Squirrels Digging Up Seeds

ttx599 5/28/2013, 4:54 pm

Just curious if anyone else has had experience with this... squirrels are continually digging up my cucumber, squash and pumpkin seeds. Nothing else but those - not the lettuce or bean seeds. They are leaving the small plants alone but are getting the seeds. Any suggestions on deterrents?

**llama momma** 5/28/2013, 6:29 pm

The All New Square Foot Gardening book and The SFG Answer Book both have directions to make critter covers.

drixnot 5/28/2013, 6:37 pm

Well if they leave young plants alone the easiest thing you could do is cover the place you plant them with a large glass bowl until they are bigger, one that's to heavy for a squirrel to move.

sceleste54 5/28/2013, 9:33 pm

Invest in a LARGE canister of cayenne pepper. I get mine at Sam's club and I sprinkle it on everything heavily when I plant. Discourages cats as well. You do have to reapply fairly often, and after a rain. Works for me... Very Happy

southern gardener 5/29/2013, 2:13 am

We build small or large "covers" out of hardware cloth. It's the wire you put on the bottom of rabbit cages for reference. They're anywhere from six to twelve inches tall. they keep the birds etc out until the plant is tall enough to withstand a peck or two....good luck!!

CapeCoddess 5/29/2013, 4:03 pm

sceleste54 wrote:Invest in a LARGE canister of cayenne pepper. I get mine at Sam's club and I sprinkle it on everything heavily when I plant. Discourages cats as well. You do have to reapply fairly often, and after a rain. Works for me...

There's a thread on here somewhere that talks about the severe damage that cayenne can do to cats, and presumably other animals. Sad

But I sure like the glass bowl idea! I just noticed that my squashes are poking through this morning so will use that idea as soon as I get home. What a Face

CC

southern gardener 5/29/2013, 4:37 pm

be careful with the glass bowl that your plants don't get "cooked" under the glass. It can get really hot under there!! Good luck!

B00kemdano 5/29/2013, 9:33 pm

I've been thinning my yard's squirrel and chipmunk population with traps over the last couple of months. *knock wood* I haven't had any signs of digging in my garden for a couple of weeks now. The day after I planted my corn and melon seeds, there were tunnels all over that box. You could see tunnels where the chipmunks had made a loop through each square to eat all four groups of corn seed. Sad

I was talking with my neighbor today about gardening problems, and she said she's had a lot of problems with squirrels and chipmunks this year. We commiserated that we used to look out for the little furballs, but when they start tearing up the garden, it's war!

landarch 5/29/2013, 10:44 pm

I build mini-tomato cages using 1/4" galv, rabbit wire mesh to protect each square from squirrels and rabbits...some are round to protect a single plant in the middle...some are square to fit perfectly inside miy grid openings.

southern gardener 5/30/2013, 2:01 am

landarch wrote:I build mini-tomato cages using 1/4" galv, rabbit wire mesh to protect each square from squirrels and rabbits...some are round to protect a single plant in the middle...some are square to fit perfectly inside miy grid openings.

Thats what we use too...I was trying to explain it lol

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