We have a grape vine and we have had something eating the grapes, but not yet seen anything. We believe that it is most likely raccoons. A few broken stems on the ground along with grapes. Has anyone had a similar problem and been able to protect the vines/grapes from further devistation? If anyone has any information and/or ideas that might help, it would be appreciated. Have had these vines in for 3-4yrs with no apparent problem. Had put some wire over at first, thinking that it was birds (quail).
Racoons love grapes. Once they discover them, they will be very persistent in trying to eat them. You will have to enclose the grape vines entirely with some kind of wire cage. If that is not possible, the only other deterrent that really works is an electric fence. I have successfully kept racoons away from my grapes for about 30 years by using an electric fence made of 4 strands of wire about 4 inches apart, which is probably overkill.
Thank you Vitog, I appreciate your info. Does your electric fence go from the ground up quite a height? I would imagine that the fence would only have to be on during the time the there is grapes on the vines. Do they go after the unripe grapes? It seemed that there was no issue with ours until they started ripening, although this is the first time we have noticed it as a problem. I think that the electric fence is the way to go. Did you use the plastic and wire twist or the solid wire fencing? The grapes seemed to be riipening alot later in the season than usual, did you find this to be the case.
As mentioned, the electric fence is 4 strands, 4 inches apart; and the bottom one is about 4 inches off the ground, for a total height around 16 inches. Fortunately, racoons don't jump; so this is high enough to keep them out. Some of our cats learned to jump over the fence after getting zapped. I only put the fence up when I see signs of damage to the grapes. That's usually when the grapes are beginning to ripen but are still too sour for most humans. My fence is the twisted plastic and wire strands type, which was given to me; so I have no experience with any other type. This year's grape crop seems to be ripening close to the normal time but later than last year, when we had those record-breaking high temperatures. One thing to keep in mind is that grapes ripen later when the crop is larger. With fairly young vines you are probably getting a bigger crop every year, which should delay ripening.
