Plant daffodils or other bulbs that squirrels won't eat. I've had some luck burying chickenwire and planting crocuses underneath that, but even then the squirrels seem to get some of them.

Forget the hot pepper spray. I tried that on birdseed and the squirrels ate it anyway. It did keep the rabbits from nibbling on foliage but you have to spray fairly often.

Larry

Jen, don't use the GW email for sending mail if you can help it. When you click on the email link, it will show you the person's email ID if they've chosen to make it visible. Use your regular email interface to email, now that you have the address.

Yes, on planting stuff that won't be dug up by the nasty tree rats. They do uproot my daffodils from time to time, but that's usually in fall, and daffodils are tough little buggers, so they can handle a little abuse.

Oh, and to anyone that has or wants to email me - if you don't hear from me within 24 hours (generally a lot sooner), I didn't get it. The exception is the weekend, when I may or may not turn on the computer.

I moved some crocus last fall and then I covered the spot with a paver. I left it there until January and then took it off. The squirrels didn't get the bulbs and they came up and bloomed. Squirrels go after freshly planted bulbs but won't bother them if it's been a while since they were planted.

My squirrels waited until they bloomed to go after them. They did a little digging in the fall, but didn't really do any damage, just dug up some daffs. Stupid Squirrels!

Feed 'em! The squirrels have been so busy trying to get into the bird feeders that they didn't touch the bulbs I planted last fall. (Or the ones I forgot to plant last fall that I finally planted last month...) They are annoying but entertaining, and spill enough that the ground birds get their fair share of the seeds.

Do squirrels eat lilies? I'll be planting a bunch soon and do hope the little buggers let them grow...

Lynne

#1
It took three tries to get the confirmation email when I signed up for GW...and I have had people email me and have not received it. Definitely a flawed system!

#2
The only luck I have had when I had squirrels...(believe it or not I lived several years without seeing a single squirrel)...is the cages/baskets that you can bury. Unfortunately this is not an option for naturalizing.

Good luck!

K

A few years ago I tried making small cages (more like cigars) out of hardware cloth to enclose my crocuses. Each cigar held 3 crocus bulbs, with a crimp in the mesh at each end. I was real smug about it -- until I saw a squirrel running along a phone line with one of those cages in its mouth!

Lynn

plant small pointy rocks around your bulbs, the squirrels will try to bite the rocks and get discouraged

I heard that putting bone meal and blood meal in the hole deters varmints.

I had planted giant crocuses and they were ignored.

Jan

Thanks everyone!! It seems we all have run into this at some point or another! :-)

For the email, do those of you who list your email on your member page get SPAM from that? I use my "real" email for this forum and don't want "just anybody" mailing me junk/ads/etc. I have an aol account for that. ;-)

Jen