bℓσωηG Posted January 25, 2011 I have recently been offered the opportunity to plant trees on a friends property , it is a 8 acre bush block which backs onto national park... lots of possums , lots of bandicoots, rats etc... the usual culprits that attack other more succulent plants. Im wanting to plant out my khat trees among others as they are out-growing their pots rapidly and if the pots get any bigger i wont be able to lift them. My main concern is having them defoliated, or worse ring barked by some rabid herbivore. The Acacias i have planted have been left but there are somewhat native. Do i need to protect Catha edulis from these furry animals? How do i protect them? ...and will i need to protect them into their full grown maturity? Any clue ? cheers for replies Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hutch Posted January 25, 2011 I have recently been offered the opportunity to plant trees on a friends property , it is a 8 acre bush block which backs onto national park... lots of possums , lots of bandicoots, rats etc... the usual culprits that attack other more succulent plants. Im wanting to plant out my khat trees among others as they are out-growing their pots rapidly and if the pots get any bigger i wont be able to lift them. My main concern is having them defoliated, or worse ring barked by some rabid herbivore. The Acacias i have planted have been left but there are somewhat native. Do i need to protect Catha edulis from these furry animals? How do i protect them? ...and will i need to protect them into their full grown maturity? Any clue ? cheers for replies Love the photo....just wondering how big the hole is on the other side of its head where the bullet went through Great question....some thing I have also been pondering...I am planning on taking plants that I have had protected close to my house and planting them well out of ear shot...I do fear what may become of them when they are all on their lonesome... will follow thread with interest... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazonian Posted January 26, 2011 (edited) I just had to log on to see the image, as i had something to say after reading what Hutch had said about the bullet hole. I was very much relieved ,(as i envisioned a pic' of a possum with blood and gore everywhere), to find a 'sleeping' Kangaroo. A suggestion for possums would be to use the same technique that Botanical gardens and some parks are doing is to create a slippery surface 3' or so in height up the trunk of a tree so the possums cant scale it. Like a clear pvc . For small trees, well, I'm still thinking. You only need to cover from the base of the trunk to about 3 foot up, not as extreme as shown in this pic'. Edited January 26, 2011 by Amazonian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted January 26, 2011 yes, possums do eat khat. and they like the best bits too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazonian Posted January 27, 2011 3 star pickets and a few meters of wire mesh per tree. Not very aesthetic though. Also, might bring unwanted attention. I cant see another option really. There are 'keep off', chemical type products avaliable, designed to keep cats and/or dogs off the garden, but don't know how it would go with native animals. You would also need to keep applying it . It would probably seep into the ground and be sucked up by the tree/plant, nasty. So, unless you have live scarecrows, i think a bit of fencing may be the only option. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bℓσωηG Posted January 27, 2011 yeah ill prolly do that amazonian, i wondered how much they would enjoy the taste because from past experience with other plants roofing mesh had also been necessary, once those furry possum fuckers get a taste for something they keep coming back for more, lucky i have spares of all oz strains to enable to perform this experiment Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ThunderIdeal Posted January 27, 2011 "poss off" smells a bit like garlic almost but not really. i'm sure there are some folk remedies for possums and i'm sure some have been discussed here not that long ago. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
planthelper Posted January 27, 2011 i'm sure possum & co, can attack catha plants, but they have never done so at my place, although sometimes i observed the possums sliding up the electric wires, which realy looks like a circus animal stunt. i would not worry much about this right now, as catha edulis aswell can take quite some punishment regarding being prunned back. and btw, nimbin farmers told me, that there plants don't get eaten by roos either. once an animal would have a likeing for qat, i'm sure though, the creature will try to come back for further meals. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
indigo264nm Posted January 28, 2011 Strange... never noticed the possums eating the Cathas at my parents house or anything really for that manner. The cats and dog used to sit under them but never took a bite. Spose the fuckn things are so big now that I doubt I'd notice anyway hehe. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
