Furry Theft

[Starlight]

A few weeks ago I thought it was so cute watching this squirrel take a piece piece of old dried up cardboard 60 feet up into my tree, get it perfectly rolled to fit into the hole and in a matter of minutes have it all shredded.

At first I thought the squirrel was trying to maybe make a new nest since the winds here have destroyed many from the trees. Then I realized, nope it's spring. Baby season.

I didn't think to much of it, they are here and are not going to go away.

But now I am having fits. I was trying to get a bit ahead and had already hung 40 strings for tomato plants. I use this material that is like the heavy yarn they make them big macrame plant hangers from. It stretches, so when it is windy, the plant stems have a little give to keep them from snapping.

I was sitting on porch drinking coffee and looked out across yard and knew something was wrong. Looked around and found a squirrel busy chewing one of my tomato ties.

When I went out to investigate, discovered the darn furry critter had managed to chew off and make away with 27 of the 40 ties.

I tell you, if I could climb 60 ' up that old oak tree, I would reach in and get all my ties back. I hope the new babies appreciate the nice, cushy bed they coming into the world on. That is what I call " creature comfort" for sure.

Is there something I can put on my ties, to stop them from stealing the rest and replacements without having it drip on my plants and hurt them? With more than one female out there, I am sure more ties are going to disappear.

[Bulldog]

If they are that crafty now....... Make sure that you plant some cherry tomatoes for them. Every time I plant tomatoes, the squirrels get more than I do. I have yet to come up with a workable solution.

Maybe cut some string and leave it at the base of the trees.

[TexasTycoon]

Squirrels hate hot peppers, so dousing the strings in a hot pepper spray should help to deter them (same reason it's recommended to mix cayenne with your bird seed, I've literally seen squirrels spit it out and run for the hills). You would of course need to reapply after rain, but I really think it would help.

[maxjohnson]

Squirrels been chomping on my tomatoes, I use paint strainer bags to protect my fruits. Maybe I could offer it some nuts to leave my tomatoes alone.

Would using thicker nylon strings help?

[Bulldog]

Tomato Seedlings munched again. About a quarter lost. I moved them up against the house to avoid the harder rain.

I would have a lot of plants if they hadn't been munched, dropped etc.

[Bulldog]

Will tomato seedlings regrow from only the stems and roots with no leaves?

[Worth1]

I left a roll of string on a spindle outside the other day.
I came back out and found about fifty yards of it going across my neighbors yard and across her neighbors yard.
I don't know if it was a crow or a squirrel that did it.
Worth

[Starlight]

Originally Posted by TexasTycoon

Squirrels hate hot peppers, so dousing the strings in a hot pepper spray should help to deter them (same reason it's recommended to mix cayenne with your bird seed, I've literally seen squirrels spit it out and run for the hills). You would of course need to reapply after rain, but I really think it would help.

Thanks, I'll give that a try.


Surprisingly, and crossing my fingers that I am not jinxing myself, all those tomatoes I had growing and they didn't mess with my tomatoes. Now my strawberries is another mater, they ate the roots off of 50 plants. Chewed off most of my Comfry plant leaves cuz they are soft and furry for their nests.

Bulldog Yes they will takes them time to regrow, but they do. Last years tornado winds snapped so many of mine off and all I had was like little 2" stems left and I kept them watered, feed and they eventually regrew and made maters. Crop was severly late though.

Worth Besides the squirrels, the birds are starting to build their nests too. I can look up in the trees and see little pieces of ribbon, foil and all kinds of other things from where something in the yard struck their fancy and they made off with it.

[AlittleSalt]

We had more of them than I've ever seen here before - this past fall and winter. They're out having babies and I'm not seeing near as many frolicking about. They're just waiting/growing in numbers to gang up on us.
They're going to be all