yes.. we all hate them ... and no.. you arent evil .. FOR THIS REASON.. i cant speak to others.. lol ..

you might want to try the GW search.. this has been addressed ad nauseum.. over the years ... under the banner near the top ....

i believe.. the bottom line.. is to cage the plants [if you are working on any production level ...] ... otherwise nothing will really stop these rats with bushy tails ... if they are intent on such ....

your mix idea... might slow them down ... but it isnt going to cure all ... nor is it going to stop this evil rodent ... see.. they are evil.. not you ..

good luck

ken

They tend to like "new dirt". Once my pots have been out for 2-3 weeks or so, they leave them alone. Soooo, when I put out new pots or planters I put domed chicken wire on them for those first couple of weeks.

tj

P.S. I hate rabbits even more.

This post was edited by tsugajunkie on Tue, Mar 25, 14 at 17:04

i am ... well last season.. was hating the little moles ...

i am hoping a mean winter.. knocks that population down...

and the biting gnats ...

and the flea population.. that after two mild winters was exploding ...

man could we go on and on.. on hatred ...

one thing for sure.. nature isnt no disney movie.. death to them all ... watch out mickey.. i am coming after you ... and minnie.. and your 4000 progeny .... what??? .. dont you have anything better to do.. than procreate ... its me or you.. and you came in the house ...

lol

ken

I'm surprised at how healthy & active the squirrels are this "spring," given the bad winter we've had. Just the other day, I saw squirrels engaged in what I assumed was a fight in the tree closest to the house. Now I'm convinced it was some sort of mating ritual. :(

Maybe I'll just plant the most toxic specimens I can find & hope natural selection takes place.

Get a pack of cheap plastic forks, stick some in the pots handle-first, with the tines sticking up just a bit, making it too uncomfortable to step in there. Also works to thwart cats and toads.

A squirrel in my garden ate all the strawberries...darn them!

I actually had tons of squirrels under a mobile home we lived in years ago. They packed the area around the water heater full of walnuts and made the water heater quit working. So I put large rat traps with peanut butter under the mobile home, and wired them down so that the squirrels couldn't get away. I caught around 20 before the problem stopped. but it had to be done.

Edited to eliminate a totally off-topic screed.
I still hate squirrels! :)

This post was edited by ariel7576 on Sun, Apr 6, 14 at 21:01

The cute things are a RODENT, which can damage your garden, or your house. Disgusting foul beasts.

Tasty, though.

I blamed the deer here for ruining a bird feeder. I should of known better, the deer leave our stuff alone. I caught a climbing rat hanging upside down chewing on the bird feeder hook, the brand new one that I just put up to replace the broken one from last week..
Usually they run when humans get close to them. I was 2 feet from it and it was just staring me down. I had to get a broom and get the thing off of there.
Just today My husband seen the darn thing trying to take the bird feeder up a tree. Like really, come on!!!!!
I read some where Cayenne pepper helps to deter them. Any experience with that?

I don't know if the cayenne works or not. I saw (here? somewhere!) a recipe for a concoction of cayenne & a couple of other things (I need to find the recipe again!!!) to spray. I'm hoping to spray it on the tree & the top of the fence to dissuade the evil squirrels from coming onto the deck. I gave up on all plants outside, except the ones from inside that go out onto the deck for the summer. I surround the plants with pots of peppermint plants (supposedly squirrels hate peppermint). The cacti I actually HOPE the squirrels bother--and hurt themselves. I debated getting more euphorbia (toxic, I believe) and smearing it with peanut butter or something to entice the squirrels, but I'm allergic to peanuts!
Last summer, I bought some squirrel repellant spray, and used it on the tree and fence top. It may have worked some, but it is predator urine mixed with other smelly things, and it repelled me more than the squirrels, so I stopped using it.

I noticed that squirrels never dug around the plants I had allowed to become a de facto rock garden in my gravel driveway. That gave me the idea of putting expanded shale, a lightweight gravel-like material used as a soil additive, as a sort of mulch on top of my containers. It's pretty easy to find in garden centers under one brand name or another. As long as I maintain a decent layer of the stuff, the squirrels stay out of my pots.

Cayenne pepper works for garden beds when sprinkled heavily on the mulch when you have a new planting. I like to mix it with black pepper, because that is more aromatic and supposedly the scent of it is repellent, so it will ward off the squirrels before they even get to contacting the hot pepper. I buy both types of pepper in bulk, mix together and apply it with a shaker right down on the ground. Spraying as a liquid will not do it. It's admittedly a fair bit of work and it needs to be refreshed regularly, especially after watering or rain.

Try the "bucket of death" if you are sincere in your hatred.

A 32 gallon garbage pail filled two thirds with water with enough sunflower seed floating on the water to make the appearance of solid ground will clear your area pretty quickly.

Have a large branch leaning against the top of the pail and sunflower seeds spread around the area.

It is a cruel exit, but most of us will die more painful deaths than drowning. Probably 2 minutes of panic before the acceptance of the inevitable.

Keep the pail out of public view.