How to Keep Coons Out of Sweet Corn

Raccoons love sweet corn and will tear off your garden to get to it. If there are problems with coons in your area, you should think of methods to defend your crops early in the season, before the raccoons even discover what is growing in your garden. Installing fences and adding plants that may keep the animals away from your fresh corn are some of the first measures to consider.

Fencing (electrical or floppy)

Radio

Tall crops

Ground crops

Set up a fence around the garden. Fences are the best way to keep coons out of the garden and away from your corn. Chain link fences, however, are too easy for raccoons to climb, as are wood fences. Electric fence is one of the best type to use, but you must ensure that the wires are spaced somewhat close together so that the coon doesn't simply slip between or under them. Another type of fence that works well is the floppy fence. With this you would set up a chain link or chicken wire fence, but then add a section of chicken wire above the main fence with no real support. As the raccoon climbs the portion without supports, it flops backwards from the added weight it put on the fence.

Set up a portable radio in the garden and put it on a talk station. The voices will make the raccoons wary. They are smart however, so you will need to move the radio every few days, otherwise they will get used to it in one place and just avoid that area.

Plant discouraging crops between the corn rows. Look for plants that grow vines on the ground, such as pumpkins and certain beans. Raccoons would rather not walk on the vines and will sometimes avoid the area because of this.

Grow plants around the corn that are similarly tall, such as vines growing on poles or sunflowers. Raccoons sometimes ignore what they cannot see, so even though they might smell the corn, they will not go in area they are unsure of.