Harry's Metal Raccoon Mat

Hello fellow Outdoor growers! Are you are having problems with pests digging up your plants? Then you are at the right spot! This design is tested, any deviance from the original design might prove fatal to your plant
Hope this helps someone. If it does, please return the favor & rep me ok-

Use the "Heavy" galvanized "Hardware Cloth". It’s harder to work with, but when you are finished. You'll have a Mat that is VERY strong and can be reused next grow. I really prefer using the Long "Landscaping Nails". You just pound them down & you’re done. Make sure you use 8 Nails per mat! But you can also use the long metal poles in certain situations.Remember the Mat can be as large as you want. You just want to make sure your Nails are in the ground outside the perimeter of the Hole. (The Nails need to be in hard ground) Also make sure you always trim the mat so as its edges have sharp "Thorns". This is accomplished by simply cutting 2 adjacent squares in half. (Rather than cutting right down the edge). If when you are handling the mat, you get "poked" you know you did a good job! This is what the Coons don't like. They have no protection on their wrist and they also get poked in the nose.
I decided to show a little closer how I keep the Coons from digging deep holes into my root system. The Hardware cloth I used here is actually too "wimpy" I chose it because it was coated in green vinyl. I usually use galvanized, and then spray paint it with camo paint. This green stuff looked great, but then I opened it up I realized it was a gauge thinner. I had to use it anyway because of time restraints. Also you can substitute steel rods with 12" landscaping nails or visa verse. If you use the steel rods, drive them into the Hardware cloth & leave about 1" above ground. Then use black zip ties to cinch the Hardware cloth down onto the the steel rod & ground. If the ground is real rocky the nails are the way to go. If the ground is real soft the 4ft stakes are better. Remember you can you this system on a potted plant. Just drill holes around the top circumference of you plastic pot. Cut the Cloth so it over hangs the pot by about 2 inches. Zip tie the cloth to the top of pot through the holes. Then drive 3 ft long stakes through the cloth in the square closest to the pot. This will keep the pot from being tipped over. If you do this with a potted plant you only need four steel rods. (The zip ties will keep the mat attached to the pot and the rods support the pot) Peace & good luck, you’ll need it with these little crafty bastards.

The way I finally figured out what was doing all the digging, was with a live trap. I lost so many plants last year, I lost count. We have a Massive Coon population here. I bought a small "Live Trap" cause I thought it was Skunks digging. (Skunks "root" for grubs) Skunks can do a lot of damage to your lawn. Anyway,I go out to my trap in the am with a tarp to throw over the trap. (Skunks won’t spray unless they see your face).You can imagine my surprise to find a 20lb Raccoon in a trap designed for a squirrel! It was so jammed in there I could barely see its face! After that I got a bigger trap. Coons are so strong that they would reach thru the holes in the large trap & crawl/drag the trap along the ground. They would do this till the trap got so heavy with dirt.That they couldn't drag it any more or until it got stuck against something. I was catching one or two a night. I would have this big huge Frickin mess to deal with every am. They would have so much shat pulled into the cage that the hinges wouldn't work. Plus they would actually bend the "trigger" to the point of making it inoperable! I even caught my Barn cat one night! That cat was never so excited to see me in the morning! After that morning I thought of the heavy gauge Hardware cloth trick around the base. I can honestly say I have not lost a plant to them since. And my Cat is much happier now! It’s a relatively cheap fix. And its VERY stealthy, especially if you use the long Landscaping nails to secure it. I use camo paint on the mesh after I trim it to size. Then once its in place, a little dried grass & leafs is all it takes. Toke in Peace my friends!

This is really clever man. + rep. Is it the blood (bone) meal they were after? You know you can use alfalfa/cottonseed/coffee grounds etc... to replace the meals. Amending in Winter, Spring also gives time for the meals to cool down. As I want to add fish "a la Old Pork" next year, I'll be using your method since the fish is added at the same time as the plant (fresh) so it can attract nasty varmints as we saw in OP's thread.

Is your place so full of raccoons that they dig up anything not natural even if the soil is "cooled down"? Were the raccoons dead in the morning? That must be real messy and sad too as you said. I don't like killing little grasshoppers with flour but catching a big animal to protect your weed is really hardcore. I would have done the same for my weed but your technique is environmental friendly so it's all good (and no dead bodies in the AM: not very stealthy to say the least). I can see why you invented these. It's an awesome tip since as you say "I can honestly say I have not lost a plant to them since". Sounds like a good ad for a great product haha! Later HB.

Bump bump bump!

:DAnother fencing method could be as easy as chicken fencing. Just place the fencing around the perimeter of the plant or plants, then make a mini trench so the fencing can fall in place of the trench... The trench could be 1.5 '' to 6'' whatever depth you want or feel protected with then bury the fence in place(also rocks and sticks around the fence helps to). Nothing can get under (well almost) and nothing can get over (almost). Quick and easy and effective.

This is really clever man. + rep. Is it the blood (bone) meal they were after? You know you can use alfalfa/cottonseed/coffee grounds etc... to replace the meals. Amending in Winter, Spring also gives time for the meals to cool down. As I want to add fish "a la Old Pork" next year, I'll be using your method since the fish is added at the same time as the plant (fresh) so it can attract nasty varmints as we saw in OP's thread.

Is your place so full of raccoons that they dig up anything not natural even if the soil is "cooled down"? Were the raccoons dead in the morning? That must be real messy and sad too as you said. I don't like killing little grasshoppers with flour but catching a big animal to protect your weed is really hardcore. I would have done the same for my weed but your technique is environmental friendly so it's all good (and no dead bodies in the AM: not very stealthy to say the least). I can see why you invented these. It's an awesome tip since as you say "I can honestly say I have not lost a plant to them since". Sounds like a good ad for a great product haha! Later HB.

Bump bump bump!

Corto thanks for the Bump! No the "Live Trap" just holds them till AM. Then I would let them go @ 1 mile away by a creek. The Coons here smell any freshly Dug hole,and dig it up to see whats in it. It doesnt matter if its got potting soil or fish guts. They just "have" to see whats in it.

:DAnother fencing method could be as easy as chicken fencing. Just place the fencing around the perimeter of the plant or plants, then make a mini trench so the fencing can fall in place of the trench... The trench could be 1.5 '' to 6'' whatever depth you want or feel protected with then bury the fence in place(also rocks and sticks around the fence helps to). Nothing can get under (well almost) and nothing can get over (almost). Quick and easy and effective.

Hello Green First. Chicken wire doesnt work for Coons. I tried it, they have arms that can reach 8" thru the LARGE holes in Chicken Wire. Plus the Chicken Wire is just to whimpy,they make a big mess out of it:(. A 30 lb Raccoon is like a minature Wolverine. Very strong,smart & VERY stubborn. Peace HB

This is a good idea. I'll make some of these. But, I use chicken wire around the plants. Maybe make the current chicken wire cylinder go through a big hole in the coon mat. Deer are more of a problem that raccoons around here. Deer just munch on your leaves.

This is a good idea. I'll make some of these. But, I use chicken wire around the plants. Maybe make the current chicken wire cylinder go through a big hole in the coon mat. Deer are more of a problem that raccoons around here. Deer just munch on your leaves.

Its funny.....we have sooooo many Deer here. And they never do much damage to my girls. They just come and taste,and then leave. I see evidence that the have "mouthed" a top or some leafs. But they always spit it out. Maybe cause I use Neem Oil? I dont know. But anyway hope the coon mat helps you. Its saved many plants so far for me. We have more Coons hear than Ants HB

Man, deer are pests. I don't have many coons around here. Mostly foxes, deer, and coyotes.

chicken wire has always worked for me. i just posted in another thread about using human hair as a good way to keep deer away.

Definitely a good trick harry...also for those out there that are having issues...take mesh thats 1/2" sized square holes and stuff it into a bucket...then fill with soil then transplant into that bucket...once the plants are root bound transplant from the bucket to the ground...then add harry's mat to the top and you have 360* protection of that main root growth area and even if they do manage to lift the edge of the mat they won't damage the main root section if they dig...just some feeder roots that spread out...

Definitely a good trick harry...also for those out there that are having issues...take mesh thats 1/2" sized square holes and stuff it into a bucket...then fill with soil then transplant into that bucket...once the plants are root bound transplant from the bucket to the ground...then add harry's mat to the top and you have 360* protection of that main root growth area and even if they do manage to lift the edge of the mat they won't damage the main root section if they dig...just some feeder roots that spread out...

Thats not a bad idea Supa- the mat works for me beacuse once the hole loose's the "freshly" dug smell. The coons leave it alone. Its just gettn past that point . Coons are like mini black bears. The can really do a lot of damage fast.

Im quite pissed two plants first dug up. One died, 1 MIGHT make it.. most likely not. THEN my autoflower gets dug up after... that made me really pissed, i dont know if that will make it either. Im hoping it can do its best and keep flowering as much as it can until it cant anymore, or hopefully it makes a recovery.

But im gonna go try this out, because I lost 3 plants most likely out of 9 and I cant afford to lost anymore :/...

You say they are digging after freshly dug holes? So does that mean that if they have been there for a while ( the plants ) and nothing has happened then they will be okay?

Will buying bone/blood meal and digging some random holes around work to keep them away ?

Tried this tutorial last year and I must admit that it did save a few of my gals but I still lost about six. Bro animals will eat at your stalk and bring them down. The only fail proof way of protecting your gals is full caging in a circle around the base of your main stalk with at least a 2-3 ft diameter.

Tried this tutorial last year and I must admit that it did save a few of my gals but I still lost about six. Bro animals will eat at your stalk and bring them down. The only fail proof way of protecting your gals is full caging in a circle around the base of your main stalk with at least a 2-3 ft diameter.

How do you suggest going about doing that.. making a box out of this ?

Also, when did they eat , dig ur plants up? Early in the season? Flowering?

Cause it seems mainly they do it once youve recently dug the holes. Cause I dug two dummy plants and they were gone immediatelly.

I couldn'y get this at walmart, but im gonna go check home-depot today, but i bought Ro-pel... its pellets of some sort u lay around the perimiter of your plantts.
Don't know how well that will work though considering that my liquid fence got torn to shreds, but that wasn't made for racoons, etc. i dont believe

Heady, in case you are making up Harry-style mats, which I also recommend, here's a little tip that's worked well for me this year--take every opportunity when constructing them to leave barbs (by cutting the squares in the hardware cloth in the middle) and to turn those barbs up so they are threats to anything walking on the mat. Cut the mat as a whole in half and cut an opening in the middle for your plant, then fold up the parts of that middle opening, the flaps--set each side of the mat around your plant with the opening around the stalk, and then turn up all the barbs as well us using hte middle opening flaps as barriers right at the stalk. Try cutting with a circular saw and a metal grinding blade; this will let you rip long pieces of the cloth (cutting through the middle of one section of squares at a time) with little barbs on them, and you can weave this into the mat on the ground so you have something like coils of "razor wire" forming a security perimeter around the plant. In other words don't just think of it as a flat mat, think of it as an opportunity to create a truly wicked, barbed zone that any animal has to get through to get to your plant. I also ran some copper tape around the middle hole flaps so it surrounds the plant's trunk, for extra slug protection. IMHO if you do this well it will eliminate your risk other than for animals big enough to lean over the whole mat and nibble, such as deer--for them the fence would help. Good luck!

Thank you for the idea, i put down a metal mat, a little different, smaller holes and some thicker type metal but same basic idea. +rep

Mine looks like this, i may mike some spike modifications if I can

Edited by HeadySpaghetti, 30 June 2011 - 06:59 PM.