Squirrels

I've got my first garden in the city this year. And the squirrels have been ravaging most of my veggies. My corn was destroyed (and it was squirrels--not raccoons). They even gnaw on my squash. Any good advice on keeping squirrels away (that doesn't result in spending a lot of money)?

wagaboodles wrote:I've got my first garden in the city this year. And the squirrels have been ravaging most of my veggies. My corn was destroyed (and it was squirrels--not raccoons). They even gnaw on my squash. Any good advice on keeping squirrels away (that doesn't result in spending a lot of money)?

Waga:

You have a task ahead. You can squirrel proof your beds, a difficult task as squirrels are inventive in getting in. Or you can trap and relocate the tree rats to the other end of the city and hope that they do not return. Trapping will be an ongoing project as where one squirrel is located there are many. In the city it is usually frowned upon to blast the suckers with a shotgun.



God Bless, Ward and Mary.

yeah, trapping & relocating would be futile. Squirrels are as bountiful in Minneapolis as lakes. And shotguns would be frowned upon definitely.

Waga,

Have you tried any repellent? We had squirrels gnaw the wires under our motorhome a while back and found that a fox urine repellent - which is available from the local feed and grain store worked to keep them away.

It had to be applied regularly, but was a lot better than constantly replacing our wiring.

Gloria

I live on a conservation lot and have a bird rookery 30' across the water from my backyard. I also have herds of wild deer, along with squirrels, armadillo, racoon, possum, otters and gators as regular visitors.

Unfortunately, I'm also a Koi pond enthusiast ..... which didn't initially work out very well with every known predatory bird in Florida camped 30' from my Koi pond.

In order to keep the racoons, anhinga, herons, egrets, etc out of my fish, I put in scarecrows (not the straw-kind ...the automated motion detecting sprinker) in the backyard.

You can get them as cheap as $60.00

Just google "Koi pond scarecrow" and you should find a link.

One word of warning ..... scarecrows dont know friend from foe ...... I lost more than one coffee cup when I forgot they were on & caught a cold blast of water in the back at 5:30am when I walked out to watch the fish with my morning cup of coffee