Hot pepper tea should slow them down :) but it might also burn your buds -- use it as dilute as you dare the first time to see how sensitive they are.

Unfortunately, I don't have other ideas. I have the same problem but with chipmunks.

You can live-trap them and move them but chances are very strong that the "vacuum" created by the loss of the squirrels will be quickly filled with more squirrels.

Maybe others will be able to help; I just wanted to warn you about burning the buds, in case you weren't already aware. Good luck!

A black squirrel just ate most of the buds on my Yellow Bird magnolia - again. He did it last year. The tree survived and I put a wire cage around it, but this year the snow was so deep the cage was useless. One of the other postings on this site recommended mixing cayenne pepper with vaseline and putting it on the lower parts of the buds. I hope the crust on the snow is strong enough to support me because I'm going out now to do it. Grrrrrrrr!!

We have so many squirrels that with two mature pecan trees we never harvest even one pecan. And now these insatiable beasts ate all but one of the blossoms of the magnolia tree. Plus by jumping from the pecan onto the small magnolia tree they have destroyed a once beautiful crown.
Problem is that people feed birds which attracts squirrels. The pecan trees attract them as well. In the wild the hawk would keep the squirrel population in check but in the city squirrels have become as bountiful (and as unwelcome) as sparrows.
You could have animal control come out and catch these little buggers.
One is cute, a dozen are a big menace. THeir teeth need constant sharpening. Our redwood greenhouse is a great candidate on which to sharpen their teeth; as is lattice we constructed from scratch -- nothing is sacred.
Squirrels can do a lot of harm, especially in large numbers.