I’ve never grown corn before but this year’s crop is doing quite well. In fact, I may be able to harvest some ears in a couple or three weeks. However, three squirrels like to frequent my yard to partake of a generous allotment of bird seed I put in two birdfeeders. I got to wondering if I need to take some precautions to protect the corn from the squirrels. What is the minimum that I need to do, maybe a Fort Knox type of fence around the raised bed that they are in? Fake snakes, fake owls, a dead fish on a pole (Sicilian message that “you touch my corn and you will swim with the fishes”)? Any suggestions?
Please hurry, my dog just scared a squirrel out of that bed, not sure yet if any damage was done!
corn + squirrels = problem?
I think you already have what you need - your dog is the best defense.
Yes, but you don't know my dog. She is an inside couch potato, part greyhound so go figure, who will only go outside to do her business and can't tolerate heat, cold, or rain. She has chased squirrels in our backyard for years and still they keep coming back multiple times a day. I believe that one reason that they keep coming back is to play their favorite game, laughing at her while running back and forth on the top of a six foot fence causing my dog to run after them along the ground oblivious to the fact that she will never get them. No, I think I need a better solution. I do have a bb gun, but I have the feeling that from a distance the bb's would just bounce off the squirrel, maybe stinging them momentarily, and then they would be laughing at me.
Below: Becky the squirrel chaser, in her napping space
Sweet Becky!
Our little dog has come close to catching a squirrel a couple of times. I don't know what she would do if she actually caught one!
Yes, the squirrels think it's a great game of "Catch me if you can!" but what they don't know is my little Chloe runs like a rabbit!
Your Becky is a sweet looking dog to be sure :)
OK, I told you all that the squirrels would be a problem. They ate every corn cob except for about 4 or 5, 2 of which I cooked for my DW and the rest as they say. if I can't have them, then no one can have them, so I threw them into the trash. A pictorial recreation with disclaimer is below.
“Although inspired by a true incident, the following picture is fictional and does not depict the actual squirrel that destroyed my corn crop.”
I will be having this battle with chipmunks in about a month. So far, no organic methods have worked, and I have too much to build a cage over. My current method is to just plant "5 for them" to every "1 for us." They have a bad habit of not finishing the ears that they eat, so the chickens get the ones they ruin. Good luck!