The common brushtail possum is perhaps the most familiar marsupial in Australia. They can adapt to various kinds of environment, that’s why they hang around the urban areas and busy cities of Australia. While the high adaptability of possums may be amusing, it’s actually alarming especially to a lot of homeowners. Possums may be small and adorable, but they can be pesky and cause considerable damage to houses and gardens.
Importance of Possum-proofing your Garden
Possums are folivores. They feed on the leaves, flowers, buds, fruits that are abundantly present in your garden. These creatures can overgraze and damage the plants and trees in your yard, especially at night when these nocturnal animals are awake.
Possums may also find their way into your home and dwell in the ceilings and recesses of your house. When they do so, their occasional stomps and noises may bother you. You’ll also find it frustrating to find your ceiling wreaking the smell of possum urine and faeces.
If you don’t want to have more problems caused by these creatures, you need to stop them before they get into your house. That’s why you need to possum-proof your garden to hit two birds with one stone. Possum-proofing your garden can save your trees and plants and, at the same time, prevent possums from accessing your home.
How to Possum-Proof Your Garden
The Australian government considers possums as a protected animal. Thus, under the National Parks and Wildlife Act, you cannot harm or trap possums. The only option you have left is to protect your garden from these grazers by deterring them. Here’s our take on how to make your garden possum-proof:
Install possum banding for your trees
A possum band is a sheet of polycarbonate or colour bond that you wrap around the main stem or branches of trees. This band makes climbing impossible for possums because it is slippery and possums won’t have anything to cling on. This can also deter other animals that may graze on the foliage, fruits, and flowers of your trees.
Deter possums with an unpleasant smell
Possums use their sense of smell to find food. That’s how they find their way into your garden. To prevent them from feasting on the leaves and fruits in your yard, try rubbing menthol and placing mothballs in the perimeter of your garden or in tree branches and trunks. Possums find the scent of these items appalling such that they wouldn’t attempt to enter your premises anymore.
Fence as Defences
You can keep your garden safe from possums by securing it with a fence or barrier. Make this structure impervious to possum access by depriving them with anything to grip on. You can add a rolling tube or a floppy wire at the top so that possums fall when they try to climb on the fence.
Prune trees to reduce possum access
Fencing your area would go to waste if you provide another route for possums to access your garden. Thus, you need to cut the branches of your trees that are near or connected to neighbouring structures such as trees, buildings, and fences since possums can use these branches to enter your yard.
Install individual plant barriers
If in case possums breached the barriers around your garden, you need to have a second line of defence in the form of plant covers. Try installing a wire cage around fruit trees and shrubs so that possums can’t go near them. This structure can also prevent other animals such as birds and cats from feeding on the fruits and flowers of your plants.
Garden and Tree Solutions in Sydney
Possums can cause significant damage to your plants and trees. If you don’t take measures to prevent them, they will graze on the foliage, fruits and flowers in your yard. Before you know it, your trees and plants have already lost most of their leaves, fruits, and flowers due to possum attack.
Trees Down Under is here to provide solutions for your possum problems. We can install possum-proofing structures like possum band and fences to keep your trees and plants protected from these grazing creatures. We also offer quality tree pruning services to limit the access of possums.
Our workers here are reliable, friendly, and dedicated. If you need any possum-proofing assistance, don’t hesitate to call us at 0475 463 597. We’re just around Sydney, so we’re at your service anytime.
