What to do with these squirrelly things. Don't do tomatoes as they bite into the pretty red fruit. Now digging for no reason in a couple of my new big pots.
Once plants get going, they don't do as much damage.
Hate to admit, but if there is a way to eliminate....
Sometimes I am ready for chemical warfare. Did I say that?!
I like squirrels. When I was a wildlife rehabber, I raised many an orphaned baby for release. 
Toss a little black oil sunflower seed around in an area of your yard away from your garden, and the squirrels will go there, instead of to your veggies. They don't have any special love for veggies as part of their diet. They're just hungry. Fill their tummies and they won't bother your garden.
Don't give them any kind of nuts. They'll just bury them in your containers and anywhere else where the soil is soft and easy to dig into. The seed is cheap when you buy it in 50 lb bags, and they eat it right away, rather than trying to store it. I toss some out every day for the squirrels, so they'll leave my bird feeders and fruit trees alone. I go through about 100 lbs of sunflower seed in a year. Much better than having the little fluffy-tailed ones destroy my bird feeders and chew the buds off my fruit trees.
Squirrels are smart and persistent, not to mention agile. They'll almost always win. Sometimes, it's best to bend with the wind.
Toss a little black oil sunflower seed around in an area of your yard away from your garden, and the squirrels will go there, instead of to your veggies. They don't have any special love for veggies as part of their diet. They're just hungry. Fill their tummies and they won't bother your garden.
Don't give them any kind of nuts. They'll just bury them in your containers and anywhere else where the soil is soft and easy to dig into. The seed is cheap when you buy it in 50 lb bags, and they eat it right away, rather than trying to store it. I toss some out every day for the squirrels, so they'll leave my bird feeders and fruit trees alone. I go through about 100 lbs of sunflower seed in a year. Much better than having the little fluffy-tailed ones destroy my bird feeders and chew the buds off my fruit trees.
Squirrels are smart and persistent, not to mention agile. They'll almost always win. Sometimes, it's best to bend with the wind.
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Ozark Lady
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- Location: NW Arkansas, USA zone 7A elevation 1561 feet
I like my resident squirrels, I have spent many days watching their antics.
But, they knock seedlings that are outside hardening off, right off of the back porch. They sit on my pots of tender seedlings, and they run and play right across my seedlings, that get broken in the process.
I love my chicken wire cages, and keep increasing my numbers of them.
Good fences make good neighbors, and good chicken wire cages, make good neighbors of squirrels and chickens.
I feed the squirrels cracked corn, the same as the chickens, and the birds and squirrels apparently eat it, as it is gone. And every year we have a few more birds and squirrels around. I don't have to water them, we have a pond that they can go to.
I was going to remove a tree, it is leaning, it is hollow, but it is still alive, it is huge at the base. 16 years ago, when we bought this place we named it the 'tool tree', and stored our hand tools there when we came to work clearing this place. That is how big the hollow is. It is a huge oak, but I watched the squirrels leap from tree to tree, and they always disappear in the 'tool tree', so it gets a reprieve from the loggers, that is the squirrels home.
I was angry with the squirrels damages, but after the cages, now I can simply enjoy my squirrelly residents.
But, they knock seedlings that are outside hardening off, right off of the back porch. They sit on my pots of tender seedlings, and they run and play right across my seedlings, that get broken in the process.
I love my chicken wire cages, and keep increasing my numbers of them.
Good fences make good neighbors, and good chicken wire cages, make good neighbors of squirrels and chickens.
I feed the squirrels cracked corn, the same as the chickens, and the birds and squirrels apparently eat it, as it is gone. And every year we have a few more birds and squirrels around. I don't have to water them, we have a pond that they can go to.
I was going to remove a tree, it is leaning, it is hollow, but it is still alive, it is huge at the base. 16 years ago, when we bought this place we named it the 'tool tree', and stored our hand tools there when we came to work clearing this place. That is how big the hollow is. It is a huge oak, but I watched the squirrels leap from tree to tree, and they always disappear in the 'tool tree', so it gets a reprieve from the loggers, that is the squirrels home.
I was angry with the squirrels damages, but after the cages, now I can simply enjoy my squirrelly residents.
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Gary350
- Super Green Thumb
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- Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
- Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.
I have a squirrel next box and a hollow tree in my yard. The squirrels have 4 babies in each twice a year. I like the squirrels they are fun to watch and they never bother my garden.
Sometimes I plant sun flowers and when they get ripe it is fun to watch and see who can eat the most seeds, the squirrels or the birds.
Sometimes I plant sun flowers and when they get ripe it is fun to watch and see who can eat the most seeds, the squirrels or the birds.
I am also looking for a solution to squirrel problems. A friend of mine has some squirrels that dig in her pots and are chewing on her deck posts. She has tried a few things in the past like red pepper flakes on top of the soil of the pots but nothing has helped. She is disabled and took pride in the pots she fixed up this week only to find the squirrels are digging in them already. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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colleenie5@msn.com
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- Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:05 pm
- Location: Mpls
I was just complaining to my husband about the squirrel so brazenly walking up the sidewalk and hopping into a quite large container that was supposed to be full of tulips bloom as we speak. That bugger dug up all of the bulbs that I planted last spring.
I'm going to try one or all of these tricks next spring( it's too late now)
>Place cotton balls soaked in peppermint oil around the plant base.
>Make a spray of 1 oz Tabasco sauce to one gallon water and spray the plants
>place landscape fabric just under the dirt of the pots. Cut a hole for the plant. The squirrels should not be able to dig through that.
> another trick I use in smaller pots is to use river rock on top of the soil as a mulch. The squirrels don't want to work that hard to get to the plant roots or bulbs.
That's all I have ...Good Luck !
I got this stuff called Shake Away. It is Fox urine powder. I sprinkled it around my old tomato area and the squirrels did not touch them again. My new tomato area is enclosed in bird netting which also keeps them out - I hope! At least it keeps out the Mockingbirds. I take such delight in actually being able to let my tomatoes ripen on the vine now.
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Tate
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Ozark Lady
- Greener Thumb
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- Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2010 5:28 pm
- Location: NW Arkansas, USA zone 7A elevation 1561 feet
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applestar
- Mod
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- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
Wow! Awesome photos of a Red-tailed Hawk in action! I have small -- tiny really -- woods behind my house, and occasionally a hawk will fly through... and every bird, squirrel, and chipmunk goes quiet -- like somebody yelled "RED LIGHT!"
Totally OT, but my cats were born in a barn. As kittens, they had been taught to hide under the shed or run into the barn when a raptor flew overhead. When they first came to live with us, they tried to hide from the ceiling fan.
Totally OT, but my cats were born in a barn. As kittens, they had been taught to hide under the shed or run into the barn when a raptor flew overhead. When they first came to live with us, they tried to hide from the ceiling fan.
Thanks! At the end of a very long day staying Home with Small People, my dogs were barking like madhatters through the storm door. With the sincere hopes that it was my husband home early from work, I saw this guy just sitting in our front lawn staring dead center at our house.
By the time I got my camera he was across the street...but he was HUGE. Like the same height as my 18 month old. SO awesome.
On a side note, whatever was digging the holes in my yard is also gone.
Circle of life is my favorite means of pest control!
By the time I got my camera he was across the street...but he was HUGE. Like the same height as my 18 month old. SO awesome.
On a side note, whatever was digging the holes in my yard is also gone.
Circle of life is my favorite means of pest control!
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The Helpful Gardener
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- Location: Colchester, CT
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
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- Location: TN/GA 7b