POSSUMS – HOW TO PROTECT ROSES FROM THEM

Hi Diana,
to get back to something that was under discussion a while ago, I’ve found a way to stop possums getting onto my climbing rose support and stripping the rose of all new growth and many leaves.  This rose has been absolutely crippled and able to make very little headway for a year.  Now, in just a month, it’s grown more than in all the previous 11 months combined, and even has some blooms.  it involves that black plastic mesh on a little roll you get at bunnings, for covering gutters so that leaves can’t fall in and clog them. my rose support is a made of 4×2 timber with two uprights.  I had put around this some of that anti-possum spiky black plastic that also comes on a roll.  it’s about 30cm broad and super-expensive for what it is, and it does nothing. the possums just walked across it on their way up to the food supply.  So I’ve got some of the gutter cover, placed it up flat vertical against the timber of the support and stapled along the bottom.  then, when i let it go, it flops over to roughly horizontal, forming a flexible barrier 15or 20cm wide and hardly conspicuous at all.  The possums could easily cross it if they were willing to risk the floppy, unstable structure that it is, but they do not trust it.  so far, so good.

I’ll attach an image.

I hope that helps someone

best,
n