Bye-bye deer!!!

[Talon1189]

Originally Posted by shlacm

So I finally got my ground rod... all they had was 8'! And now I can't get anything to go more than 8" without hitting rock, grrrr! So, tomorrow I borrow a post hole digger and see what I can do. At this point I'd be thrilled if I can get it 4' underground!

It's a good thing I'm not very good at bein' a "girly girl" 'cause my husband looked at me like I'd lost my mind when I said it had to go at least 4' deep!

You should tell your man that "thicker is better".......Hehehehehe My Legend plant's are 46 inches tall and has a whooping 4 fruits as per plant as we talked about. I am a newbie like yourself. Good luck with your "deer issues" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>Talon

[shlacm]

LOL Talon, my Legend has a tomato! Yup, the deer left 1 bloom and 1 leaf and the bloom is turning into a tomato. I swear, that plant is almost as much a pain as the Chocolate Stripe!

[shlacm]

Okay, I spent a lot of time digging today, mostly by hand!!! Dang rocks! And have decided to go with the "trench method."

mjc - I have an 8 ft rod, should it be 2 ft deep at the deepest point? Thanks

[Mischka]

Originally Posted by shlacm

Okay, I spent a lot of time digging today, mostly by hand!!! Dang rocks! And have decided to go with the "trench method."

mjc - I have an 8 ft rod, should it be 2 ft deep at the deepest point? Thanks

Sorry I haven't gotten back to this thread sooner; things are hectic here.

Your ground rod needs to be a minimum of 4 feet deep for it to really be effective. I know it can be a lot of work to get it down that deep, but any less and your fence will not deliver much of a shock at all, especially when using a smaller energizer. I'd hate to see you go through all the work of installing posts, adding insulators, stringing wire and baiting the fence only to have it be too weak to deter anything at all. As I said in my first post, inadequate grounding is the number one reason why electric fences fail to work.

When you ground an electric fence, what you are doing is actually charging the earth/soil/ground with a negative charge. Your fence wires are charged positive and when an animal or person touches the fence, they "complete the circuit", so to speak, and the positive flow of electricity travels through their body into the ground. If the soil around the fence doesn't have an adequate negative charge, the electricity from the positive wire will not flow through the animal because the positive current will not be able to overcome the natural resistance of the animal's body to complete the circuit.

The only other grounding method that I've seen (that worked) at a lesser depth was at a wild animal farm (zoo) in N.H. They buried a 4' x 8' section of galvanized chain link fence two feet down and attached several wires to it that were joined together and connected to the negative post on the energizer.

This might be an option for you, if you can't get your rod any deeper than 2 feet. You can get a section of galvanized fencing at Tractor Supply or your local fence installer for a reasonable price.

[shlacm]

I found these:

http://www.thecattlesite.com/article...c-fence-review

http://www.grangecoop.com/tipsFR.shtml

http://www.iowabeefcenter.org/conten...Energizers.pdf

which all talk about placing the rods in trenches if necessary... so it looks like that is, indeed, an option.

[swamper]

I have 2 aluminum ground rods, i'd guess they're 4 or 5 ft long. my fence is a solar model that doesnt generate a lot of power, but it seems to work for deer over the last 16 months in an area with lots of deer. i use the poly string with aluminum wire woven in.

[Talon1189]

You are doing well here........

[shlacm]

Done! My arms (and hands) are killing me!!! The majority of the digging was done by hand - as in, one handful at a time!!! I splurged on gloves this afternoon; best $3 I've spent in a LONG time.

I didn't want to put all of the rocks back in the hole, so I filled it with peat and covered that with the dirt I had dug out... will probably pile the rocks on top, just for fun. I figure the peat will help keep the moisture level up. I'll "water" it whenever I water my maters too, just to be sure!

So, the fence is baited - peanut butter smeared foil, dipped in applesauce - and ON!!! I will sleep well tonight!!!

Oh yeah, here are a couple pics... the first shows the rocks, keep in mind you can only see about half of them. The 2nd shows the deepest part of the trench, with solid rock walls and bottom... wasn't getting past 2' without a stick of dynamite.

[dice]

That looks like a mineral rich soil to me.

Has anyone tried sinking their ground rod in the edge
of a pond or creek? Would that be a usable option for
good grounding of an electric fence?

[Timmah!]

Wow, & I thought I had a lot of rocks here. Looks like you build a wall out of the ground as you dig it.

[shlacm]

dice - I think I read somewhere that a low-lying area that never dries out completely is a good place to put the ground rod, so I'd think the edge of a pond would be good.

Timmah - You ain't kiddin'!!! The only "good" thing about the rocks here is that they're "flaky" so I was able to break and split them down to a manageable size!

[dice]

Irrigating the soil where that rod is buried might help a lot.

[TomNJ]

Just want to say THANKS to Mischka and the others who contributed to this old thread - it was very helpful!

I just built an electric fence around my new garden in rural southwest Virginia where the deer and smaller critters prance across the property daily. I strung five layers of six-wire polywire at 5", 12", 21", 31", and 40", energized with a Zareba 25 mile AC charger. The corner posts are 8' 4x4s and the line posts are 7' steel T-posts. It is grounded with two 6' galvanized steel rods driven straight down, and I baited the two top wires with peanut butter on tin foil. I also strung three layers of white cord above the polywire up to 6' just as an additional deterrent, but having accidentally touched the charged wire a couple of times I can't imagine the critters returning after getting zapped. Nonetheless I think I'll extend the height up to a total of 8" with the last two feet being angled outward.

For anyone else considering building an electric fence, this site has some really helpful videos that walk you through it:

http://www.electric-deer-fence.com/i...tion/index.htm

TomNJ/VA