I've got big problems here with deer, rabbits, raccoons, English house sparrows, herons, chipmunks, and squirrels complete with an opossum knocking over our garbage cans and rooting around in our composter nightly. Squirrel damage is particularly bad this year because the oak and hickory trees are masting.
I've tried every product known to mankind to deter them. I've got shelves devoted exclusively to all the products that didn't work. I've even got several owl and snake decoys strategically placed on my property and the squirrels frolic underneath them carefree doing their squirrel "thang". I have very expensive heron decoys that did nothing but provide a nice place for the herons to land and preen themselves. And, when I bought them I religiously moved those decoys around daily so that the problem critters wouldn't catch on that they were decoys. What ever you do, don't spend hundreds of dollars buying decoys because they only provide relief for all of a week or so before the critters catch on. I should also add that I tripped over that snake decoy I put out to deter the squirrels so many times I lost count.
I've let my kids pee outside to mark my property and plants as being mine. Didn't work at all however the kids enjoyed peeing outside so much that breaking them of the habit has been difficult to say the least and I couldn't help but notice I have quite a few dead plants out there from boy pee.
Squirrels are by far one of the most destructive at this time of year. They uproot plants out of the pots trying to bury their nuts and I frequently don't find the uprooted plant in time to get it back in the medium. The only products so far that provided some relief were cayenne and chili powders. I bought a case of it from Sam's club. I sprinkle with glee and thoughts of squirrels getting a good dose of that in their mouths makes me smile. The problem with the red cayenne or chile pepper is that you have to reapply it every time it sprinkles or rains. The critters soon learn when to come back to nail your plants. Human urine doesn't work to deter anything based on my experience here.
What works no fail for me is-
1) Placing all of my newly planted tree and shrub saplings in vented tree protector tubes until they are mature enough to withstand the critters. This protects the trunks of the trees from rabbits stripping the bark which girdles them and deer stripping plants of leaves. The deer still get the leaves sticking out of the tubes but they generally don't get enough to kill the tree. I have also used these tubes on herbaceous perennials with great success. What ever will fit inside the tube will be safe and squirrels do not like going in the tubes. Tubes can be purchased in sizes with a diameter capable of fitting around most pots.
2) Laying chicken wire down after planting bulbs/rhizomes then covering it with a thin layer of top soil. The bulbs/rhizomes will grow right through the chicken wire and the squirrels can't get to them to dig them up to dine on them. I've got some Platanthera out there right now under chicken wire.
3) Electric shock fences work very well for raccoons (squirrels scurry right under the wire) and just about critter however a bird which will fly right in over the wire and land in the middle of what ever you are trying to protect. The racoons get zapped by one of those and that's the last time they will try to enter an area surrounded by one of those cheap dog zapper fences you can buy at Lowes. After a while, you don't even need to run electricity to the wire... they stay away.
4) Draping fruit tree netting over plantings. This is risky, it can entangle species that are desirable. If you use it, you have to check it a few times daily to release any species of birds that aren't English house sparrows or European starlings. I got tired of those two species attacking and destroying plants (and other birds) to get insects to feed their young. Those two species we humanely destroy if they are in our nets- sorry if there is anyone out there who is a member of PETA but we do humanely destroy those two species.
5) Setting traps for stray and feral cats that dig up plants to urinate and defecate in large planters and raised beds. Works great. I had a trap out there recently by my raised acaule bed because I saw a stray cat through my kitchen window out there digging in that acaule medium like it was a sand box two days after I got it in the ground. Animal control comes and picks up every cat we trap for free. The wild ones are euthanized. Sorry again to any PETA members out there.
6) Fully enclosing any area where desirable plants grow by setting stakes and adding chicken wire. Sometimes squirrels still "drop in" from a close limb. I either remove the limb giving them access or cover the top with more chicken wire.
7) Adding hardware cloth below grade around beds. This stops moles and shrews. They could always come above ground and go over the hardware cloth but for some reason they don't.
8) I relocate chipmunks about 10 miles away in an area on forest preserve property that has a lake. I don't do it right now because it would be a death sentence but I trap them and relocate them up through the end of the month of July. They've got ample time to create an area to hibernate at their new location. There are three out there that I missed right now having a field day. I am finding clumps of sunflowers germinating in quite a few pots.
9) Trees that die are left in place unless they are close to the house. Hawks will sit in them during the day and use them as a vantage point from which to hunt. And then there is the night shift. Sometime shortly after dusk, owls begin using the dead trees as a vantage point to hunt. Many species of hawks and owls are quite capable of attaining lift with a whole rabbit or a squirrel or a chipmunk and they do around here on a regular basis.
10) Build a greenhouse and put it on a cement slab so they can't tunnel under and close off all the areas where utilities were brought in so the squirrels can't get in where it's nice and warm.
The opossum and the skunks I leave alone. The opossum only messes with my garbage cans and composter and the skunks are grub control for me.
Not much more I can do. Squirrels are a swear word around here at this time of year. Maybe we should start a new thread and exchange nice squirrel recipes. I understand squirrels, along with pigeons, were a staple during the Depression. I hate squirrels.
