Possum proofing your garden

We all love leafy green lush gardens, but we often find that we are not the only ones! Possums love to eat tender new growth and can decimate a plant in one night!

Possum management strategies

Dealing with possums may require a multi-pronged approach. It seems to us like possums all have different palettes, and what someone has had great success with, others have tried and failed.

Here are some suggestions that may be worth trying:

• Most possums don’t like garlic and chilli. Try spraying your plants and fence lines with a spray made from these ingredients, like ‘Poss Off’, if you persevere for a few weeks the possums may give up nibbling on your favourite plant and go elsewhere for their dinner.

• An ultrasonic pest repellent deters possums through the emission of sound waves and is not harmful to pets or humans.

• Cover young plants with netting until they get big enough to fend for themselves, and it’s good practice to net fruit trees while they are producing fruit.

• Try applying blood and bone to the soil around the plant, as it is reported that possums don’t like the smell.

• Try providing nesting boxes and/or leave some fruit out for them at night, situated well away from where you don’t want them.

• Grow something that they do like to eat as a decoy. Lilly Pilly is one such plant that possums are known to enjoy eating.

Possum proof plants

While we can’t guarantee that a possum won’t eat these plants, they are reported to dislike the taste, or said to avoid them because they’re toxic.

• English Ivy (Hedera helix)

• Teddy Bear Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora ‘Teddy Bear’)

• Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla)

• Baby's tears (Soleirolia solierolii)

• Snowball Tree (Viburnum opulus ‘Sterile’)

• Agapanthus (Agapanthus praecox subsp Orientalis)

• Snow in Summer (Cerastium tomentosum)

• Flowering Quince (Chaenomeles speciosa)