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Gardening in the UK

Have Lost The Battle Against Squirrels

21 years ago

I have lost the battle against squirrels this year. They took 90% of my crocus bulbs and 50% of my tulip bulbs. Those that I thought were safe, they took when they were in bud or flowering. Feel very despondent and upset about it. Don't know what to do.

Marigold.

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Comments (5)

anyanka
21 years ago
Get a dog... our local squirrels have learned to respect my lurcher, Bonnie!
Or, slightly less radical a solution, I've read that you should cover your bulbs with wire mesh if you have squirrel problems. You'd have to make sure that the mesh is big enough to let the plants grow through, but small enough to keep the squidges off the bulbs.
alison_froglady
21 years ago
My squirrels take the bird seed that I put out for my feathered friends and apples. I haven't noticed any of my bulbs or plants being taken by them. Maybe they have enough to eat with the bird seed, and less work for them to do digging. I find that they still try to hide a lot of the seed after eating their full, and put it in the grass and in containers and plantpots. I don't know how many squirrels you have near you or if it is any kind of solution for you, but you could try some seed and see what happens.
Alison
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Being another CA gardener, here is what I know about squirrels. They live for 3 or 4 years typically. The young ones are sometimes unaware of your vegetables. Older, craftier squirrels can be real pests. They take figs and young green apples from my fruit trees. They don't particularly like oranges but will sample a few. My dad protects the apples by putting plastic bags over the apples and stapling the bags shut. Figs are more difficult to guard. If it as a good crop, there's plenty for everybody. They like the blossoms of zukes, melons, pumpkins and will eat those. They may take the fruit of these plants later on. Tomatoes they will sample, but not too many (usually the biggest ones which they bite a few times then discard for you to find). Controlling them: a dog or cat can do it. If you have hawks or raptors around, they will nail squirrels for you. I've heard you can spray cayenne pepper around and it may repel them, but cayenne pepper is expensive and I'm not sure that works anyway. Scaring them is also good. They are naturally timid and maybe they will go elsewhere, but more likely they will come back, since they don't seem very smart and are likely not to remember where that person who yells and chases at them lives. Bottom line is: they are annoying, sometimes maddening. I would find it difficult to try to kill them by any method. Some years are better than others in terms of what they sample. Perhaps feeding them peanuts or the like in one section of your yard would decrease your losses. Pests are a part of gardening though.
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scaperaustin, you must have missed the funny threads on squirrels. Dreys are squirrel nests. I had 6 squirrel nests always bringing me a fresh supply of squirrels. The bon bons wiped out the breeders this winter. The key is getting the breeders in winter instead of trying to control multitudes in spring. The last drey fell out of the back corner tree in February. Tangle trap is an sticky insect adhesive put on plastic apples to catch Apple maggot flies. Squeeze some on top of power lines and chain link fences, raiding squirrels can't run on the top. There is also a tree banding kit called tangle foot. Tangle foot gets brushed on a paper band wrapped around the tree trunk. I'm pretty good when I tree band and net under the plum trees. Squirrels keep trying to get in so I got to check and make adjustments almost every day when the fruit is getting ripe. Here is a link that might be useful: Tangle trap
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Comments (21)
Lourdes, Jodi, and all, Sorry for posting late on this one. I'm so sorry that you're bulbs are destroyed like that. I lost quite a few myself to the NBF as most of you know. I was able to actually save two Aphrodite, by performing surgery! Luckily the maggots were in an area that spared the bulk of the bulb and base. I cut, cleaned, and dusted with cinnamon to act as a fungicide. Then let the bulbs dry a few days and replanted. They fully healed and bloomed for me this past summer, no sign of damage at all. My cybisters and papillio were not so lucky. They suffered major damage and I lost most of them, complete basal plate destruction. One of the paps though had only basal plate remaining with no sign of roots, I cleaned it and planted it and now have 4 mini bulbs happily growing along. It'll be years before I see blooms I'm sure but this was my oldest bulb! Something to keep in mind, the maggot surrounds itself with its feces in the bulb, this has an antibiotic and antifungal quality to it, so it keeps the food source from rotting, most of what you clean out is not rot but feces. Your basal plates may not rot away so cuttage is an option. If I were more than a hobby grower I'd have destroyed the bulbs via fire! But as a budgeted buyer I have to be frugal and save what I can, especially of the costlier bulbs. I believe the NBF was in my area a long time before I was here as there are very few Daffs in gardens except for extremely old stands of them, and these even appear to be disappearing. So sad to see.
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Claire_W
21 years ago
I'd be tempted to put up electric fencing of some kind, leaving it turned off, and watch and wait until they are on it then turn it on! Unfortunately it won't kill them . . . . I had hares in my latest garden; to begin with we were (whispering) "oh look - it's a hare - oh wow!". This changed after loads of plants eaten got down to nothing, such destruction; after that the reaction turned to a visceral gutteral "eaurghhh" yelled at high volume accompanied by stone throwing! And we did rig up a Heath Robinson electric fence, hare-height, with 3 strands of wire . . . . it worked pretty well, not sure how possible that would be with squirrels tho.

So I can really sympathise with you. Have you looked at the US parts of this forum? I believe they discuss squirrels extensively. I might even look myself, I am in Boston MA for a year and I have seen squirells in the trees that surround the back of the house where I have decks to garden on for the duration. I wonder, do they eat seedlings and young plants? I do commiserate with you, but don't give up hope, keep trying different things and keep up your enthusiasm!

All the best
Claire
geoffhandley
21 years ago
Do you think Claire has a sadistic streak in her? Reading this I have suddenly had a vision of someone with a mad gleam in their eye, waiting for the sqirrel and then throwing the switch and......sizzle!!!
Seriously though would a squirrel get a shock if it was hanging on the wire or do you only get a shock if you earth it as you touch the wire?....like my wife did when she pressed an electric fence down with her boot, only they were old fashioned boots with metal nails in the sole....she could have high jumped in the olympics with that technique.
Air rifle - though get one that does not have dodgey sights on like the one I was using to shoot squrrels with. The little so and so sat there while the pellets whizzed past as though to say "the midges are frisky tonight". he then ran up a tree and while I was looking for him got me right between the eyes with a pine cone...
Sqirrel 1
Man 0
Get a psychotic cat. Dogs cannot climb trees. My GSD has not worked that one out and keeps falling on her back while chasing sqirrels.
melrt968
21 years ago
Hi Marigold,
You could try treating your next batch of bulbs with chilli powder, some birdwatchers use this technique on peanuts to deter squirrels from invading bird tables or peanut nets, the birds are unaffected by the chilli. You can now buy treated peanuts.
I don't see any reason why it
should not work, it may be necessary to renew the chilli after heavy rain,it could be worth a try.
Good Luck
Ron

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