The MGS Forum

Gardening in mediterranean climates => Pests and diseases => Topic started by: Joanna Savage on March 25, 2013, 05:20:58 PM

Title: Wild Boar
Post by: Joanna Savage on March 25, 2013, 05:20:58 PM
Does anyone know whether Euphorbia characias wulfennii is poisonous , or even repellent to wild boar? The terraces outside my fence are looking like an overstocked sheep yard because the boar are so active every night. I am wondering about fencing a small area and planting a hedge of E.characias.
Title: Re: Wild Boar
Post by: Umbrian on March 26, 2013, 07:58:27 AM
I wouldn't think so Joanna but anything is worth a try and you probably have plenty of spontaneous seedlings to use for such an experiment. I too am suffering lots of boar damage and my husband is not looking forward to cutting the grass in the Olive field since they have churned up large areas which makes the job positively dangerous with the sit on mower.
Do you also suffer from marauding deer? A friend close to me has had huge clumps of Euphorbia demolished  by them. Porcupines continue to be the bane of my life, yesterday I noticed they had dug away a large section of one of my Iris unguicularis plants, not something they usually attack although other iris are always under attack. ???
Title: Re: Wild Boar
Post by: Joanna Savage on March 27, 2013, 08:21:43 AM
Umbrian, thanks for your understanding message. My fight with the boar goes on. At least now it is only fence posts which they are excavating, not the foundations of the house any more. Next I think I'll try an electric fence to protect the original fence posts!
I was astonished to hear that your porcupines are digging up Iris unguicularis. Following a posting from Fleur recently I have used an axe to divide some clumps.
Re. the deer. I had tried planting bits of Rosa canina collected from the field and a couple of bought Rosa rugosa. I protected them to about 80 cms height, and the deer ate as much as they could reach.
Title: Re: Wild Boar
Post by: Umbrian on March 27, 2013, 08:35:28 AM
Joanna, after I had done my post yesterday I remembered that there is one large clump of euphorbia close to one of the olives in our field - it arrived spontaneously. It was too wet and windy to go and look at it yesterday but this morning dawned bright and sunny and so, much to our dog's delight, I took a walk down to investigate. All around there is "rootling" damage, indeed right up to the plant but no damage to the actual stems of the plant. As we get both wild boar and porcupines it is difficult to say what caused the damage close to the plant.
We have always been advised that an electric fence is the best option but our boundary is too long and difficult to contemplate this and so, as I have said before, we have learnt to live with the wild life around us even if at times it is heartbreaking. ::)
Title: Re: Wild Boar
Post by: Yvonne on March 28, 2013, 10:51:46 AM
We also have the Cinghiale and porcupine problem: a nightmare.
I have tried to keep the porcupine off clumps of iris (which are in a fenced off area but they still get in) by positioning solar powered lights  with some success.
I have found that areas that have had electric fencing round them, and then removed again after a few months, tend not to be revisited by the boar or a least a lot less frequently.
Continua la lotta!
Yvonne
Title: Re: Wild Boar
Post by: Joanna Savage on March 28, 2013, 03:56:14 PM
Thanks for your reply Yvonne. In spite of their being so infuriating there is something slightly humorous about wild boar. I sometimes imagine the ridiculous situation where I am creating an infinite regress of fences, each one designed to protect the previous effort.
There was once a report in the Sydney Morning Herald saying that the best control methosd was to drop explosives on them from the air.
Title: Re: Wild Boar
Post by: JTh on March 28, 2013, 06:01:49 PM
BBC radio 4 scares the badgers away, accordding to an MGS member from Grasse I recently met in the Algarve. Maybe
this works with wild boar and porcupines as well.
Title: Re: Wild Boar
Post by: Jill S on March 28, 2013, 06:03:51 PM
Instant crackling----'Yummy'
(the Oz method, although I dare say the BeeB might have much the same affect)
Title: Re: Wild Boar
Post by: Yvonne on March 29, 2013, 12:59:25 PM
We put a radio playing Radio Maria (religious talks) in the Vineyard one year and it kept the boar out - the christian message put fear into their dark sinful hearts!
Title: Re: Wild Boar
Post by: Joanna Savage on May 13, 2014, 07:45:18 AM
Still pn the topic of wild boar. I saw this method of growing young coconuts in Sri Lanka. The boar don't bother to jump down into the trench. But it sure looks like hard work for the original digger.
Title: Re: Wild Boar
Post by: Hilary on May 14, 2014, 02:44:17 PM
I couldn't resist posting this photo.
The stone Wild Boar in the museum at Sparta