Tony Fawcett tackles the possum problem in his own backyard

Having problems with possums devouring your fruit trees or waging WWIII through the night? Our gardening columnist Tony Fawcett has put some control measures to the test.

Watch out: They may be cute, but possums like this brushtail can be a headache for gardeners. Picture: John Appleyard

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OK, IT’S war. Enough is enough!

Over the years I’ve taken a relaxed view on possums. Like most gardeners I’ve turned a blind eye to the occasional gnawed apple or missing rose buds.

I’ve put up with droppings on paths, the stink of possum urine and even the odd outbreak of nocturnal warfare on our corrugated iron roof.

But now it’s gone too far.

The crisis hit unbearable proportions a few months back after our faithful pooch, a layabout Gordon Setter named Scandal, passed to doggie heaven.

Now Scandal (don’t ask about the name) never impressed as a possum deterrent during her lifetime, but obviously we were unseeing. In the months since her demise the possum destruction has been immense.

The blighters have completely deflowered and de-budded the top half of our pride-and-joy Madam Gregoire Staechelin rose along a deck, massacred much of an espaliered Eureka lemon (including the fruit), and those occasional rooftop hostilities have turned into World War III every night!

I know it’s not just us who are suffering. Reports of possum depression among gardeners across the state are exploding.

Yes, like them, I’ve tried many so-called remedies. I’ve sprayed commercial possum deterrents on foliage and along likely possum routes, set up movement-activated lights, scattered weird and wonderful homemade potions around the place. I’ve encased vegetables in netting prisons and scattered blood and bone to the stage our garden smells like a knackery.

Still the possums rule.

In desperation, I recently embarked on frantic possum research to find if any distraught others had found sure-fire solutions. Next to nothing.

It was all summed up by government-supported Deakin University research from some time back showing there are no repellents to consistently deter possums from eating plants.

And it was a pretty thorough trial, too, testing everything from garlic spray, Indonesian fish sauce and tabasco sauce to blood and bone, quassia chips and commercial products Scat and Skunk-off.

A hungry possum, it concluded, just couldn’t be deterred.

Now I know there is one rather unpalatable solution practised by our Kiwi neighbours.

There, the common brushtail (Trichosurus vulpecula) — introduced from Australia, no less, in 1837 to kickstart a fur trade — has been bundled with a group of introduced predators to be eliminated by poisoning and other means by 2050.

Considered a villain of gigantic proportions, it’s said to have caused tens of millions of dollars worth of damage to New Zealand crops, while ravaging native forests and eating the eggs and chicks of treasured native wildlife, such as the endangered kokako bird.

Hunted and hated, possums are considered a major threat to the dairy, beef, and deer farming industries there through them being carriers of bovine tuberculosis.

Many believe we should be looking at a similar project to New Zealand’s. Though, I’m sure in these politically correct days of pollies ever fearful of losing votes, it won’t happen.

So where does it leave us gardeners?

I’m not prepared to hang ugly CD discs through our garden, brew expensive lapsang souchong tea to spray, or set up 24/7 possum feeding banquets of apples, as some suggest, to keep these protected marauders at bay.

I won’t even consider a look-alike wolf head gizmo (from Amazon online) whose eyes flash red from dusk to dawn while howling every half-hour — though I admit I was tempted.

No, as of this week we are looking for a new dog. Trichosurus vulpecula, be warned!

WHATTO DO THIS WEEK

CUT BACK passionfruit if you have not yet already done so and plant new ones into well worked soil that drains well.

KEEP annuals growing happily with fortnightly applications of liquid fertiliser.

PLANT Asian greens, asparagus, basil, beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, capsicum, carrot, cucumber, chilli, eggplant, lettuce, pumpkin, spring onion, squash, sweet corn, tomato and zucchini.

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