My Groundhog Fence

April 9th, 2010

Gardeners and groundhogs don’t get along. We’re generally mortal enemies. Keeping groundhogs from eating my vegetables is easily my No. 1 garden problem… and from listening to other gardeners in the last few weeks, I’m far from the only one.

Things were fine in the years when I had a split-rail fortress around my garden, protected by buried timbers and vinyl-coated fencing. But when I switched to a more ornamental four-square garden instead of the Alcatraz look, my became Groundhog Olde Country Buffet.

Everything I’ve tried since – from spot-fencing to repellents to covering crops with floating row covers – failed sooner or later. Usually sooner.

Finally, last year I out-technologied the groundhogs with an $80 low-to-the-ground electric fence.

A reader told me about this. The fence kit used to be made by Fi-Shock, but Lititz-based Woodstream Corp. now sells it under the Havahart brand. It comes with a shoebox-sized energizer that attaches to posts and aluminum wire that you string around the garden. I ran one strand about 3 inches off the ground and a second one about 8 inches up.

The energizer sends out fairly low pulses of shocks every second or so. It’s not exactly painful but apparently unpleasant enough to convince groundhogs and other would-be cabbage-eaters to go somewhere else. At first I thought it wasn’t even working right because the charge was impotent enough that I could pinch the wires without flinching.

I was actually more shocked that the thing was having an effect. Last year was the first in a long time that I could grow beets, lettuce and carrots without finding nothing but green nubs in the morning.

I’m trying the fence again this year to make sure 2009 wasn’t a fluke. We’ll see.

I got my unit directly from Woodstream. It’s powered by two DD batteries, but this year it appears that only the $91 AC-powered, plug-in version is being sold. One of the drawbacks with the battery-operated energizer is that if you don’t check regularly, the batteries can wear out, the shock disappears and a groundhog can polish off half the garden in just one night. I’ve been trying to talk my wife into being my daily electric-fence tester, but so far she hasn’t agreed.

If you’re interested, here’s Havahart’s ordering page for it: http://www.havahart.com/store/pet-dog-supplies/ss-750rpx. The model is Havahart SS-750RPX AC-Powered Electric Fence Kit. It’s also sold as a way to keep dogs in a confined area.

Amazon.com is selling the same product for about $15 less at http://www.amazon.com/Havahart-SS-750RPX-AC-Powered-Electric-Animals/dp/B000VXYV6K.

And Lowe’s has it online for $59 at http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?partNumber=92220-1558-SS-750RPX&langId=-1&storeId=10151&productId=3047348&catalogId=10051&cmRelshp=sim.

I’ve heard it’s also available at some Agways and hardware stores.

Besides the issue of replacing batteries vs. somehow getting electricity to your garden, the main problem I had was walking into the fence. It’s so low to the ground that it’s easy to forget it’s there… even when you’ve already walked into it twice in the prior 15 minutes (not that I’ve done that or anything).

Here’s another interesting discovery if you’re not familiar with how electrical grounding works.

This gizmo throws off only minor pulses when you touch it while standing on stones in sneakers. But if you hold onto a metal tomato stake and THEN bend over to see if it’s working, you’ll get a MUCH bigger charge. Trust me.