squirrels what do you do to stop them!!!

if it wasn't bad enough with the gophers, now the squirrels are getting my flowers, ugh any ideas, beside the poisoning kind????

There's always "live traps" and relocate them if you've got the time.

Squirrels are highly intelligent creatures. Place a picture of a squirrel cut up and fried
smothered in hash browns with a bit of gravy on the side. He will get the message.

Watch this video then say goodbye to the squirrels Marie

http://community.nascar.com/members/tallsbrat/videos/339

If you figure something out please let me know. They really know how to destroy bird feeders also. Too many of them here to use live traps, it would take too long. Other half says they are giant rats with bushy tails.

You could use a bit more direct method, .22 rimfire, works everytime. Or if intown a pellet gun.

Guess that would do it Mitt, LOL!

why are they destroying them?
Digging? Chewing?
well if you can't beat em, join em, right?
have you tried feeding them?
Maybe they would eat that and leave your stuff alone. Gradually you could get them farther out of your yard, or train them to eat in a certain area.
Maybe you could get a cat?
If they are digging in a particular spot, have you tried netting, chicken wire, or fencing the area off, which would help?
We used to have squirrels. Cut down our Hickory tree, which was scraggly anyway, and they all moved away!

Ground squirrels or tree squirrels? We had lots of tree squirrels so rather than try to drive them out we put out foods/nuts they enjoyed....we found that they were ok with sharing with the birds I built a large flat feeder on the fence (with a drain hole so the rain wouldn't sog everything up) and kept it loaded with a coffee can full of wild bird seed every day....so they didn't bother my plants (other than the occassional nut burial) the birds were ok with it, I kept my sanity and woke to a small wildlife haven in the middle of the busy bay area....we even had a hawk move in and nest (not so great for the dove's but there were dozens of them, sweet but not the brightest bulbs in the box)

these are ground squirrels, and we did have a few grey which were a lot of fun, and being the animal person I am I just can't poison, besides my luck I will poison the dog, the cats, you name it. I tell the little *%$&( when I go outside hey I don't care about the other crap, just leave the iris flowers alone, that is all I ask, they see me and run like hell.
I did think about feeding them, grain of some sort, maybe I will give it a shot, I know Joe, Mit, you all are laughing and saying fool, kill the little &^%#@'s

Yikes, ground squirrels are trouble on several levels...here in Calif. we have to be cognizant of their danger to human health....every few years there is a tiny plague outbreak because of the fleas they carry...I couldn't live with one but how about snakes...they love the fat little fella's....as for your Irises, try planting them inside a chicken wire (or smaller holed) cage....it would be a lot of work, but it wouldn't stop the roots and water from mingling but would keep the darn squirrels away from the main bulb/rhizome...

I have a couple of homemade recipes I had found on the internet.

Mix 1 teaspoon of Lysol or 3 oz. of Epsom Salts to 1 gallon of water. Spray plants often, especially after rains and when new growth emerges.

Here's another one:
1 capful of Murphy's Oil Soap
1 oz. of red hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon of Red Cayenne Pepper. (I buy mine at the Dollar Store...it's cheaper)
Water to fill a 22 oz. sprayer.
Spray often.

Also, when planting bulbs, you can coat the bulbs in Murphy's Oil Soap and sprinkle with the Cayenne Pepper.

Also, to keep those tree rats out of your bird feeders....mix the Red Cayenne Pepper into the seed mix in the feeder. The birds are not bothered by it....but those pesky squirrels hate it.

Nana3

I tried feeding the critters so they would leave my flowers alone. Before long I was overun with even more critters who came to my yard, after their friends told them where they could have a lovely feast on my flowers, and tear up my bird feeders, which they preferred to the food I gave them. Anyway, it didn't work for me, just attracted more. I showed my hubby the squirrel video. He really got a kick out of it and made me email the link to my son, who also has a major squirrel problem.

I use a have a heart trap normally and take them across the river to a park I but accidentally killed a squirrel by placing oyster shells ground up around my lillum bulbs. It started munching my lillium bulbs and choked on the shell pieces. My bulbs were not eaten completely that time. In fact the partly eaten pieces made more bulbs eventually. Since then I place my bulbs in wire cages holes no more than an inch apart or use the oyster shells.

The pepper thing was tried and it did not stop the squirrels in my yard and you think the oak trees woulds have satisfied them instead of going after my bulbs.

We still use the have a heart trap most of the time using sunflower seeds as bait in a netting tied to the release lever to the door. Once in awhile the old 22 rifle gets used on a porcupines and ground hogs after my daylilies or racoons who also eat my bulbs if they can. Normally we have an agreement, they live so long as they do not eat what they are not supposed to eat. We even go as far as planting a veggie row for the critters outside the fence but if they invade the veggies withing the fencing or eat over $200 worth of my lililum bulbs and daylilies they are history.

Voles went away after the japanese beetles were gotten rid of for they feed of the grubs in the ground. We had to use milky spore or equivalent to get rid of the grubs and the voles went away.

Julianna

they just got my Hemstitched that was close to opening, ugh.....thanks for the recipes, I will try them, I did think about the feeding thing and attracting more of them, so we will see, I thought those *@!#$ gophers were bad....at least I can wire for that, now above ground, jeezzz

I have luck with pepper flakes but it won't stop them from getting my tulip bulbs.

Don't feed them as the food supply betters their population will increase according so it is with most wild animals. Hawk's are probably one of the few natural predators they have, buy ya a pair of falcons I'm sure they would deal with them.

I just went out to inventory this new iris for spring and found that the gophers had eaten quite a few really expensive ones! I have never had them mess with iris much before -- onions and cabbages yes, iris just a couple of nibbles. It was a very dry winter and that may be the reason for it.
My beds are already built and I would have to take the soil out and put down wire mesh to keep them out. Groan. But i guess that is easier than feeding them newly introduced iris! They ate Merchant Marine, Kitty Lay, Second Hand Rose, Miami Beach, Grape Snakz, and Midnight Oil. I am hopping mad.

We had gophers here and I finally got fed up and used a long iced tea spoon to put poisonous pellets way down in their hold where the dogs and cats couldn't reach. They were all gone pretty soon. It was not an alternative I wanted to make but I didn't have have another alternative.

Trapping is time consuming, but works, too.

Maybe if you put out water for them, they wouldn't be so keen on eating bulbs and rhizomes to get moisture.

I can't imagine them eating iris as a food of choice.

You could be right. I don't know if that works or not.

DaLoveRat, you are right, a .22 would work and they are delicious.

Amazed to read this thread.
Have lots of german irises (also siberian) and have grey squirrels. The squirrels have never shown any interest in anything in the gardens except spring bulbs; the planting depth for our spring bulbs here means the squirrels get very few awayway. And we don't have gophers.
Guess, as they say in the real estate business, its 'location, location, location'.
I'll never complain about our long winters again.

I don't have much trouble with squirrels either, but I sure have a lot of trouble with gophers! Don't think I will be moving to Ontario, though. This is the farthest north I have ever lived.

Hey Mitt,

I found the video priceless. The best laugh I have had for awhile.

Thanks for sharing that one.

Irisawe

If squirrels and rabbits knew how good they taste, they would not be so brave. They are
game animals around here. Regular seasons for hunting. Many a 10 year old boy began
their hunting skills with them.

I tried shooting one once, came home with a black eye.
Thank goodness the furry little thing got away :)

but I agree they are tasty!
I have eaten LOTS of squirrels. But I just decided that cooking them is easier than shooting them ! So I just do the cooking part now ...

well I might just have to bomb them, and pajar: they will eat iris, ALL parts and sometimes the whole thing.
I had to move all the beds and wire and move the dirt back and replant, yes A LOT of work but it was that or watch one by one the iris go, when they got my nice clump of Expose' that was it....I hate to bomb but I can't beat them to the stalks, and when you watch one grow and grow and have never seen it and then gone, ugh...

Yep, its traps and wire baskets for me. Also moving as many as possible to the front yard. Darn things!

About bombing the squirrels,
If pajar lives at Los Alamos, that's where the famous 'Area 51' is. With all that alien space technology, there must be an even better solution to the California squirrel problem.

We do do bomb work here, but Area 51 is at the Test Site in Nevada. And I saw Caddy Shack and have wondered if I couldn't get my hands on some HE ( high explosives). But It might mess up my yard and the little devils might not even get hit! DH keeps suggesting I try a small nuke, facitiously, of course.

Sorry pajar,
but I have every confidence in you, including your hesitation to overdo it with nukes.

I felt as if I was in caddy shack at one point, the gophers had the upper hand, I was trying to force out with water, they would plug holes with dirt and pack it good, not stupid creatures..... I would be at the top of the iris bed, they would move to the bottom, it really felt like they were probably in their holes plotting and laughing at me:)

I have had the same feeling makj. I have tried the water irradication method as well. Once I even drove a very wet one out of its hole and it went across the street to the neighbor's house. If I had known then what I know now, I would have hit him with a hoe because I am sure he came back. I destroy their tunnels with water and that slows them down for a few weeks, but no more.

being a veterinary tech....it just seems wrong to be out there waging war on them, I feel kind of bad today as I did bomb about 8 holes last night.... while doing so I noticed both my Cherry smoke and just a croc blooms gone and chewed on the ground ugh....you wait all year to see these things bloom and then gone

I understand not wanting to kill things. I don't like to either. I figure they all have a place in the world...... but -- do you think the bombs work? What kind did you use. I think I might be willing to get over my squeamishness about killing things in the case of iris-eating gophers.

At the threat of starting something unintended here I am still going to proceed. Get over it. Sometimes it is them or us. It isn't like you are dealing with species about to be extinct. That could even be us if you have looked at the news lately.

Get on with your life liberty and happiness and get rid of the pests as best you can. You won't threaten their survival at all.

Have a great gardening day....

Irisawe

I know what you mean, I have thought and thought about this, and well, one iris stalk after another, and I really don't care if they eat the other stuff, I have a lot things that flower, but come on, these bombs are ones you can get at the hardware store and you light them and toss in the hole and cover them with dirt, I did 8 holes last night and they are still covered, although I did see 2 squirrels this am....but I think there are less....

We have used bombs in woodchuck holes. I think ground squirrels have a couple or more litters a year so don't let it bother you. When the field mice invaded the house this year we used an old fashioned mouse trap & luckily got big mama first, several younger ones afterwards & the house was free all winter. You aren't actively chasing them, just catching the ones on your property.