I hear your frustration, Quilts, and you make some good points.
Ravenous Rabbits and Other Garden PestsPart #3.
Squirrel steals green peaches off tree DH witnessed it. I have no peaches, again.
BUT--Do they eat them???? Or just take a nibble and decide it is not all that tasty.
Frustrating!!! I do not have any fruit in my garden.
Sally--did you catch this link I have posted a couple of places? Maybe even here....
I have had it saved for many years. Maybe it will give you some ideas.....
http://www.ghorganics.com/page6.html#Rabbits
Nothing chemical...
Gita
All of the critters I see look mighty thirsty. Most of the wild forage and brouse though still "green" is bone dry. Idon't think even with good soaking rains in this area that there will be much of a flush of late growth for them to fatten up for the winter.
So, how many of Sally's green peaches would a squirrel have to eat , one bitter bite at a time, to slake its thirst? Or, maybe the new baby pit is nutritious enough that Brer Squirrel can expend less energy foraging in the intense heat and poor air quality of late.
Tongue in cheek, I thought squirrels only ate acorns and anything else was just to harass or entertain us humans...
Sally, your squirrels must be slipping, letting your hubby catch them in the act!
Gardenquilts, I hear you on the native plants etc. I do nt feed birds because I am not a dependable source of food for them. The best I can do is plant, or not remove from my yard and roadside sources of food and shelter that are dependable and may outlast me.
Judy
Oh Sally, Sorry about the peaches,
I was up at my Mom's and she has a chippie that is taking bites out of her tomatoes. She said she wouldn't mind if they ate one or two but they just take a bite out of them and move on to a different one and take another one.
Holly, my first veggie garden here in Maryland I couldn't figure out who was chomping on my unstaked sprawling tomato patch. It wasn't bugs as the marigolds and mint interplanted were working in that regard. Didn't see birds or rabbits and that was long before resident groundhogs, deer or coons moved in...
Every day when I went to harvest a ripe tomato there would be a bite out of the very ones I would pick.
One day the mystery was solved when I watched a turtle stretch out his neck and help himself!
I found a peach on the ground last week with nibbles out of it. DH saw the squirrel running across the yard, away from the tree, carrying something 'huge'. Can you imagine?
I have heard recommended to put water dishes on the ground because some of the animal damage is from them being thirsty.
Chippies are not the only ones to do that, neighbors cabbages had a bite out of each one. probably groundhog.
New season--new problems----...
Lets move over to here---- http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1226696/