Squirrel Problem

Good morning - I have searched some of the other forums and was wondering if anyone had any new ideas on how to keep the squirrels out of the newly planted seedlings. I had made a couple of hot houses this year and got an early start on my seedlings and all were coming up just gorgeous. Last weekend I spent repotting and low and behold 2 days later when I went out and checked on them, every last one of them was dug out and the new plants ate right down to the ground, out of 33 pots of plants, I had 7 that were untouched. Needless to say I was furious as I have 2 cats and 3 dogs who must have been just sitting on the porch watching the squirrels eat the"buffet" of new plants I had. I've tried the cayanne pepper in the bird feeder to keep them out, which only works temporarily, and the little buggers seem to get used to that taste real quick. I read years ago about mothballs keeping mice out of the greenhouse or garage area, will having mothballs around my pots keep the squirrels away?

Other than making a huge dome out of chicken wire are there any suggestions?

Judy

I have the same problem with deer and pansies. If the pots are all together, you could put some cheap stakes (bamboo etc) around them and put deer netting on them. The stakes would stop the netting from laying on top of them as well, so the plants dont grow thru the netting. Or if the pots are near bushes, you could take twistems and attach the netting to the bushes and drape over the pots.

Thanks tigerlily - that sounds more reasonable than the darn chicken wire - I have them on potting tables in the shade and do have stakes put up as we still are getting occasional nights where the temps dip into the low 30's and I cover with frost cloth. The only thing is do you think they would find a way to get under the netting or chew threw it ?- I have had these darn squirrels chew up plastic bird feeders and have had to buy the more expensive metal or cedar ones.

I don't know if they can/will chew thru it, I know that rabbits can, but dont always do it. You should be able to find a way to weight the netting down on the table, or staple to the table etc so they can't find a way under. It doesn't hurt to try it. Also if they are up on a table-maybe try finding a way to stop them from climbing up? I am not sure how they are getting on the table-dropping down from trees there?

If they've got other food that's easier to get to, my guess is they'll leave your netting alone, but if there's nothing else around for them then they'll be more desperate and might go to the extra effort of chewing through it. I used to put the netting down over the top of the soil in my pots to keep them from burying walnuts in them or digging up bulbs that I had planted in pots, and they never chewed through it.

Good luck! Squirrels and chipmunks are virtually impossible to avoid. (And it's illegal in Illinois to kill them or move them more than 50 yards away from where you found them- seriously!) The only successful method I have for dissuading squirrels is with bulbs- maybe the same principle could be used in your zone in a different way. Whenever I plant tulips, tasty tasty bulbs for squirrels, each bulb is planted in the same hole as a Narcissus, Fritillaria, and an Allium, all of which smell horrible to squirrels. They don't even bother to dig around them. The raccoons, on the other hand.....

Thanks everyone. I just repotted another bunch of seedlings today and found some shade cloth that I put over untill I can find some netting. Plus I bought a 50 lb bag of corn that I am scattering in the front of my yard. Hopefully this will keep them occupied till I can get my seedlings grown. :-) Always the challenge !!!

Squirrels drive me crazy! Every year I fight them off of my tulips. One thing that works pretty well is that I use an egg white, mix in cayanne pepper, tobasco, anything that's hot. Take a paint brush and apply this mixture around all sides right under the tulip heads, this is typically where these buggers attack. I have found putting pepper on the ground does nothing. Squirrels have VERY strong teeth, the only thing I have found that they can't chew through is chicken wire. These critters managed to chew through the new trim on my house, and ate their way into my attic. Moth balls did nothing. Repellents such as HaveAHeart did nothing also. Same with ammonia. The only way I got them out was to have hubby climb on a ladder and patch the hole with chicken wire while the squirrels were out in the yard. PLUS you can't evict squirrel babies until they are old enough to leave on their own, and typically by that time mommy squirrel is pregnant again! So there is a very small window to get things done.
I laughed at the comment with the cats and dogs. My pets are completely useless when it comes to defending the yard against rodents.

I hate those squirrels! Every plant that I used to have in a pot and the new ones I put in the ground got that plastic guttering cut up to the size of the pot or the plant in the ground and held down by garden staples, what a mess! I even had hostas shooting up thru it to keep the squirrels out then our neighborhood got over run by cats and last year not so much trouble, guess they were doing their job, the only good thing about having 100 cats around stray lol Who knows what will happen this year, I've collected dog hair to put in my pots too sometimes that helps, sometimes!

I have large trees that just attract them. I don't want to cut down these big beautiful trees to try to cut down on the population. Last year I purchased some begonia bulbs from QVC (item# M11668), with shipping they weren't that cheap but I thought they would be pretty anyway. Won't you know I came home from work the following day to find a quarter of them dug up & nibbled on and even worse completely eaten or stolen! I was only able to save half sadly. I'm tired of buying expensive bulbs & plants to have them destroyed. Btw, the begonias from QVC ended up BEAUTIFUL! It took a while for them to get going but it was well worth it. I also purchased more for this spring (item# M14334). The war continues.....

I have the same problem with chipmunks! I planted a bunch of bulbs out front one year and came home and found each bulb on top of the ground with one bite taken out of each one! I feel your pain lol I'm telling you cats are the real answer or a dog :) I have a dog but he's tied or in the house but that does keep some of the critters away like the deer don't stay too long just a munch here and there but the neighborhood cats are a god send someitmes, not when they are 'going' in my flower beds but I have learned to deal with that and just put liter boxes out for them :)

I have been soooo lucky, and not sure why. When we first got here we found a pair of fox squirrels. When I discovered they were digging up plants that we had put in the ground with alfalfa pellets, I created a place for them to eat the pellets without having to work. They did.

But as for those pesky gray squirrels, I haven't seen a one on my place and it's a good thing too. I'm thinking now with 4 cats living on the grounds, those squirrels haven't a chance.

I hope the cats also will keep the peter cottontails out of my snap peas.

Molly