Wildlife pests vary from region to region. In Tasmania, garden wallaby pests can wreak havoc on pastures, fields and the home garden. We get the question, “how to stop wallabies from eating my plants” frequently in our Q&A section . These adorable herbivores generally eat grasses and other plants, including food crops, and can become a nuisance in your home garden. Let’s investigate some tips and tricks that will allow you to enjoy these wild animals without sacrificing your produce patch.
How to stop wallabies from eating my plants
Wallabies are smaller relatives of kangaroos and are also marsupials. Their foraging activities often take them into human territory, and a clash of needs and desires ensues. Animals are just trying to keep their bellies full, but this can result in the invasion of planned food crops necessary for our own survival and well-being.
While their marauders can be frustrating, there are barriers and wallaby deterrents that will protect the garden and still allow the wild animals to go about their business. Living in harmony with the wild beasts of a region is a worthy endeavor that provides a pleasant up-close and personal view of the animals with which we share this world.
Wallabies are equal opportunity eaters when it comes to the plants they eat on. Keeping wallabies out of gardens can be a challenge because our edibles also look quite attractive to marsupials. Often, simply planning an open garden that is not surrounded by cover can minimize your poaching activities in the orchard.
If the animal’s activities are particularly distressing, many gardeners implement a program to kill the wallaby. However, these animals are an important natural resource and this is not necessary to control marsupials. Building fences around the garden that are made of mesh wire and at least 4 to 6 feet (1-2 m) high should deter most wallaby pests in the garden. Building a mesh hoop house over the garden plot is another way to keep wallabies out of gardens. These can be created inexpensively using PVC, rebar and mesh to simply surround the garden plot and prevent animals from haying.
Are there Wallaby-proof plants?
It seems sensible to simply grow wallaby-proof plants. In the vegetable patch that can be limiting, but the animals seem to avoid anything in the Brassica family. They also do not like aromatic or thorny plants. Taro , arrowroot and midyim berries also appear to be off the menu. Surrounding the vegetable garden with herbs or even using eucalyptus leaves as mulch around the garden can help deter kangaroos.
Ornamental plants that can survive wallaby foraging can be:
- Tasmanian flax lily
- sticky boronia
- native laurel
- Spreading velvet bush
- native indigo
- Matte Bush Pea
- Speedwell
- dusty miller
- mountain rocker
- gooseberry bush
- Grevillea
Another idea to keep animals away from your ornamentals and vegetables is to plant a forage garden. Place plants that attract wallabies so they have an area they prefer to forage. Choose native plants for easy care and maintenance. If the plant can survive a few years of gentle chewing, it will usually grow large enough to withstand the annual foraging of marsupials and avoid their part of the landscape.
Wallaby Deterrents
If all else fails, use your family pets to deter pests. Domestic animals seem to repel the wandering wallaby, as do ducks .
Make a chili, garlic and Tabasco spray, and apply it in the garden every other day on plants and as a powerful aromatic fence.
Plant a living fence of gum trees around your property, as both kangaroos and wallabies seem to dislike the scent.
There are several products that are marked as wallaby deterrents. An easy recipe to try is 5 eggs mixed with water and acrylic paint. Sprinkle the mixture around the garden.
Smaller barriers, such as GroCones, can also help protect seedlings and young plants from browsing until they can grow large enough to withstand a few nibbles.
It is important to be creative with wallaby protection in the garden, as regional preferences change and the effectiveness of a method is often diminished in times of drought and food shortages due to the animal’s desperation.