I've had some of those Zareba solar fence chargers, for a top strand on fences for horses and they seem to give an adequate jolt. The fence runs were nowhere near what they were rated for, neither will your gardens. Make sure to use copper clad ground rods and set them deep, if you have rock, make 3 shorter ones and keep that area wet or the fence wire will not have the full charge or none at all.
I think you'll find a lot of ideas about keeping deer and other critters out of your gardens from the internet. Those open patches you have would be decimated the first night around here. I've raised some sweet corn in one open patch here over the years and though it produced well, I planted way more than I'd need knowing the critter tax could be heavy !
What worked well for me is liquid fence. From what you have posted, and the fact that you seem to get to PA often enough, a good application of that does last long enough in dry weather, but you have to re-apply after a rain, and I have also done it before a rain to make sure something is still noticeable to them as best I can. I tend to over apply at times too, just to keep ahead of the deer. It worked well, though any loss is a heartbreak, those deer like corn when its young, then they leave it alone at a certain stage, until the silks are out, then at some point the ears become palatable. Those are the times to apply that liquid fence. You have to use care to not get the over-spray on you, just test the wind accordingly before applying. Also use care to not concentrate it on any of the fruit or what you'll pick, its harmless to us but just applying to leaves or anything close up in the air is a big deterrent. I've witnessed their reaction and see that they will avoid an area that that has been sprayed to form a perimeter. I don't think I'd apply it to lettuce or similar because you eat the leaves. I soak the bark of the nearby fruit trees, low hanging branches, they hate the odor of this stuff, the more that wafts around the better. I have heard of people using it on mesh type electric fence that is flat and a few inches wide, using its surface area to help disperse that odor. I find that the initial application reeks, but I do not notice it the next day, the deer certainly do and will until a heavy rain. My neighbor has a flower bed in front of her home, every summer the deer graze it flat. Last year I applied liquid fence when I cut the grass over there, not one plant was touched the entire season.
I've seen some wildlife fencing at a couple of CSA organic farms I've toured while buying some used implements, the last one looked expensive, it was tall and was something like woven steel like int a top soil screener, but scaled down for fencing. I'd love to have some of that !
I bought a 250' roll of field fence with the smaller mesh spacing on the bottom, I think its 60" in height. I then bought 10' t posts, and planned to space them to carry a high hot wire or something to deter deer from jumping,(will be interesting to see how that works). I would then use shorter t-posts to support the remainder of the fence, as I think the 10's would go on the corners and I allowed for 2 in between each run for the high wire or a band of chicken wire etc.. The tighter pattern on the bottom should keep woodchucks out, they hate being in the open, so if the perimeter is kept trimmed, seems they won't waste a lot of time, they really like cover and their den to by nearby with an escape route. That may help, but they can climb too. They certainly dig but around here they seem to skip digging if they will be in the open for any length of time, that's why the hole are always under something, a shed, steps, porch or an embankment with trees shading over it. I've had no trouble with raccoons as of yet, but if you are I would try and trap some of them or something to see how it helps, they can be numerous and a real pain.
The fencing is not something I like, but for peace of mind knowing that just a 60" field fence worked in the past, I'll try to get it done this year as that patch was plowed and I will be putting in onions and potatoes on time this season. Its got some nice soil so I'd like to make my upper fenced in small patch less crowded, and use the large one below, its just the critters that have kept me from doing so. Deer are relentless here, but manageable and they do provide most of my red meat just the same.
Best of luck with this as I know how much you enjoy those beautiful gardens, I enjoy seeing them every season, along with the potato picking and all the rest.
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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