Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
John Innes and foxes
I recently acquired a bag of "John Innes Base" which is the fertiliser added to growing media in varying amounts to produce the different types of compost sold as No 1, No 2 etc. My idea was to revive last year's spent compost by adding a bit of this base mixture.
So far so good.
This morning I watched a couple of foxes sniffing and scratching their way round the garden. I now find that they have disturbed every patch of newly cultivated soil where John Innes Base has been added.
This miracle mix contains superphosphate and ground up bone and horn. This probably accounts for foxes constanly digging up new plants. The smell of the animal products in the compost misleads them into thinking something tasty is buried. Who would have thought it.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Park on
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Tell me more! My flower beds are fox toilet central. It feels like I'm in a horrible, horrible war with them.
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Permalink Reply by Dick Harris on
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In my experience, foxes are completely indiscriminant as to where they leave their droppings lying about - on the grass, on a path, on concrete, any old place seems to do. Cats, on the other hand, tend to prefer newly cultivated ground where they can dig and cover.
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Permalink Reply by Martin (Woodside) on
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I have laid down growbags in the past and the foxes have just ripped them open. I now have a wooden/perspex mini greenhouse so hopefully I won't have the same problem. Thanks for an explanation for the reason, I gathered it would be something like that.
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on
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Sorry missed this the other day! It's a product called Silent Roar, available from Amazon or B&Q among others. It's lion poo from zoos, in pellet format. The foxes smell it and avoid as they think an apex predator is around. Works as a fertiliser too! Though that means it does get used up so when the foxes come back you'll need to buy more.
I kind of miss my furry garden friends... Though there's a lot less disturbance! Doesn't deter the squirrels but they cause less mess.
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Permalink Reply by John Leeming on
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I tried that. The foxes went away, but I now have problems with leopards.
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Permalink Reply by David Thomas on
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Just made a similar mistake - used a fish, blood and bone feed in a lot of my planters and around my acer, realised my mirror when my Jack Russell starts liking soil and then of course the foxes followed suit but more destructively. Will have to save it for the window boxes etc.!
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I bought 3 bags John Innes. Too heavy for me to carry to shed so left outside. All 3 were pulled apart with compost then all over garden. Hope fixed enjoyed themselves !(I
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Permalink Reply by Gina Fenton on
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That’s a helpful tip. Foxes often dig up my pots and planters - I do use bonemeal and John Innes will have to stop!
a tip
from a gardener at Brockhill Park, Kent is spray Jeyes fluid around. Sprinkling white pepper can help. Also when you prune roses keep long lengths of prickly stem to bend into barbed protective arcs over planters with both ends in soil. Can be removed when pot is more established.
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The trick is to use Seaweed granules as a fertiliser. Fantastic stuff, and the foxes aren't interested!
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Thank you!
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