Sweetcorn eating badgers

[theodora]

I'm keen to plant some sweetcorn again this year, but the last three years on our allotment, the badgers have destroyed our plants, before they are big enough to eat. They knock down all the plants, have a brief nibble on each cob, then leave a hole full of poo!

I wonder if anyone had any brilliant ideas to put them off. Thank you.

Electric netting?

Natural England have a couple of leaflets advising on dealing with badger problems - here and here.

But seriously, they are extremely strong and hard to deter - to some extent the path of least resistance might be to stop growing sweetcorn (or can you grow it in your garden instead?)

Thanks for your response. Will check out the leaflets, I like the idea of electric fencing but it's a bit expensive for 6 ears of corn each year. Sadly, I think you may be right, it might be better to give up on sweetcorn as they are very persistent.

i was told they don't like dogs or dog wee. i guess you wouldn't want to drench your plants in the latter but you could try putting dog hair around them? I did notice that once we got a dog they didn't bother coming into our back garden any more...only the front where she doesn't go

Cheeky but effective - bury an open jar of peanut butter in a bit of the allotment far away from your plot. They love the stuff, and will gorge on it, filling themselves up before getting to your (hopefully less appealing) sweetcorn. Whoever has a plot at that end might be a bit annoyed though.