LOL... we have whole families of squirrels AND now a Raccoon. The squirrels are a menace but I guess it was me who moved in on 'them' since we just built our house so I guess I can't really be too angry with them but let me tell you a funny story. Right now since our move, I quit my very lucritive 17 year job as a psych. nurse to do daycare (grrrr!) so I could be home for my kids. Well as a treat for the daycare kids I put a bowl of corn kernels (hard seed) out on the porch so they could see the squirrels up close. It only took a few days and the corn was gone but the kids enjoyed seeing the squirrels right up close. Well, in the meantime, since spring thaw the squirrels have been digging up little divots in my grass and picking out dew worms and such. So I go out every morning and tap the divots down with my foot and fill in little holes they make in my gardens. Well one day I decided to lift up one of those divots and OH MY GOODNESS! It had corn in it. Now I wonder if I will have a whole crop of corn this summer where the squirrels planted kernels in all the divots that I tapped down that week!!! Oh well... but I do get upset with them when they bust fronds off my big 4' tall ostrich ferns and trample my little woodland flowers and such. Oh and now the raccoon is helping out with the corn by bringing whole cobs from the farm field across the way and leaving them in my yard to share with the squirrels :o/ Never mind the native gardening now, we are going to have fresh corn this summer ;o) right in the middle of my lawn!

Barb
Ontario, CANADA zone 6a

I feed the squirrels and they have never bothered any of my garden plants. I enjoy them and to me they are as much a part of my natural garden as are the flowers.

As with a lot of things, squirrels are really variable. Those red squirrels you have in NS, aren't nearly as big or as destructive as the grey ones we have here. Grey squirrels are much bigger, and are quite a bit more aggressive than the red squirrel. They also have two litters a year, whereas the red generally has only one. Grey squirrels have also adapted to urban environments much more readily than the reds have, and so are *much* more numerous. The more densly populated the area the more of a pest the grey squirrel becomes.

I live downtown, and I have always had a big problem with them. They will empty out a 12" pot with their digging (dumping out anything that might have been growing in there), they bite the tops off of every single tulip and sunflower I have ever tried to grow (this year they got a globemaster allium ($$$)). They take every single cucumber, squash and eggplant that is grown outside of my chicken wire box, as well as about a third of my tomatoes. They eat the growing tips off lilies as they emerge from the ground. They eat the leaf buds on trees in the spring. Any uncovered seedling will be eaten or dug up. I have to replace my trash can every year or two because of the holes they chew in it. I have seen as many as five squirrels at the same time in my very small back yard trying to burry peanuts that someone feeds them - that's a lot of digging! Several years ago they started burrying marbles!

It's gotten so bad that I'm going to be stuffing a small greenhouse into my backyard just to protect my seedlings from their damage!

BP

I know that the squirrel problem is no laughing matter - they definitely are a problem in the east. Fortunately, in Alberta, they are still "cute" at the birdfeeder.

But, I do have to tell you a story that happened to a friend of mine when we were living in the Ottawa area. My friend left her patio door open just a smidge one afternoon. She forgot to close it and went to pick her children up from school. Gone for no more than 45 minutes, she returned to find her townhouse absolutely ransacked. Furniture stuffing pulled out, drapes torn, houseplants destroyed. She thought someone had robbed the place. It turns out it was a squirrel that came in thru the door and couldn't find its way out again. She found it upstairs just "starting" on her bedroom. It did a tremendous amount of damage in a very short period of time. Her insurance company was NOT happy. I became very prudent about making sure that our doors were closed at all times after that.

Shauna

So sorry about your poor coral bells Brenda!
I used to think squirrels were cute too...
Since I've started gardening i've noticed they dig up all my pots, they dug up the moss i carefully transplanted in the front yard, they decied to bury mushrooms there for some reason..? Thay ate all the oriental lily bulbs i planted, tho they left the acidanthera alone who knows why ..but i'm thankful.. chewed my baby wisteria and ripped into my gladiolas. The poor thing is now in a cage of chicken wire.
I've given up on trying to figure out why, now i'm just trying to keep them away....
I'd be glad to hear any ideas.
I read here on the forum blood meal, and about fox urine.. does that work ..and where would you find that??
Lol time to breed some foxes.

Vee

You know I've never seen a squirrel in my neck of the woods, thank goodness, after all these horror stories IÂve been reading in this thread, I'm so glad now that they don't take up residents here. All I have is those cute plastic ones that you can buy at Walmart.
We do have gophers though!!!!

Very Vee - blood meal does work to stop a lot of the digging, at least for me. It's a bit less effective for the chewing off the flower bud and fruit problem, but it still helps. It's big drawback is that it has to be reapplied every time it rains, or I give a good watering, and I have to water a couple of times a day in the summer. This spring we've had an unusually large number of rainy days, so the plant damage has been pretty bad.

Monica 1 - I've got two cats. I used to have four. Most cats won't mess with these squirrels - they're inner-city squirrels, and they're tough and aggressive! They're probably even gang members and carry knives :-)

BP

My sister called me a few nights ago from Montreal. A few nights ago er youngest son called out to her that a squirrel jumped into their pool, and she got out just in time to see it drifting, lifeless, to the bottom. It was the 3rd squirrel casualty this year. At work the next day she was telling Les Girls about what happened, and one said feelingly, "Did you bury it?" Gillie said NO (bleep) WAY, I HATE SQUIRRELS THEY EAT MY TOMATOES! I THREW IT IN THE RUBBISH. I JUST WISH THEY'D DROWN IN SOMEONE ELSE'S POOL!!!"

It's a family thing, we all hate squirrels. They leave my tomatoes alone but they were so enthusiastic at pruning my rhododendron last spring that it didn't bloom this year either. I might have to get a pool.

abrodie - you and your sister might get a kick out of this site : All Squirrels Muse Die. It is a somewhat tongue in cheek site about our evil squirrel overlords :-)

BP

Did you bury it? Now, that is an interesting question. My dad used to get dead squirrels from the road ( or the pool) , and bury them in the rose garden. .... Instant bone meal! The best roses around.

I hear ya about the dang squirrels! They managed to get up in the attic, I can't get up there but finally found the hole where they were getting in and out and closed it off. Then it turns out we trapped a couple of them up there! Sounded like the Indy 500 up there with the running around and scratching to get out. I think they are gone now, had to open up a spot in the fascia trim so they could get out, the little sucker fell out as I was coming out the door, don't know who it scared more me or him. I counted at least 5 up there, figure that they had had a litter. If any are left they are dead now, closed of the opening and that awful scratching sound is gone.

But now I have all of these little holes in the garden, my pots get dug up on a regular basis, but they leave the plants and just dig around them. Not sure what they are planting or taking away. I haven't any bulbs in the ground yet and scared to spend the money on bulbs if they are just going to dig them up.

Has anyone tried the cages for bulbs? Do they work? Seem a little pricey especially as I am looking at ordering about $60 worth of bulbs for my first time. Was the last thing to be added to the garden that I can't beg/trade or grow from seed. Hate to spend the money and then have the tree rodents steal them all!

We have 3 cats and 3 dogs (border collie, great dane and a mini mutt). Only 1 cat goes outside. The nieghbors have a cat and the man across the street has a cat. Plus whatever cats roam around the neighborhood. Our border collie hates squirrels. Accidently killed one as a puppy. The damn squirrel sits on the fence where the dog can't get him twitching his tail and peeing everywhere. I have tried the liquid that you mix on birdseed (liquid cayenne pepper, have to where gloves and a mask etc), the tree rat thinks he's having mexican that night. I don't generally mind the things but this one has taken destruction to a whole new level. It's out of control and not afraid of anything.

Pretty soon you are going to find me in full camoflage on the front proch at 5am (he hits pretty early) lying in wait.

Squirrels aren't much of a problem here now. Between bloodmeal sprinkled on the top of the pots, to the critter ridder spread in all the gardens. I've given up planting any blubs except daffodils and narcissis as they don't like those. I started 6 canna lilies indoors early and put them outside one day on my patio table to start hardening them off. 1 hour later I happened to see a squirrel dashing off along the top of the fence with one of my canna lilies! Quickly made my way back to the patio table and was flabbergasted to find only one canna left out of six I had put outside. Me and the tree rats were at war! I put out a large pot with no bloodmeal and covered the top of the pot with salty peanuts. I also provided a small container of liquid which the OSPCA warns you not to spill when using in your car because it causes death to pets. Well I don't have pets and I don't have neighbours with pets. My problem is solved.

Live trap them....and then either drown 'em or take them to the other side of the next town and set them free. Hav-A-Heart traps are your answer..for 30 bucks you'll eventually rid your yard of the tree rats. Last spring we trapped 10 and that put a nice dent in the population. We only have the cute little red tree rats here...more like tree mice...but annoying none the less...the only real solution short of a pellet gun....

There's no way that traps are going to work. This neighborhood, uh .. city really, is overrun with the little beasties .. i trap the ones in the my yard, couple weeks tops.. and a new squirrel family moves in ...
I just wanna keep them outta my flower beds :)
They're welcome to stay in the trees ..where they belong!

I've noticed a large increase in the number of rodents this year. In suburbia, they use the wooden fences as their own personal transit tracks. They can race across the top fence rails for miles. The varmits dug up all my lily bulbs, emptied and broke the hummingbird feeder, and have dug thousands of holes in the flower beds. I resorted to putting sharp knives in my flower pots, hoping the beasts would impale themselves. No such luck, but it did stop them from digging in the pots.

Squirrels are just rats with good P.R. They must be controlled.
You really should have seen it.
My Dad and I just got back to my house after fishing all day.I opened the door and there was a flower pot smashed and dirt all over the floor at the bottom of the steps.It had been knocked off the shelf.Then I noticed a orniment of my wifes in pieces on the floor as well.I thought we had been robbed so I went looking. As soon as I reached the top of the stairs a squirrel ran past me.Well, my Dad and I chased this thing around for a while with all the doors and windows open and it wouldn't leave.It just broke more stuff as it jumped and bounced all over the house.Finally it flew out my 2nd story bedroom window after launching itself off of my bed.
I actually got my camcorder out for a few minutes and it is hilarious to watch now. Seeing my Dad jumping in the air as this little beast runs under him is priceless. Anyway that's my story. Bye for now.

Had the same probs with squirrels here. Bought a roll of chicken wire, and a pair of wire cutters, and now I use it on everything.

You can cut out chicken wire and bend it over your plant pots. Cut strips of it and put it between the annuals in the garden. Cut little cones of it to put over top of your newly transplanted plants. Wrap your bulbs in it before planting them. Cut tall tubes of it and put it over the lillies as they grow.

Ok, my garden does look like a prison, but the plants are flourishing, and none of the container plants are dug up any more.

Susie in Winnipeg

The latest damage:

*All* of my tomato plants have been chomped. Every single one. 13 of them have been chomped down to about 6" high. 4 of them are about 10" tall, and two of them are a whopping two feet tall (they haven't been attacked until recently). These tomatoes should be three to four feet tall by now, and be blooming and setting the first few tomatoes. At this rate I doubt I'll be seeing any tomatoes this year :-( Next year the tomaotes will be grown under netting.

They have also figured out how to knock over the cut off soda bottles I use to protect smaller plants until they are a bit more established. Recently deceased and protected plants include: 2 Daturas, 2 hot pepper plants, 3 basils, 3 clumps of asarina, 6 trailing verbenas, and about 20 green onion seedlings.

This is all just since the weekend. They'd started in on the tomatoes a few weeks ago, but they've gone mad in the last couple of days.

If I wasn't afraid some dog or cat would eat the dead squirrels and get poisoned, I'd be making them a nice peanut butter and antifreeze sandwich right now.

Maybe I could take up knife throwing...

BP

The Eastern squirrels here escaped from the Calgary zoo years ago and have taken over the city. Mine have decided to chew or claw the bark off branches of my apple tree and mountain ash that are near bird feeders. I think they are frustrated they can't get to the nuts and hate me. New bulbs are planted under chicken wire and I will soon have a dentist bill to repair my gnashed teeth.

I have a squirrel trapped behind my wood burning stove
in the fire box of my masonry fireplace.
I can see the little individual through a slight gap near the edge. I don't think he can get into my house
but also he can't get back up the chimney. I went up on
roof and discovered the wire around the chimey cap was rusty and had been pried thru as an entrance.
My question any suggestions on how to terminate this guy??
I don't want to pull a 700lb stove with a squirrel on the back side. My cat is standing guard but I don't want a
conflict inside my house. ANY IDEAS ??????

Could you drop a rope down your chimney and allow him to climb that to escape ?
Then you could repair the chimney so he could not get back in.

Mousetrap baited with peanut butter or a raisin

SPCA....or a good fireman....they have done wonders
a good way to get rid of them for a while is hotpepper sauce on popcorn....they eat it but run for water...and poof gone,,lol

Is such a war even winnable ? Do not think so.

Here, we have red and grey ones.

We grow mostly shrubs. Neighbours' cats keep roaming our site, since we are one of the rare ones around without dogs. Still, squirrels take a younger tender plants once in a while. So now to reduce the casualties, I keep them in nursery section until they are large enough. And that's it.

The level of squirrels' presence is a characteristic of a gardening site, just like local climate, soils conditions, light conditions, local insects life, local birds life, etc. One can only have limited success in gardening against such constraints. We try not to grow sun plants in the shade. So why should one try in persisting to grow vegetal temptations for squirrels where they are numerous ?

This could be a highly provocative proposal to many, but should this forum try develop a squirrel resistant list of plants ? Or in more practicable way, a list of the most loved ones by squirrels ?

We had one in our attic. I bought one of those 'sonic' mouse deterrents from Home Hardware for $12.99, attached it to an extension cord, and popped it into the attic through the access panel in the ceiling. He/she is gone! Apparently it works on all rodents, in fact they caution you not to use the product if you have guinea pigs, hamsters, or ferrets (shudder) as a pet.
Now I wonder if they were set out in the flower bed...hmmmm..

this may sound heartless but it is NOT a bad idea to cull the local Grey squirrel population.
Sonic repellers are only good for rats, I suggest you invest in a ruger 10/22.
We have started to do this out my way as they are carrying diseases to our native brown squirrles. Grey squirrles also are kill our native bird population at an alarming rate!!

People think my using non-lethal forms of control they are saving themselves from.. whatever... The fact is you just move the problems somewhere else.
A .22 caliber rifle/ or high power air gun IS absolutley nessesary! You shot a grey, you save our birds. especially our native hummingbirds here.

I AGREE aghhhhh!!! I have the same problem with anything I plant here in Idaho. At the end of summer they sample every veggie except tomatoes. Last year I never had one strawberry from some special plants. I am now buying fencing and wire planters to cover all of my plants. You can imagine how attractive that is! I love animals, but ready to do anything - they don't care about my 2 dogs or cat. My dogs used to chase them, the cat is interested in birds. Planters are dug up to bury neighbor's nuts, plants are discarded on the patio. I am usually too late to save them - it is $$$, darn it! I am at a loss - I haven't brought my banana tree out yet - can't wait for that!

I moved to a new place about 3 years ago that has a large walnut tree in the backyard, needless to say we were overrun with the little &*^!&*!&'s. We have a greenhouse in the backyard with about 2000 passionflowers and clematis in it, the following spring we discouvered the squirrels had planted walnuts in about 50% of the pots. The war was on. I started off baiting them with peanuts and picking them off one by one with a pellet gun. About a week later and six sqirrels later I realized how much time it was going to take to rid the yard of them and decided to trap them instead. The rat traps did't work so I tried a live trap. The first couple of weeks I was averaging two a day and as the population dropped I caught one every couple of days. The trap has been retired for about a year now and no sign of any tree rats in my yard or the neighbourhood either. We're looking forward to a nice crop of walnuts this year :)

I just realized they ate my new coral bells,,,,sigh..but I do love those guys, we feed them so I was hoping the damage would be less.. We have had a family living in our trees for 3 years now..I will deal with the losses and learn new things to plant that are squirrel proof...Folks please don't use pepper flakes or sprays, they will get it in their eyes and that's just cruel. If you have ever seen a mamma squirrel rubbing her eyes raw, you wont ever consider that option.