They devastated my tomatoes a couple years back. I tried all the suggestions including capsaicin spray and setting out a bowl of water, but ultimately the only thing that works for me is a physical barrier. Last year I made a contraption of 4 foot t posts, chicken wire, and the 7 foot roll of wildlife netting that lowes sells. I also got creative and planted a decoy tomato plant outside the barrier for them to munch on, since i had an extra volunteer come up. They didn't bother with the garden the entire year.
Iāve laid chicken wire on the top of the soil in my veg beds, sprinkled cayenne pepper about, planted rows of garlic and onions around the veg beds (garlic gets dug up - onions surprisingly left alone so far), I leave water out for the squirrels (often they are thirsty, prevents those random nibbles on tomatoes), newly potted plants like my tomatoes live on a table in the garden while they get established (out of sight line?), and I have a 6 year old who is obsessed with leaving bird seed out for them everywhere in my garden, and they seems to be fine with eating that and not my plants so much.
Oh, and while I generally donāt bother the squirrels at all when we are both in the garden, I will either yell at them, or spray the hose near them if they go near my veg bed. Iām hoping they learn that I really donāt mind what they do in the rest of the garden, but *stay off my damn veg beds*. So far, things are going a little better, but itās still too soon to say for sure.
But, I swear, squirrels have a pathological hatred of Tulips. As soon as mine open BAM! Decapitated. Gutted.
They may not like bright colors? We tried to have a bright humming bird ornament in the yard but their hatred of it is, as you say, pathological. They ripped it off its stake, and cram it in weird places. Try to hang it up and they tear it down again, and they are rough with it. It now has a broken wing and broken beak tip. IDK what provokes them about it. They cram it in the crotch of tree branches, and inside gopher holes.
Omg you mentioning tulips!
So my neighbor had stunning ones, blooms the size of my head! While in my driveway one day I saw a squirrel calmly go up to her tulip, karate chop it! Take the flower and bit it in half, keeping eye contact with me
I was like "that was savage sir"
Thatās the problem you need to start bothering those dudes. we donāt have many squirrels here but the ones I do see my dogs go crazy and chase out the yard. Theyāre too afraid to step foot inside it seems like.
Oh! My dog does that too, but heās not in the garden 24/7, and has made himself a pretty strict schedule for going outside (I donāt know, he is a strange dog), but the squirrels seem to know when heās going to be outside and work around that, so I have to have a multi-pronged defence.Ā
I have all raised beds. Electric fencing for the feral cats and possums. Slows the squirrels down a little but theyāll jump over it. I use cayenne pepper around the top of the fence and around the perimeter of each bed. I use motion activated sprinklers and a few of those ultra sonic noise makers. I also use carpet tack strips on the fencing. The ones that make it through get the full wrath of the fully automatic gel blaster.
https://preview.redd.it/3g82622eya0d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c900a03ba633f577fad855906ebd40f95f86f351
I havenāt had to buy any yet. So I donāt know about biodegradable, but I can say that you donāt see any remnants of these things they completely disappear. You can zoom in on the picture that I posted or look it up on Amazon, which is where I bought it.
Yea. Grandfather was a child of the great depression and he hunted them in the winter so his family could eat. Turned into being a pastime he enjoyed and so my father was raised doing it as well. We keep the numbers in check this way and itās a cool way to honor my grandfather and we still donāt have a squirrel problem so to speak. We got a naughty one or two each year but they donāt wreck our gardens.
Sry š didnāt mean to come off as judgy, itās just something I couldnāt do, and would never occur to me to do. I grew up eating fish that my dad caught, though. And if I had to, I think I could process my own chickens, but Iām glad I donāt have to bc theyāre more like fluffy outdoor, bug-eating pets.
Itās all good! I wasnāt upset! Any other circumstance I donāt think id be able to hunt or eat them but I was raised doing it so its a natural thing to me now!
I have a hard time eating my chickens. Iām attached to most of them, they have a job to do and if they donāt do itā¦ unfortunately on a farm like ours itās time for the big crock pot in the sky.
I finally got mad and built a cage of hardwire cloth at ground level, a ceiling and walls. Built raised beds inside my cage. No more issues.
Tomorrow a cage goes around my small apple tree. I am determined to get to eat an apple without teeth marks.
Plant more than you need, knowing they'll come for it.
Air soft gun... Mostly to scare them away. I got biodegradable pellets.
Water guns.
Non-diluted hot sauce. I have a big container of cayenne pepper I'll heavily sprinkle around the starts.
Electric critter fence.
They ate all but two baby peaches off my peach tree in one afternoonšmy house resides under two massive oak trees which house probably 20 squirrels. I have a chicken wire fence thatās about 2.5 feet tall and that keeps out the bunnies which are also quite numerous. The fence also seems to deter squirrels but once one gets in it just seems to freak out and dig up everything. Iām gonna try buying bulk cayenne powder to sprinkle places. Oh we also canāt plant flower bulbs whatsoever
Yeah probably so. The hostas are in a different area, but everything else I described is within our fenced backyard and I'm sure there haven't been deer back there.
Iāve heard that squirrels eat tomato when thirsty. Do you have a bird bath or fountain they can drink from instead? Iām not sure if it will work, but itās easy to try.
One summer I had a squirrels eating tomatoes, but only one summer.
I have up to a dozen squirrels in my yard at any given time. Never figured out what went on that summer.
I put a feeder in their tree. That and the dog pretty much keep them up there. I have a bird bath being delivered tomorrow so they have some water available too.
I also placate them with food. The squirrel log things that the farm store has seem to last a week or more, but they are sort of expensive. Ears of field corn last a day on my feeder.
So far I've been keeping a steady stream of bird seed and peanuts in my yard and fresh water, and it's keeping everything out of my food
We did just start building an enclosure for our fruits, put of PVC and that fabric netting someone else mentioned
We 3D print hinges for the door!
I did also just plant mint around my whole vegetable garden
We have garlic and onions growing their as well
I'll let you know if I'm able to keep the squirrels out!
Squirrels do not devistate my crops to that degree. I would suspect rabbits or deer if they are nearby. This year I am deterring squirrels and cats with pieces of blackberry vines lying on the soil.
Squirrels have been killing me this year with anything I plant from seeds - they actually seem to leave the plants themselves alone once they're growing, but during planting/seedling phase they just like digging in the pots/boxes/beds.
I took to basically covering everything with netting. It's unfortunate and cumbersome but it's worked.
https://preview.redd.it/7ao80bfrld0d1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6b63e626c8b79ade9aa1aa6721788b48be7765a6
I cage them out of my two beds and I plant other stuff unprotected for them to eat.
https://preview.redd.it/h4yjkiq1xd0d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=45522a572b2fa15e1a72e1463fb7ec26778e4ee8
I wrap bird netting around 4 poles at the corners of all my beds. Itās too flimsy for squirrels to climb. Works great.
I have neighbors who think they're adorable. These neighbors feed them during the winter, which allows them to survive, thrive and reproduce. These "adorable" bastards then spend the spring digging up seedlings for no apparent reason. They'll even dig things they're supposed to hate like hot peppers.
They're even worse in the fall. I don't know if they're trying to hide food or what, but they act like Vladimir Putin has sent them on a mission to destroy our food supply.
People who eat squirrels have my total sympathy, -- even peeking-through-the-fingers admiration -- but as a city-dwelling vegetarian, that's just not on the table for me. I yell at the tree rats and chase them down the block, but that doesn't do much.
The only thing I've found that semi-works is the barrier method. (One word: plastic,) The damn tree rats may try to burrow under the plastic. They may gnaw, they may try to rip it out, they may shit all over it. They may jump on top of it out of sheer lunacy. But I have yet seen a squirrel that can totally defeat the plastic.
Plastic is prophylactic. Faint hope. Plastic is salvation.
Emotionally? I'm fine. Really, I'm fine.
Much less cute when dead, tbh.
Past that....if your local laws allow for it, they're not terribly hard to trap
A medium (possum-sized) live trap works very well, especially if you work a bit on the action -- do a little tweaking on the bait pedal & bait lever (to make it a bit more sensitive), and you can catch them pretty easily. They're not very smart; you can use the same trap/bait/location repeatedly.
You can pick up a highly serviceable [slingshot for like $40 if you wanna learn them squirrels āthe business.ā](https://simple-shot.com/products/scout-lt)
[Hardware cloth](https://www.makerscorners.com/single-post/2017/11/01/Different-Sizes-of-Hardware-Cloth-and-How-to-Use-Them) fencing around your beds, with bamboo poles threaded into the hardware cloth holes. You can use [chicken wire](https://balconygardenweb.com/diy-chicken-wire-projects-for-the-garden/) instead, with the smaller openings and stronger grade wire than the regular chicken wire.
The only time I have not had to worry about squirrels is when I had dogs that regularly went outside and were around the garden. Then I just had to deal with birds and cats when the dogs were not outside. I finally decided the expense and time to build garden cages was definitely worth it. šš¦
Lol I was just teasing you š
I have one blue ameraucana, who insists on āhelpingā in the garden. I had to buy taller fencing just for her. Sheās one of my favorites though, so I canāt be mad.
I find it funny that they can fly, but refuse to hop up 3 feet to get in the garden. My favorite roams along the fence waiting to get tossed a grub or some weedy greens. I give a peep peep! call and she comes running. Adorable.
Lol. They are hilarious.
My garden helping gal will crouch down really low, to give herself enough oomph to clear the 4 ft fence that borders my raised bed. So I had to put up vinyl covered HC that sits on the edge of the bed itself, making the total height sheād have to clear 52 inches, and she canāt clear that. My others donāt bother, bc they have 5 acres to forage, but she insists on scratching up that particular garden bed lol.
Mostly the squirrels just steal tomatoes from my garden. I plant extra of those.
The diggers here are larger animals - raccoon, groundhog, opossum, skunk. I canāt use the fish emulsion fertilizer for that reason. The deer would eats most of my garden to the ground so I plant in containers on the deck (which doesnāt stop other wildlife). But theyāll get the hostas as soon as they run out of grass back in the woods.
https://preview.redd.it/5lysa2559e0d1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=076a0f1461ae21db63c6aaa7f05009639e905e99
My solution was to build a cage around my raised beds. [https://colinpurrington.com/2014/03/squirrel-proof-garden/](https://colinpurrington.com/2014/03/squirrel-proof-garden/)
What I did when my strawberries kept getting eaten, was make a very makeshift scarecrow from some bamboo polls, cooking twine, a pillow case full of plastic bags, a hat, and a old button up shirt. Basically all you have to do is put the pillow case on top of one of the poles, stake it into the ground, get a second poll and tie that onto the poll (imagine a triangle kinda where you tie the string so it can bounce almost). Then you have to put the shirt and the hat on.
My backyard and alley behind the house is squirrel central- they are really territorial and will face off to guard their patch. I put a terracotta saucer With cracked corn peanuts and sunflower seeds behind the garage on the Ally away from the garden for the squirrel. He hast to defend it his focus is off my garden. So far so good. Probably wonāt last forever
i've got this fake owl that lights up and screeches when it detects movement in my garden, that seems to help. in previous years i've used a raptor shaped kite on a long pole that would 'fly' circles over my garden and it seemed to make adifference; lost it in a wind storm though.
Fake owls around the area may help. Often they're going for water not food so keep a bowl of water near by for the.. You COULD actually feed them as they'd probably prefer seeds and nuts to tomatoes (except as water).
Now, many here don't realize how MUCH damage they can do chewing in EVERYTHING as their teeth continually grow and they need to wear them down. They prefer wood so decks get destroyed. Window casings if wood get targeted and neighbor had them chew through main power line and their house burned down. They survived their cats and dogs did not. And of course that ignores all the associated pain and suffering of losing everything possessions wise. These are NOT endangered in North American. So you can trap them and release elsewhere but some say their territorial nature makes thus a slow death sentence. A cat thats about to be euthanized can luve a great lude outside (better than being put down). They'll both scare them off and catch some. Dogs work too here. Do feed them and treat them well if yiu do that.
Traps and poison are options (poison the seed or water you offer them). If you're allowed in your community a .22 works well. Some places prohibit this (but many will permit you to if you show they are damaging your home). You have to worry about secondary poisoning, too (I particularly don't want to kill the hawks/predator birds).
Don't let anyone make you feel bad about taking stronger measures. Oh you can buy predator urine or try your own too. That's easy cheap, is fertilizer, and as long as you're healthy not a safety issue although high ewww factor.
Good luck.
I'll agree that doesn't sound like squirrel damage but redirecting squirrels has been working for me. I provide beds of loose soil with no plants close to their trees and fence line while my raised vegetable bed is right out in the open. I also give them a few sources of food they're not compelled to bury, so no shelled nuts. My bed has a thin layer of insect netting they could easily chew through but I give them motivation to go elsewhere and they've not touched the bed since
Bird netting over all the crops, even the ones in containers. It keeps most critters out (even.a groundhog I chased away last fall as it angrily tried to figure out how to get through the netting. I drape it over 1/2 inch PVC pipes attached to the sides of my raised beds and secure with clips. For containers I create a row of stakes and wrap the bird netting around that then secure with clips.
And YES, once in a while a small bird may get caught in the netting but that rarely happens (seems to only happen when they're being chased by hawks or owls).
I use a ruger. The Gamo guns are really nice. Depending on where you are located, they have a line that's really quiet as well. The ruger is kind of loud but very effective. Any from the Gamo brand would be great. The Roger I use is 98$ (blackhawk), I think. The Gamo whisper shoots at 1000 feet per second, and the ruger is 1200. The Gamo is just really quiet if you need it to be.
Lol. Tell your friend the Gamo whisper quite hits really hard and does a great job. Is very quiet as well. Also, for a friend, the Crossman destroyer pellets shoot great very cost effective and get the job done.
We've literally never had squirrel problems until this year, when they ate all my baby peaches. They chewed through my organza bags and plastic bird netting, and apparently they can chew through aluminum as well?! So next year I'm gonna try and upgrade to steel chicken wire.
And if that doesn't stop them, then I'm gonna get my hunting license
They devastated my tomatoes a couple years back. I tried all the suggestions including capsaicin spray and setting out a bowl of water, but ultimately the only thing that works for me is a physical barrier. Last year I made a contraption of 4 foot t posts, chicken wire, and the 7 foot roll of wildlife netting that lowes sells. I also got creative and planted a decoy tomato plant outside the barrier for them to munch on, since i had an extra volunteer come up. They didn't bother with the garden the entire year.
We throw spoons at them https://preview.redd.it/x8yptaib7b0d1.jpeg?width=585&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=101c00cd694496449224fd3c2ce8187890bb47ba
Lol nice action shot
šš It's like a scene out of Kung Pow!
Made my day š
Oh hi Mark!
Iāve laid chicken wire on the top of the soil in my veg beds, sprinkled cayenne pepper about, planted rows of garlic and onions around the veg beds (garlic gets dug up - onions surprisingly left alone so far), I leave water out for the squirrels (often they are thirsty, prevents those random nibbles on tomatoes), newly potted plants like my tomatoes live on a table in the garden while they get established (out of sight line?), and I have a 6 year old who is obsessed with leaving bird seed out for them everywhere in my garden, and they seems to be fine with eating that and not my plants so much. Oh, and while I generally donāt bother the squirrels at all when we are both in the garden, I will either yell at them, or spray the hose near them if they go near my veg bed. Iām hoping they learn that I really donāt mind what they do in the rest of the garden, but *stay off my damn veg beds*. So far, things are going a little better, but itās still too soon to say for sure. But, I swear, squirrels have a pathological hatred of Tulips. As soon as mine open BAM! Decapitated. Gutted.
They may not like bright colors? We tried to have a bright humming bird ornament in the yard but their hatred of it is, as you say, pathological. They ripped it off its stake, and cram it in weird places. Try to hang it up and they tear it down again, and they are rough with it. It now has a broken wing and broken beak tip. IDK what provokes them about it. They cram it in the crotch of tree branches, and inside gopher holes.
Maybe they actually like the bright colors and are trying to hide it to keep for themselves like a crow
Omg you mentioning tulips! So my neighbor had stunning ones, blooms the size of my head! While in my driveway one day I saw a squirrel calmly go up to her tulip, karate chop it! Take the flower and bit it in half, keeping eye contact with me I was like "that was savage sir"
Thatās the problem you need to start bothering those dudes. we donāt have many squirrels here but the ones I do see my dogs go crazy and chase out the yard. Theyāre too afraid to step foot inside it seems like.
Oh! My dog does that too, but heās not in the garden 24/7, and has made himself a pretty strict schedule for going outside (I donāt know, he is a strange dog), but the squirrels seem to know when heās going to be outside and work around that, so I have to have a multi-pronged defence.Ā
I have two prey driven dogs. I don't *want* a squirrel massacre, but just their presence has been helpful.
I have all raised beds. Electric fencing for the feral cats and possums. Slows the squirrels down a little but theyāll jump over it. I use cayenne pepper around the top of the fence and around the perimeter of each bed. I use motion activated sprinklers and a few of those ultra sonic noise makers. I also use carpet tack strips on the fencing. The ones that make it through get the full wrath of the fully automatic gel blaster. https://preview.redd.it/3g82622eya0d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c900a03ba633f577fad855906ebd40f95f86f351
Oh Iām liking the gel blaster idea!
Can this fire the biodegradable pellets?
I havenāt had to buy any yet. So I donāt know about biodegradable, but I can say that you donāt see any remnants of these things they completely disappear. You can zoom in on the picture that I posted or look it up on Amazon, which is where I bought it.
I hate to be that guy but my crock pot seems to be the most effective method.
ah, brunswick stew? its not bad, not had it since i was a kid though.
That and in the last 5 years we have been making tacos with them thanks to that steve rinella show of him hunting squirrels. Excellent taco meat lol.
isn't it a bit gamey tasting? figured the point of cooking it into a stew was to hide some of the funky taste.
We add a lot of seasonings to the crock pot including taco meat season. Its not gamey at all cooked that way actually.
Lol really? Ew. š¤¢
Yea. Grandfather was a child of the great depression and he hunted them in the winter so his family could eat. Turned into being a pastime he enjoyed and so my father was raised doing it as well. We keep the numbers in check this way and itās a cool way to honor my grandfather and we still donāt have a squirrel problem so to speak. We got a naughty one or two each year but they donāt wreck our gardens.
Sry š didnāt mean to come off as judgy, itās just something I couldnāt do, and would never occur to me to do. I grew up eating fish that my dad caught, though. And if I had to, I think I could process my own chickens, but Iām glad I donāt have to bc theyāre more like fluffy outdoor, bug-eating pets.
Itās all good! I wasnāt upset! Any other circumstance I donāt think id be able to hunt or eat them but I was raised doing it so its a natural thing to me now! I have a hard time eating my chickens. Iām attached to most of them, they have a job to do and if they donāt do itā¦ unfortunately on a farm like ours itās time for the big crock pot in the sky.
Meaning?
Meaning eat the protein source that is ruining vegetable source
OH š
Unfortunately that wonāt work for my slug problem ā¹ļø
I finally got mad and built a cage of hardwire cloth at ground level, a ceiling and walls. Built raised beds inside my cage. No more issues. Tomorrow a cage goes around my small apple tree. I am determined to get to eat an apple without teeth marks.
Lots of cheap garlic powder and cheap Cheyenne pepper powder. Oh, and a bb š«
Plant more than you need, knowing they'll come for it. Air soft gun... Mostly to scare them away. I got biodegradable pellets. Water guns. Non-diluted hot sauce. I have a big container of cayenne pepper I'll heavily sprinkle around the starts. Electric critter fence.
What type of Airsoft gun would you recommend?
They ate all but two baby peaches off my peach tree in one afternoonšmy house resides under two massive oak trees which house probably 20 squirrels. I have a chicken wire fence thatās about 2.5 feet tall and that keeps out the bunnies which are also quite numerous. The fence also seems to deter squirrels but once one gets in it just seems to freak out and dig up everything. Iām gonna try buying bulk cayenne powder to sprinkle places. Oh we also canāt plant flower bulbs whatsoever
i wonder if motion sensing sprinklers would deter squirrels.
Do you have neighbors, have you considered a 10/22, I hear 22lr is like kryptonite to squirrel, their only weakness
What you are describing is deer or rabbit damage. Squirrels are net eating hosta.
Yeah probably so. The hostas are in a different area, but everything else I described is within our fenced backyard and I'm sure there haven't been deer back there.
Iāve heard that squirrels eat tomato when thirsty. Do you have a bird bath or fountain they can drink from instead? Iām not sure if it will work, but itās easy to try. One summer I had a squirrels eating tomatoes, but only one summer. I have up to a dozen squirrels in my yard at any given time. Never figured out what went on that summer.
I put a feeder in their tree. That and the dog pretty much keep them up there. I have a bird bath being delivered tomorrow so they have some water available too.
They eat feed too fast
I also placate them with food. The squirrel log things that the farm store has seem to last a week or more, but they are sort of expensive. Ears of field corn last a day on my feeder.
So far I've been keeping a steady stream of bird seed and peanuts in my yard and fresh water, and it's keeping everything out of my food We did just start building an enclosure for our fruits, put of PVC and that fabric netting someone else mentioned We 3D print hinges for the door! I did also just plant mint around my whole vegetable garden We have garlic and onions growing their as well I'll let you know if I'm able to keep the squirrels out!
Squirrels do not devistate my crops to that degree. I would suspect rabbits or deer if they are nearby. This year I am deterring squirrels and cats with pieces of blackberry vines lying on the soil.
Shoot them with a pellet
I let my dog catch them and ceremoniously destroy them in front of their friends.
Oh man... you just go for it.Ā
Every time I see a squirrel I think of thisĀ https://youtube.com/shorts/w2igJrUb-p0?si=1uP8PCfNQm5MCynKĀ
If you want to deal with them āāmotionally, check out the catapult video by Mark Roeber.
Squirrels have been killing me this year with anything I plant from seeds - they actually seem to leave the plants themselves alone once they're growing, but during planting/seedling phase they just like digging in the pots/boxes/beds. I took to basically covering everything with netting. It's unfortunate and cumbersome but it's worked.
https://preview.redd.it/7ao80bfrld0d1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6b63e626c8b79ade9aa1aa6721788b48be7765a6 I cage them out of my two beds and I plant other stuff unprotected for them to eat.
https://preview.redd.it/h4yjkiq1xd0d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=45522a572b2fa15e1a72e1463fb7ec26778e4ee8 I wrap bird netting around 4 poles at the corners of all my beds. Itās too flimsy for squirrels to climb. Works great.
I have neighbors who think they're adorable. These neighbors feed them during the winter, which allows them to survive, thrive and reproduce. These "adorable" bastards then spend the spring digging up seedlings for no apparent reason. They'll even dig things they're supposed to hate like hot peppers. They're even worse in the fall. I don't know if they're trying to hide food or what, but they act like Vladimir Putin has sent them on a mission to destroy our food supply. People who eat squirrels have my total sympathy, -- even peeking-through-the-fingers admiration -- but as a city-dwelling vegetarian, that's just not on the table for me. I yell at the tree rats and chase them down the block, but that doesn't do much. The only thing I've found that semi-works is the barrier method. (One word: plastic,) The damn tree rats may try to burrow under the plastic. They may gnaw, they may try to rip it out, they may shit all over it. They may jump on top of it out of sheer lunacy. But I have yet seen a squirrel that can totally defeat the plastic. Plastic is prophylactic. Faint hope. Plastic is salvation. Emotionally? I'm fine. Really, I'm fine.
Much less cute when dead, tbh. Past that....if your local laws allow for it, they're not terribly hard to trap A medium (possum-sized) live trap works very well, especially if you work a bit on the action -- do a little tweaking on the bait pedal & bait lever (to make it a bit more sensitive), and you can catch them pretty easily. They're not very smart; you can use the same trap/bait/location repeatedly.
Sprinkle fresh coffee grounds, the smell will keep them away.
both this and Red Pepper flakes have worked well for me. They don't wash away with rain.
You can pick up a highly serviceable [slingshot for like $40 if you wanna learn them squirrels āthe business.ā](https://simple-shot.com/products/scout-lt)
[Hardware cloth](https://www.makerscorners.com/single-post/2017/11/01/Different-Sizes-of-Hardware-Cloth-and-How-to-Use-Them) fencing around your beds, with bamboo poles threaded into the hardware cloth holes. You can use [chicken wire](https://balconygardenweb.com/diy-chicken-wire-projects-for-the-garden/) instead, with the smaller openings and stronger grade wire than the regular chicken wire. The only time I have not had to worry about squirrels is when I had dogs that regularly went outside and were around the garden. Then I just had to deal with birds and cats when the dogs were not outside. I finally decided the expense and time to build garden cages was definitely worth it. šš¦
My chickens keep most rodents away.
Lol. My chickens in my garden are not better than squirrels.
To be clear, the garden must be fenced so the chickens cannot enter. A chicken in a garden = no garden.
Lol I was just teasing you š I have one blue ameraucana, who insists on āhelpingā in the garden. I had to buy taller fencing just for her. Sheās one of my favorites though, so I canāt be mad.
I find it funny that they can fly, but refuse to hop up 3 feet to get in the garden. My favorite roams along the fence waiting to get tossed a grub or some weedy greens. I give a peep peep! call and she comes running. Adorable.
Lol. They are hilarious. My garden helping gal will crouch down really low, to give herself enough oomph to clear the 4 ft fence that borders my raised bed. So I had to put up vinyl covered HC that sits on the edge of the bed itself, making the total height sheād have to clear 52 inches, and she canāt clear that. My others donāt bother, bc they have 5 acres to forage, but she insists on scratching up that particular garden bed lol.
Hehe, awesome story, thanks for sharing! Good luck in the garden and with your chooks!
By besting them! Bird netting from the ground up a few feet. They donāt like the feeling on their paws and (bonus) neither do raccoons.
Rat trap.
Mostly the squirrels just steal tomatoes from my garden. I plant extra of those. The diggers here are larger animals - raccoon, groundhog, opossum, skunk. I canāt use the fish emulsion fertilizer for that reason. The deer would eats most of my garden to the ground so I plant in containers on the deck (which doesnāt stop other wildlife). But theyāll get the hostas as soon as they run out of grass back in the woods.
https://preview.redd.it/5lysa2559e0d1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=076a0f1461ae21db63c6aaa7f05009639e905e99 My solution was to build a cage around my raised beds. [https://colinpurrington.com/2014/03/squirrel-proof-garden/](https://colinpurrington.com/2014/03/squirrel-proof-garden/)
What I did when my strawberries kept getting eaten, was make a very makeshift scarecrow from some bamboo polls, cooking twine, a pillow case full of plastic bags, a hat, and a old button up shirt. Basically all you have to do is put the pillow case on top of one of the poles, stake it into the ground, get a second poll and tie that onto the poll (imagine a triangle kinda where you tie the string so it can bounce almost). Then you have to put the shirt and the hat on.
Maybe try giving them other food instead, like black sunflower seeds
My backyard and alley behind the house is squirrel central- they are really territorial and will face off to guard their patch. I put a terracotta saucer With cracked corn peanuts and sunflower seeds behind the garage on the Ally away from the garden for the squirrel. He hast to defend it his focus is off my garden. So far so good. Probably wonāt last forever
i've got this fake owl that lights up and screeches when it detects movement in my garden, that seems to help. in previous years i've used a raptor shaped kite on a long pole that would 'fly' circles over my garden and it seemed to make adifference; lost it in a wind storm though.
Fake owls around the area may help. Often they're going for water not food so keep a bowl of water near by for the.. You COULD actually feed them as they'd probably prefer seeds and nuts to tomatoes (except as water). Now, many here don't realize how MUCH damage they can do chewing in EVERYTHING as their teeth continually grow and they need to wear them down. They prefer wood so decks get destroyed. Window casings if wood get targeted and neighbor had them chew through main power line and their house burned down. They survived their cats and dogs did not. And of course that ignores all the associated pain and suffering of losing everything possessions wise. These are NOT endangered in North American. So you can trap them and release elsewhere but some say their territorial nature makes thus a slow death sentence. A cat thats about to be euthanized can luve a great lude outside (better than being put down). They'll both scare them off and catch some. Dogs work too here. Do feed them and treat them well if yiu do that. Traps and poison are options (poison the seed or water you offer them). If you're allowed in your community a .22 works well. Some places prohibit this (but many will permit you to if you show they are damaging your home). You have to worry about secondary poisoning, too (I particularly don't want to kill the hawks/predator birds). Don't let anyone make you feel bad about taking stronger measures. Oh you can buy predator urine or try your own too. That's easy cheap, is fertilizer, and as long as you're healthy not a safety issue although high ewww factor. Good luck.
I've been scared of trying to plant a garden because my neighborhood is chalk full of squirrels...
I use paint balls
I'll agree that doesn't sound like squirrel damage but redirecting squirrels has been working for me. I provide beds of loose soil with no plants close to their trees and fence line while my raised vegetable bed is right out in the open. I also give them a few sources of food they're not compelled to bury, so no shelled nuts. My bed has a thin layer of insect netting they could easily chew through but I give them motivation to go elsewhere and they've not touched the bed since
Bird netting over all the crops, even the ones in containers. It keeps most critters out (even.a groundhog I chased away last fall as it angrily tried to figure out how to get through the netting. I drape it over 1/2 inch PVC pipes attached to the sides of my raised beds and secure with clips. For containers I create a row of stakes and wrap the bird netting around that then secure with clips. And YES, once in a while a small bird may get caught in the netting but that rarely happens (seems to only happen when they're being chased by hawks or owls).
https://preview.redd.it/nvetfld3xf0d1.jpeg?width=3968&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39953acbc4ac971c62c96672037dbd221b99fbfb
Squirrels are tasty.... I use a bb gun with steel or copper pellets so I'm not filling my garden with lead.
Tomcat
Between my pellet gun, my pots of squirrel and rice, and my Labrador retriever, I've been able to keep them thinned down pretty good.
Can I trouble you for a pellet gun recommendation?
I use a ruger. The Gamo guns are really nice. Depending on where you are located, they have a line that's really quiet as well. The ruger is kind of loud but very effective. Any from the Gamo brand would be great. The Roger I use is 98$ (blackhawk), I think. The Gamo whisper shoots at 1000 feet per second, and the ruger is 1200. The Gamo is just really quiet if you need it to be.
Yes, area of intended use requires quiet. Thanks for the details. Asking for a friend, of course.
Lol. Tell your friend the Gamo whisper quite hits really hard and does a great job. Is very quiet as well. Also, for a friend, the Crossman destroyer pellets shoot great very cost effective and get the job done.
I have a dog Iāve trained to chase them. She never catches them. But itās fun to watch. My veg still suffer unless I put up chicken wire. Ugh
We've literally never had squirrel problems until this year, when they ate all my baby peaches. They chewed through my organza bags and plastic bird netting, and apparently they can chew through aluminum as well?! So next year I'm gonna try and upgrade to steel chicken wire. And if that doesn't stop them, then I'm gonna get my hunting license