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Would you rather deal with animal issues or insect issues in your garden?

 
Matt McSpadden
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Timothy submitted this question.

Would you rather deal with animal issues or insect issues in your garden?

Mice, deer, racoons, and rabbits -vs- potato beetles, japanese beetles, slugs, snails...

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Matt McSpadden
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I'd rather the animal issues. Easier to try to deal with them with a fence. Beetles don't care about fences :)

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I would rather deal with insects because a soap solution will take care of them.

If I spray the deer with soap they would just stare at me like puzzled ...

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Matt McSpadden
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If I spray the deer with soap they would just stare at me like puzzled ...



That made me laugh.

"The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is." C.S. Lewis
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Animal issues, hands down. Though maybe that will change once I have a proper (larger) garden going. I know all the small scale gardens I've built ALWAYS have bug issues and I am not a fan of things that crunch or squish as I go removing them. I've seen some really cool garden fencing solutions that grow food for the animals outside of the fence to deter them from coming for the human-consumption areas. I read about one where they planted clover and other things to keep the rabbits fat and happy away from the inner rows.

I can shoo deer away. Tomato horn worms and other such crawlies just menace me until I give up and beg the wasps to come help.

Going mad while working to go Feral.

 
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Oh how I wish if I picked it would come true. Haha. Animals for sure.

Betty G.

 
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Wow - this one is tough! My worst animal problems - squirrels, chipmunks, birds, etc - can't be blocked out with simple fences, and aren't deterred in the least by anything I'm willing to spray or dust my gardens with. But, many insects can wipe out entire crops, before you even know they're there...

I think I'll go with a preference for insects, because I can preemptively attract or even buy & apply beneficial insects, D.E., soapy water, etc, far more easily than I can put a glass dome over (and deeply into the surrounding soil of) every plant, to protect them from the insidious small animals.

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J Garlits
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Insects. All you have to do to keep them at bay is find out who their enemies are and invite them to move in.

Sure, its the same with animals, but with insects, there's less blood.

j

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Animals. I can figure out fencing or scare tactics a LOT easier than I can get rid of bugs. My current gardens are bug havens :P  
Easily.
Take my bugs, you know you want them....

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So far I've not had insurmountable, crop destroying bug issues. Yes, we've got lots of those small white cabbage butterflies, but the wasps are happy to harvest them for me of mature plants, so I just have to keep an eye out if I've got small plants that can't handle a little bight or two. I do get those yucky grey aphids, but usually only in the fall when the local Lady Bugs are focused on finding winter homes. Once it gets colder yet, the aphids hibernate also.

But it's a constant battle against the deer and the bunnies. I've got a very odd shaped property with limited sunshine, so I have too many small garden areas that I need to fence. I need different sorts of protection for those two main foes, but if the grey squirrels and rats get into the act, that's another whole level of frustration.

So for me, insects are easier!

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John F Dean
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After having my face chewed apart by a herd of flies last year, I will take animals.

At my age, Happy Hour is a nap.

 
C. Letellier
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Between fences and enough shooting I can deal with animal issues so keeping it and getting rid of bugs would be my choice.  Can't stop bug damage.  Plus my diet would be healthier as to sprays for bugs while more meat to eat.

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Sara Hartwin
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This question has layers. I'm currently learning and thinking about landrace gardening as well as building plant health starting with soil fertility from the micro-beasties up.
My answer, therefore, is animal issues!
In all my thought-experiment gardens (the only ones I have), the plants self-select for pest resistance. I don't want them to make it if they're insect-magnets.

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S Smithsson
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Matt McSpadden wrote:Timothy submitted this question.

Would you rather deal with animal issues or insect issues in your garden?

Mice, deer, racoons, and rabbits -vs- potato beetles, japanese beetles, slugs, snails...



um, this one is hard, bugs. since easier to deal with,

Sandy

Zone 6b, dry, high desert in New Mexico 7500' elevation

have you checked your new USDA Hardiness zone? Check here: https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/

 
Susan Boyce
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Animals, they are large compared to insects so easier to spot and/or determine what kind of animal. Bugs, bug me!
 
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