squirrels are back

[b54red]

Throughout the fall I have noticed I am getting a lot of tomatoes chewed on and figured it was squirrels since I have seen a lot of them the past couple of months. Turns out it is worse than I thought. A few weeks ago my cable went out and they finally found the problem was my main line from the street was chewed up by squirrels. This past weekend I had all my new fall plants placed on a table in the middle of the yard to harden off for setting out this week. Went out yesterday morning and noticed two large squirrels up on the table. When I checked they had eaten all but a couple of the plants down to the soil line. I won't be having much of a fall garden since I have lost almost all my broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage plants.

I guess it is time to limber up the old pellet rifle and see if I can start thinning them out so I can at least have some spring plants. It has been several years since I thinned the population here and I think I waited too long. I should have started seriously thinning them out in the summer when I noticed so many of them around but they weren't really causing any major problems then. Another lesson learned the hard way I guess.

Bill

[Worth1]

I may have to do the same thing here.
My neighbor ladies son put out a deer feeder in the back yard so it would automatically feed the deer and squirrels.
I am now looking out my back door and it looks like a squirrel freeway in my trees.
One day there were 10 squirrels under my truck laying in the shade.
I will eat every one I shoot.

Worth

[AlittleSalt]

lots of squirrils here too with big fuzzy tails. its supposed to mean a long cold winter

[Worth1]

I guess if the neighbor lady sees me walking around with a fur jacket with big fuzzy tails all over it she will know what happened to the squirrels.

Worth

[cjp1953]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I guess if the neighbor lady sees me walking around with a fur jacket with big fuzzy tails all over it she will know what happened to the squirrels.

Worth

If that's a squirrel coat she has on,you grow some very large one's down there.lolI know it's not but you could make some Davy Crocket hats.

[cjp1953]

[QUOTE=cjp1953;511949]If that's a squirrel coat she has on,you grow some very large one's down there.lolI know it's not but you could make some Davy Crockett hats.:

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by cjp1953

If that's a squirrel coat she has on,you grow some very large one's down there.lolI know it's not but you could make some Davy Crocket hats.

I dont want anyone to hate me for this but at one time I worked at a fur buyers place skinning and scraping critters for furs.
I really could make a squirrel coat that size tails and all.
Looks like it would take about 50 or 60 of them and a lot of work.

They really do make coats out of squirrels.
Dyed Russian squirrel back coat.


Worth

[cjp1953]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I dont want anyone to hate me for this but at one time I worked at a fur buyers place skinning and scraping critters for furs.
I really could make a squirrel coat that size tails and all.
Looks like it would take about 50 or 60 of them and a lot of work.

They really do make coats out of squirrels.
Dyed Russian squirrel back coat.


Worth

I don't see a problem with that,we have to many squirrels here in Cuyahoga Falls.I was on a bike trail today riding my mountain bike and in my 20 mile ride I had 3 of those little critters run out in front of me.Wilh all the leaves down,hitting one would put me on the ground.They're hiding acorns and such things for the winter meals.Very active.50 or 60,that would be a lot of work.

[mcool61]

love her tails
I have similar problems. I'll be shopping for a new pellet gun this winter too. It has been a while since I've skinned a squirrel. I read somewhere that you can kill 80% of a squirrel population & they will rebuild the herd in one year due to the number of babies & the number of litters per year. I've seen several possums lurking about at night also & then we always have coons. I'll be using the live traps late winter/early spring. Out of 40 tomato plants I only was able to can 7 quarts of ripe tomatoes/juice because of the various critter damage. Worst year ever. I did can several quarts of green tomato salsa & a few half pints of green tomato relish. I have to pick them green or they get eaten by critters. The jalapenos were hot this year. I saw where a couple of them had been bitten but they never finished more than one bite & didn't return. I bet they wondered what they had got a hold of.

[rags57078]

yep time for biscuits , gravy , and tree rats

[b54red]

Got four of them late this evening in about ten minutes but the mosquitoes drove me inside before I could get anymore. Standing in my garden just after sundown and looking up in the surrounding trees was like a horror movie to me. Night of the Zombie Squirrels. They just keep coming. When I walked out this morning there were four of them on my table in my back yard just chewing away at the stumps left in my cups. They are making sure I have nothing to plant. I guess I'll just have to plant squirrels this fall.

Bill

[ScottinAtlanta]

Forget the pellet gun. This is better:

http://www.amazon.com/Gamo-611004954.../dp/B0018LB78E

[AlittleSalt]

I know I've seen years where there were this many squirrels here, but it has been a long time. Maybe 20 years or more.

[bitterwort]

Bill, as far as protecting seedlings from squirrels, you might want to make some of what my husband calls 'squirrel-proof cages'. He cuts a square of hardware cloth large enough to comfortably fit two standard-size flats. Then he cuts a length of hardware cloth and zip-ties it around the square with the ends slightly overlapping. Attach a handle made of plastic-coated wire clothesline to the top (knot each end) so that you can lift it up off the flats of plants to tend them. Voila, the perfect squirrel-proof cage for hardening off seedlings in a yard full of the critters. As extra bonuses, the wire mesh keeps hail off the seedlings and you can cut the zip-ties and fold everything flat when you're not using them.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by bitterwort

Bill, as far as protecting seedlings from squirrels, you might want to make some of what my husband calls 'squirrel-proof cages'. He cuts a square of hardware cloth large enough to comfortably fit two standard-size flats. Then he cuts a length of hardware cloth and zip-ties it around the square with the ends slightly overlapping. Attach a handle made of plastic-coated wire clothesline to the top (knot each end) so that you can lift it up off the flats of plants to tend them. Voila, the perfect squirrel-proof cage for hardening off seedlings in a yard full of the critters. As extra bonuses, the wire mesh keeps hail off the seedlings and you can cut the zip-ties and fold everything flat when you're not using them.

The problem with that solution is it does nothing to protect the plants once they are set out in the garden. Last year I lost all but two Brussels sprout plants the day after I set them out and had to keep sprinkling the replacements with blood meal all season to keep the squirrels at bay. They did the same with most of my broccoli and cabbage so I ended up spending a fortune on blood meal. It has to be spread fairly often because rain just washes it into the soil and it doesn't deter them any longer. I will say it is the most effective barrier that I have found that isn't lethal but it is a lot of trouble and one slip up and they feast on the plants. Thinning the herd is the only really practical solution and it usually works for a couple of years before they get bad again.

Bill