Porcupines - What is the best way of keeping them out?

We have been having serious problems with porcupines burrowing under our fences, and even chewing through chicken netting put down on the ground. The drought here has been very bad, and the porcupines are obviously very hungry as they have been digging up tiny roots of chicory outside of our garden, but in it they have devastated our tomatoes, even chewing their way through the canes that supported them. Our squash, courgettes, and cucumbers are all gone. They have chewed the cavalo nero and also our leeks ans spinach.
Any ideas on fencing or anything that would keep them away would be very welcome. We use sound devices which have worked well with rats and mice in our shed, but the porcupines just ignore them when we tried one in the garden.

That's interesting Regno, I have rarely seen these critters, but when I have they are usually in families of maybe 6 or 7. They have dug up some lilies that we have over the years and it appears that they have been back to check if there are any more a few times!

I gave up on the orto a few years ago because of this sort of thing and this year have had only tomatoes...........guess what ? They have been 'stolen' and chewed in the night.

Hopefully someone out there has some suggestions !

V

Porcupines are notoriously difficult to deter from land, and will often bite through fences with their very strong teeth. A stout fence is the best defence with thick wire mesh, also Porcupines have a hankering for salt, so by putting some salt (protected from the rain of course) outside the area you wish to protect may induce them to stay on the right side of the fence. If all else fails a 12 gauge is known to be very effective.

It will be very difficult to keep away a family of hungry porcupines. Their natural predator is the fisher cat, marten or "martora" in Italian. A member of the weasel family. In America they use fisher cat urine granules to keep porcupines away. I do not know whether you could get that in Italy. You can always invite some fisher cats into your home, but they are not cuddly pets. Really vicious little creatures.

Thanks for those responses. Sorry I did not reply earlier but we only get on the internet intermittently.
It looks as if 12 guage fencing would be the best answer for us. We had already wondered if stronger fencing would be the answer, and had looked in a local agraria. I will check if it is 12 guage before we buy.it.
We had noticed that a number of the local fields have corrugated sheet fencing of say 24 to 30 inches high and farm intensively inside of the fencing. We have wondered what they are growing and what they are trying to keep out.
Again many thanks.

Regno, my reference to 12 gauge, was referring to Shot Guns, not fencing... re fencing get the interlinked, green plastic coated sort, that is the strongest and try and set it into the ground, as the little buggers will dig under it given half a chance.