crows verus my sweet corn

[Anonymous-0]

planted my sweet corn for the thrid time.crows pull up the young corn as soon as it breaks through the soil and eat the seed on the bottom of the plant i have put up two scare crows with no results.any help would be welcomed. 8-n pete .

 

[Anonymous-0]

a desert of lead delivered via 12gauge.

 

[Bob Harvey]

Even a 410 would be discouraging !

 

[Dunk]

Make money off of your plight.

12 to 18 year old boys would probably pay for the chance to sit there and shoot at them.

 

[Nic Jeffries]

Some people say an owl decoy will scare off birds. not real sure about crows.

 

[Bruce (VA)]

20 years ago, we used something called "Crow-Tox" made by Bonide. It smelled like creosote. You sprinkled it on the seed & kept the seed in a sealed container overnight. When the crow pulled up the plant, he got a mouthful. And years before that, the seed was treated w/ strychnine. That solved the problem permanently.

I doubt you're going to find any seed treatment these days w/o a pesticide license. So, use string w/ pie plates & streamers. Get a bushel of shelled corn, soak a few pounds of it overnight & toss it around the edge of your garden.

BTW, it's easier to shoot a groundhog than a crow.

 

[36 Coupe]

shoot a crow and hang it head down from a 4 foot stake.they will avoid areas where they are shot at often.

 

[Hobo,NC]

http://ytforums.ytmag.com/viewtopic.php?t=621372&highlight=corn

Worked for me 2 years run'n,,,, I spec the signs break up are cancel out something that looks new and arouse their curiosity so they do not investigate... I shoot all I can,,, hang'n them up did not help,,, I tried snakes did not help,,, my neighbor even said it sounds like a war zone around here when I plant,,, have not needed the shot gun for 2 years...

 

[jon]

An old VHS tape makes a good deterrent for a while. Just drape all across the garden & especially down the planted row. Besides spooking them by it moving they don't like getting into somewhere they can't easily fly out of.

It seems that pie pans aren't as common as they used to be so old CD's make good "shiny things" to hang around but they don't make any racket like the pans did.

 

[Danny in CO]

My son would have a blast with his .22 using the crows for target practice!

 

[Woodchuck]

We use seed that's treated so the crows leave it alone.