It’s day five of our cantaloupe witness protection program and no losses yet. We were finding many half eaten green cantaloupes around the garden before deploying this improvised metal cage plus mesh bag system.
Beverly Allen, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2018
Witness Protection Program— ha,ha. Made me laugh. You know that program, “Are you smarter than a fifth grader?” Well, we should adopt one saying, “ Are you smarter than a squirrel?” The folks at Raincatchers definitely are!!
Please, more information!!! Don’t leave us in suspense. Where did you get the metal cages? I’m done with growing melons until I can find a way to keep them from the critters.
Thank you all for your great comments. We are using vole cages that you would normally use to protect your plants’ roots. Ours were donated but they are easy to find online. We have also used metal mesh vole bags on melons with initial success. However, over time the creatures learned to scrape the melon surface through the mesh. We also put out trays of water in case they are just thirsty but it hasn’t worked so far.
DALLAS GARDEN BUZZ 
Witness Protection Program— ha,ha. Made me laugh. You know that program, “Are you smarter than a fifth grader?” Well, we should adopt one saying, “ Are you smarter than a squirrel?” The folks at Raincatchers definitely are!!
In my garden it is tomatoes feeding my resident opossum!
Please, more information!!! Don’t leave us in suspense. Where did you get the metal cages? I’m done with growing melons until I can find a way to keep them from the critters.
Thank you all for your great comments. We are using vole cages that you would normally use to protect your plants’ roots. Ours were donated but they are easy to find online. We have also used metal mesh vole bags on melons with initial success. However, over time the creatures learned to scrape the melon surface through the mesh. We also put out trays of water in case they are just thirsty but it hasn’t worked so far.
It looks like it is working and might ripen them faster. Nice size now!
They do need checking every day in order to harvest ASAP for taste and risk management!