squirells

We just planted our canna lilly bulbs and they are digging them up and eating them, we have never had this happen in previous years. They are also digging up plants I have just planted.

You might try posting your question in the Beginner Gardening forum instead of here.

This is the Beginner Gardening forum...I'm confused...

When I ran across it originally it was on the Gardens.com forum, I guess one of the admins must have moved it.

Black pepper sprinkled around plants keeps cats away. Dogs stay away from moth balls. You might try that. And you will need to reapply after rain until you retrain the varmits.

We use a trap baited with peanut butter and birdseed. Relocate farrrr away. Keeps them from tearing my birdfeeders apart by cutting the population down.
Good luck!

Hi chubby1, I have trouble with these furry things also and have been gardening in this place for years but, they are very resilient creatures and whatever chalenge I give them, one alway's seems to work it out and then the rest follow suit, after trying everything from hanging old CD's onto strings thinking the wind would blow and the flapping CD would work, (oh no it did not) squirting with water (was never fast enough) rapping the window, all to no avail and many other inventions, the best I have managed to date is chicken wire, when I plant any bulbs or tubers that I know they like, I plant, then lay the chicken wire just under the soil surface, (the bulbs etc grow through the wire) when the squirells come along to dig, they either dont like the wire, or, they find it too sore or hard to get to the bulbs etc, I have to say though, you have to use a large enough chunk of wire or they get it up and laugh at you for trying to out do them. it also works with pots, but then again, there is always one eh.
Good luck, WeeNel.

try bloodmeal. Very simple and easy to get. Available in most garden centres. It works for skunks, rabbits, and squirrels. If you want double effectiveness, use Critter Ridder(This is a natural product available in Canada.) It contains Capsicum pepper and as it would with any animal with sinus membranes, including people, it burns. I work in a gardencentre and have had customer feedback that the bloodmeal works great.

thanks weenel and momo125 I'll try your suggestions.

I've been trying cayenne pepper but apparently my squirrels are big fans of it. They climb up into the birdfeeder and shovel the stuff into their mouths. I, too, will try the blood meal as soon as I can find a source for it -- those hosers ate my tomatoes last year!
For bulbs, one trick that does seem to work is to plant daffodils along with the other bulbs. Not only are the daff bulbs poisonous, but the critters don't even get close enough to the daffs to find out -- my guess is that the daff bulbs make the soil taste or smell nasty. And then of course you get to enjoy the daffs, too.

carrieebryan,
For your garden, try putting out one of those fake owls. Squirrels are scared to death of owls and will avoid any area where they see one. It helps to move it around every so often so they don't figure out that it never moves like a live bird would.

Ahah! I can hang an owl off the tomato tower. Thanks for the tip! Maybe whoever carries blood meal around here also has fake owls.

The Garden Center at Home Depot carries blood meal. Hope that works for you.

I work at Home Depot in Canada and we sell bloodmeal. We also sell owls. BUT, not just any owls. We sell a battery operated one whose head tuns and it hoos. It is the piece de resistance in the artificial owl world. So the may have them in HD in USA. You can also shop HD online too.

allium are also good to plant around to keep the critters away

Allium keeps this gardener away, too. I spent my childhood in a house surrounded by wild garlic and my nose will never be the same.

oh crown imperials are wayyyy worse than allium.... but the flowers on the allium don't have any smell that I have ever detected .... but for the short bloom time I will deal with the smell of the crown imperial.... it's worth it for the view and to keep the critters away

This message was edited May 30, 2007 4:44 PM

Chubby - I lived in Denver for years, and because of our restrictions on trapping/killing squirrels, and a sweet-hearted neighbor who FED them; I was always battling the little beasties. My kids even got me a t-shirt printed with the 10 most wanted baddies - I think #1 was "Boss Squirrel" - wearing spats and a fedora. Anyway - here is what worked for me: Whenever I planted bulbs I always included some daffodils in the mix, and I sprinkled the entire bed with hot pepper flakes (Sam's, Costco, etc sell the huge bottles). I planted pretty allium around - no smell from the flowers, and frittilaria in the corners (horrid smell but beautiful blooms). These were what the above posts called Crown Imperials. I also had two owls, a few mobils (one a motorized dragon in bright colors); and two cats - these were real cats - and they chased the squirrels - but they weren't outside too often. End result: The squirrels still drove me crazy - one even ate a cushion on my patio furniture! - but they left my bulb gardens alone. I think the hot pepper flakes were the best thing I used. Guess my squirrels were more tender tummied than Carrie's. Good luck!

Islandshari is it possible for you to dmail me a photo of your motorized dragon???? would love to see that
Allison

Allison,
I would love to do that, but unfortunately I don't have it with me out here. It is in storage somewhere in Colorado. Again, it was a gift from my kids, so I don't even know where they got it. I collect dragons - so they are always on the lookout for something new. It was a bright, colorful dragon with large wings that hung from a nylon cord attached to the motor thingy. It would fly around in wider and wider circles then back down again. Made quite a racket to if I remember correctly. Unfortunately, I couldn't leave it on all the time, or I bet the squirrels would have left everything else alone as well!

my honey is into dragons... anyway i can get him involved in the garden is a good thing

I'll keep my eye out during my cyber searches, and if I see one I'll let you know. Anything for harmony in the garden ;-)

thanks