the garden. :shocked:

I hate to suggest this.... but given that they are fiercely territorial, you'd only have one or two (a M/F pair) coming to feed at any given time. Outside of killing them (illegal/messy), trapping doesn't solve anything as they aren't allowed to be relocated more than 100m away, from memory?
Lugging pots in would be a nightmare, so, what if you were to provide a feed for them instead? It's not encouraging them, rather distracting them. They'll take a feed of old fruit over chilli leaves anyday you'd think?!

Doesn't solve your current situation, but might help in the future?
Good luck anyway!
 
Thank god i dont have possums out here in western sydney.

Just indian miner birds which dont seem to interested in my few pods so far.
 
gasificada said:
hahaha but I need something a little more than chamomile to douse my anger!
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Don't you spray your plants with moonshine!!!:stop:

AlabamaJack said:
then shoot the bastages if you can't poison them...
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I thought about poisoning them with Plumbum in a dose of about .22 or more.
 
Wouldn't an infusion of really strong Capsaicin work if sprayed on the leaves??

I would have thought that sacrificing the two pods would have helped the plant recover more quickly? Just a thought...
 
I've tried spraying plants with garlic, hot peppers and even oleoresin extract and while it does help you need a gas mask to apply the stuff, and it needs to be re-applied after rain. I'm actually going to try this with some housplants that my kitten is destroying.
There is also a "piss off plant" that is supposed to deter cats, dogs etc that might work with possums.
I would also agree that your plant will likely recover quicker if the pods are removed
 
My neighbor has like thirty cats literally, and i can't poison or trap them. luckily they just fertilized my soil but they never cover it up:) possums are nasty!
 
SeeYouJimmy said:
Damn evil bastards. What a mess they've made. If you have the space, you'd be better to knock up some sort of cage to protect them instead of lugging them in and out every day. Might save time in the long run.
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hahaha my thoughts exactly! especially since I have some more little guys just about ready for potting... add an extra 10 or so pots to the ones I bring in already? no thanks! now the only thing I need is some spare time......

tooninoz said:
Hes Gas,
I'm in Bris too, and we have possums, but they stick to their highway (telegraph poles and wires). I'm guessing you don't have dogs? I have two that constantly annoy the possums, and perhaps thats why I haven't lost anything...tho' now I'm starting to get nervous!! All my plants are in the garden. :shocked:

I hate to suggest this.... but given that they are fiercely territorial, you'd only have one or two (a M/F pair) coming to feed at any given time. Outside of killing them (illegal/messy), trapping doesn't solve anything as they aren't allowed to be relocated more than 100m away, from memory?
Lugging pots in would be a nightmare, so, what if you were to provide a feed for them instead? It's not encouraging them, rather distracting them. They'll take a feed of old fruit over chilli leaves anyday you'd think?!
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dogs? I wish! Would help solve the problem I'm sure! Although I did tell the cat to keep guard.... don't think she took any notice hahha

Hmmm :think: the idea about feeding the possums may hold something... although I'm far too paranoid that it would be encouraging them! I'm almost positive they would prefer a feed of fruit rather than leaves... the first raid they did get stuck into pods... but I'm pretty sure they learned their lesson and now chase seedlings and new growth (and in last nights case, the *whole* of the growth!). Damn stupid possums I tell ya... go seek some fruit somewhere!! Why bother with my leaves!?

LancelBracken said:
Thank god i dont have possums out here in western sydney.

Just indian miner birds which dont seem to interested in my few pods so far.
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I sometimes get crows hanging around that make me a little uneasy... not sure if they pose a threat or not yet........

huntsman said:
Wouldn't an infusion of really strong Capsaicin work if sprayed on the leaves??

I would have thought that sacrificing the two pods would have helped the plant recover more quickly? Just a thought...
Click to expand...
Hmmm, that may be worth a shot too. Any ideas on how I would go about mixing this concoction?

As for sacrificing the pods for the plant... don't know if it's worth it. Not sure if I will even keep the plant... as much as it has grown on me (we been through so much hahahha). Of course, if it does bounce back, I'd find it very hard to get rid of... It's one tough plant!

POTAWIE said:
I've tried spraying plants with garlic, hot peppers and even oleoresin extract and while it does help you need a gas mask to apply the stuff, and it needs to be re-applied after rain. I'm actually going to try this with some housplants that my kitten is destroying.
There is also a "piss off plant" that is supposed to deter cats, dogs etc that might work with possums.
I would also agree that your plant will likely recover quicker if the pods are removed
Click to expand...
Cats destroy plants!? As in eat them or just trample and "play" with them? I've seen our cat eat cat grass that we got her, but she seems reluctant to go too close to my chillies and other plants (maybe she senses what will happen if she does hahaha). Of course, she doesn't have a chance to get too close either... she is rather a house cat and plus my plants are locked away where she can't get to them at night.

As well any ideas on that concoction?
 
Noshownate said:
My neighbor has like thirty cats literally, and i can't poison or trap them. luckily they just fertilized my soil but they never cover it up:) possums are nasty!
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Fertilized your soil..? as in..? I thought that was no good for use as fertilizer?? Personally, I wouldn't be able to handle the smell! hahaha

but hey, if it works.......
 
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