Possums are as native to Australia as Australians themselves. They are found in abundance in suburbs as well as in cities. However, when it comes to garden care, they can be little devils who ruin all your hard work. Not only do they feed on the green shoots, leaves, fruits, and berries; but they also strip the barks off of trees. Trees cope with this loss by consuming energy reserved in their roots and trunks to produce new shoots which are even more attractive to possums. So possums keep returning to the same tree, and the tree might ultimately die from this persistent attack. What is more, they also feed on some of the insects which are good for your garden and bring the disease Bovine tuberculosis (Tb), threatening your cattle and deers. No wonder you want them out and away from your precious garden, and they’re certainly are ways to do that. Read on to find out what those are.

How to keep possums off your lawn

If you find ragged edges on the leaves or treetops, leftover leaf stalk, base and midrib, tattered leaf remnants, half-eaten fruits and flowers, chew marks, claw marks, and scratches on the tree barks, your fence posts and gates, turfs of fur, or approximately 2.5cm long and pencil-like dark green droppings; you have successfully identified a possum attack on your garden and your lawn. If you want to save your garden, it is time to take quick action because once possums have fallen in love with your beautiful garden, they won’t stop until most of the trees are weakened, or dead.

Here in this article, we are sharing some of the secrets of keeping possums away from your garden. Even so, sometimes things can get out of control, and you might have to go an extra mile to forcefully remove them from your lawn. However, despite being terrible menaces, possums are protected species in Australia under Federal law, like all other native wildlife. Therefore, you cannot kill or harm a possum, neither can you interfere with their natural lifestyle if you want to avoid jail time or a hefty fine. In situations like these, definitely call up a professional tree care personnel to take care of the situation.

The only thing you can do yourself is repelling possums so that they stay away from your garden. Like any other animal, possums also have some weak areas, and once you know them, you can target those to drive them away from your lawn.

Use of scent:

Possums have a strong sense of smell, and they detect their predators with the same. So they tend to avoid areas where they know that predators might attack them. Moreover, just like you and me, they also find certain particular scents revolting. You can use this weakness to your own advantage.

Menthol chest rubs, ammonia, garlic, tea, Indonesian fish sauce, herbs, blood and bone fertiliser, strong-smelling herbs like sage, rosemary, or oregano mixed with chilly pepper are just some of those repulsive scents for them. There are also some products you can find in a retail store which are dedicated towards possum guarding your lawn. Another very effective item would definitely be the urine and/or feces of predators of possums like male foxes, weasels, carpet python, and some others.

You can place the smelly ointment around the boundaries of your garden, and on areas where there is an overhanging branch or structure. Certain trees are more vulnerable than others to possum attacks, so you can wrap the limbs of them in cling film and smear some of these scents over them.

Use of appropriate lights:

Just like predator smell, predators’ eyes, like garden owls’, also scare possums away. You can light up your garden with eyes that mimic possum predators. You can also install motion sensors solar lights arranged around possums’ favourite food plants and set the sensitivity of these to ‘high’ and the time period to ‘short’. These lights blind the possum temporarily when it moves. As soon as the possum starts to adapt to this light, it switches off reducing its vision, and the cycle goes on. Usually, possums get annoyed by this and give up after a while.

Use of fencing and barriers:

Slippery fencing is the most obvious method to keep off possums as these prevent them from entering your garden. You can add retro-fitting lengths conduit, irrigation pipe, or large PVC pipe on the top of your fences, which should be made of wire.  You can also apply a non-toxic grease on it. The pipe will keep rolling and slip off when the possum tries to grip it, making it harder for them to get inside your garden.

Use of possum guards on trees:

One very effective method of preventing possum attacks is installing possum guards on your trees. These are typically constructed from clear polycarbonate sheeting and are a minimum of 60cm wide. Possums are skilled in climbing a tree, and possum guards are round and slippery, preventing exactly that. However, these guards require a strong trunk or branch to be positioned right and not all trees are suitable for them, especially shrubs and weak plants. To protect these, you can place the guards on surrounding trees to restrict access to a combined tree canopy, and you can keep your vulnerable weak plants in enclosed protection this way.

The best part about these possum guards is that they last several years, through all kinds of harsh weather. These are also installed using a method that allows the tree to ‘pop’ it off as it grows, preventing girdling or eventual ring-barking. Nevertheless, unless you are an expert, if you try to install them yourself, you may end up harming your trees or may not do it right. It is strongly recommended a professional tree care specialist to be hired for a sensitive job like this.

Make wiser gardening choices for better tree care and keep possums away:

No matter which area you live in, if it is anywhere in Australia, you should definitely expect a possum attack on your garden once in a while. So why not design your garden from the beginning to possum guard it? You may as well prevent any attack altogether!

  • Trim your trees regularly to keep them at least 2.5 meters away from all the areas that a possum can jump on it from – your fences, rooves, or any other such place.
  • Cover the plants that are growing new shoots or giving birth to fruits with a net to keep them out of reach from possums.
  • Just like everyone else, possums also have some favourites – eucalyptus and passionfruit are just some of these. They also seem to be fond of new growth on deciduous vines, fruit on fruit trees, and some of the new growth on pruned evergreens. You can plant these by the edge of your garden so that possums get satisfied by these alone and don’t go any further inside.
  • On the other hand, if you don’t have the abovementioned trees in your lawn at all, and instead have only plants that possums absolutely detest – prickly and smelly tress such as tea trees or Geranimous, or trees that are toxic to the possum diet like camellias and rhododendrons; possums will not touch them, and problem solved!
  • Another method would be to create a shield between possums and the most vulnerable garden beds. You can create a full enclosure out of chicken wire for the specific garden beds you are trying to save.

Conclusion

Possums certainly cause a lot of trouble, but when you think about it, they are only looking to survive in a place where forests have been cut down to make room for human habitation. Call a licensed, well-reputed, and well-experienced professional tree care specialist in case the above methods don’t work. Not only can he/she handle the possum situation in an expert manner, but you can also receive some very effective pointers for possum guarding your lawn.