Squirrels!!

[ABCarve]

Not sure if I should be writing this as I don’t want to jinx my experience. I have squirrels and chipmunks of biblical proportions and none have ever touched one of my trees. Not sure why. I live in a rural area and they have habitat but they do their fair share of raiding the bird feeders. Spring comes around and they seem to go do their own thing. My biggest issue are robins trying to nest in my trees to the point of having to put netting over them.

 

[Cajunrider]

I maintain a bird-feeder about 15 feet from my office window that looks out into my back yard. The squirrels who would wander into my yard end up there on the regular.
I also keep an air rifle at the ready. I bought it to kill the three squirrels that kept eating my trees and breaking my pots.
It turns out, there were way more than three. And that air rifle is the only thing that works.
Check the rules in your area. In California, the native gray squirrel population is generally protected. Red squirrels not so much.

My sling shot and blow gun also work very well. The sling shot takes some practice and so does the blow gun but they are both whisper quiet
There is a wicked sense of accomplishment when you drop a squirrel from a tree and another one right next to it doesn't know a thing.

 

[Cajunrider]

That is funny. Ive heard of this same effect from killing coyotes. The pressure just causes the mothers to breed more, gestate quicker, and have larger litter sizes.

My rancher friend told me the percent calf crop for his herd significantly increased after his herd was exposed to hurricane flood water and had to be rescued. The following year after a hurricane, his herd experienced a population explosion.

 

[ABCarve]

Now here’s some destructive characters. I keep these guys at bay with bribery. When things get tough they’ll eat anything, so deer resistant means nothing. I feed’em and they don’t have to eat my stuff.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Those're real cute!!

Lanky, "teen-age" deer, it looks like!

If you present a calm enough presence... They'll just walk right up to you.

Very destructive, though! I'm glad I have to walk a half-mile to get to the nearest "deer crossing"

 

[penumbra]

Just came off a trail in Shenandoah NP about an hour ago. Only saw 3 deer. When I got home I saw 6 in my yard.

 

[ABCarve]

Just came off a trail in Shenandoah NP about an hour ago. Only saw 3 deer. When I got home I saw 6 in my yard.

Everyone has gotta make a living.

 

[Deci22]

Now here’s some destructive characters. I keep these guys at bay with bribery. When things get tough they’ll eat anything, so deer resistant means nothing. I feed’em and they don’t have to eat my stuff. View attachment 472668View attachment 472670

omg such cuteness

 

[Colorado]

City life has its pros and cons, but at least I don’t have to worry too much about critters messing with my trees.

We do have a ton of squirrels around, but they have no interest in my bonsai (knock on wood). Maybe because they’re too busy feasting on the veggie garden!

Biggest critter threat to my bonsai is Japanese beetles. Evil little buggers….

 

[actionflies]

In the past I was using organic fertilizer in tea bags and started having larva under the tea bags. Birds figure this out and started digging non-stop during the Summer. I now use miracle gro and problem solved. Around Fall is when squirrels go into digging mode and make a mess of everything.

 

[Carol 83]

Squirrels are good eatin'. Particularly in the fall.

My Grandma fried it then put it in the pressure cooker.

 

[Frozentreehugger]

Concentrating adult male urine in buckets in the sun...

Mix in the tobacco from cigarette buts you find or smoke... Coffee grounds in the "slurry"... Soak sheets or rags and strategically line the area.

It WORKS!..

I've seen the little jerks run up, take a sniff and run away.

Pretty nasty work, though.

Just exactly WTF kind of experiment. Do you have to go thru . Before you come up with that end product . .

 

[WavyGaby]

My rancher friend told me the percent calf crop for his herd significantly increased after his herd was exposed to hurricane flood water and had to be rescued. The following year after a hurricane, his herd experienced a population explosion.

Wow, that is cool. nature is crazy but nature knows how to recover, too

 

[Frozentreehugger]

A long time bonsai friend . Once told me after trying everything there was to discourage . Them including shooting them . ( don’t work as if it’s good territory) the best defence is friendship . She feeds them nuts , even gives them a garden bed to dig and burry there nuts In . They are territorial . She will feed them buy hand . But she chases them away from her tree . Branches . Once they learn her and establish there territory . They leave her trees alone . Until she has to train new ones .

 

[Gabler]

A long time bonsai friend . Once told me after trying everything there was to discourage . Them including shooting them . ( don’t work as if it’s good territory) the best defence is friendship . She feeds them nuts , even gives them a garden bed to dig and burry there nuts In . They are territorial . She will feed them buy hand . But she chases them away from her tree . Branches . Once they learn her and establish there territory . They leave her trees alone . Until she has to train new ones .

Training a squirrel army. Now that’s an idea.

 

[Cajunrider]

Training a squirrel army. Now that’s an idea.

I feel differently. Zombie squirrels don't eat trees. If they trouble my trees, I will turn them into zombies the quickest way I can. Plus squirrels in jambalya, gumbo, or deboned & pounded then blackened or breaded and fried aren't half bad.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Just exactly WTF kind of experiment. Do you have to go thru . Before you come up with that end product . .

I'm lying by taking all the credit... I know an older guy, a master gardener by definition. (Used to grow about half the cannabis in the GB area) He is the one who told me of concentrating urine and cigarette butts.

I feel differently. Zombie squirrels don't eat trees. If they trouble my trees, I will turn them into zombies the quickest way I can..

I'm STILL chuckling!

 

[Relic37]

I grow trees from acorns each year, and the squirrels were always a huge problem, not just digging but actually chewing young trees down leaving a little stump. Now I have a removable cage covering; works like a charm. This year I have moved some newly acquired young JPM trees into the cage.

 

[Frozentreehugger]

I grow trees from acorns each year, and the squirrels were always a huge problem, not just digging but actually chewing young trees down leaving a little stump. Now I have a removable cage covering; works like a charm. This year I have moved some newly acquired young JPM trees into the cage.

Trees grown from nuts especially acorns . Are vulnerable to squirrels until the nut is completely. Gone sometimes . That takes more than 2 year depends on the tree

 

[penumbra]

A long time bonsai friend . Once told me after trying everything there was to discourage . Them including shooting them . ( don’t work as if it’s good territory) the best defence is friendship . She feeds them nuts , even gives them a garden bed to dig and burry there nuts In . They are territorial . She will feed them buy hand . But she chases them away from her tree . Branches . Once they learn her and establish there territory . They leave her trees alone . Until she has to train new ones .

This is my take on it.