Hi Cat,
I am by no means an expert on the subject, but I can tell you of my experience. We have squirrels too, and lots of them. They use the fences like their personal highway. Our dog loves to chase them, but when he's not outside, they still come into the yard.
We have a Montmorency (sour) cherry tree that has done very well in our yard with no real attention. Although the birds wait each year for us to forget to cover it with bird block (and go underneath it anyway), the squirrels have never cared about it. It's near the fence so they would have easy access.
Can't tell you about any other fruits. Maybe others will chime in.

Connie

Thanks for your input Connie. I wonder if squirrels would like other cherries. I'm not a big fan of sour. But I will have to fight birds instead!

Not many people have sounded off on this topic. Is it because there is just no cure for the hungry squirrel blues?

Cat

I was just shaking my head - if you live in an urban environment with large enough trees, those things are just about impossible to control.

I'd guess that the only thing you could do would be to hang those inverted funnels around the trunks tp prevent them from climbing up the trunk - I assume they work, but I've never tried them.

I haven't commented because where I live there are very few trees yet, so the little rats haven't showed up yet. I've seen them down in town where there are more mature trees though, so they might eventually show up.

When we lived in the south, they were horrible! I can remember my husband's grandfather cutting down all his pecan trees because nothing he tried could deter them from eating his pecan harvest each year. We thought it was an over reaction at the time ... but maybe not.

Wish I had some encouragement for you.

Bonnie

Squirrels are a tough nut to crack--so to speak, Cat! The squirrel baffles David mentioned are a possibility, but squirrels seem to be smarter than human beings, and it's not at all unusual for them to figure out how to get past the baffle. If you were using one on a tree you'd need to be absolutely certain it was high enough on the trunk that they couldn't just jump up past it--and they can really jump! And if the tree(s) is anywhere near another tree or a building, or ANYTHING they could go up and then jump down onto the tree, they will very definitely do it! At the last house I lived at there was a BIG silver maple in the backyard and I tried for YEARS to hang bird feeders from the tree that the squirrels couldn't get to! Total failure! I tried store bought and homemade baffles and they ALWAYS figured out how to get past them eventually. The last thing I tried was hanging a feeder with a wire that was as thin as sewing thread, and the feeder was at least 6' down from the branch. The squirrels just shinnied down the wire---so fine that I couldn't even see it from inside the house! Sometimes they'd slip and fall when they were "going down the wire," and when they eventually got tired of doing it that way they just chewed thru the wire so the feeder fell to the ground! I never did find a way to stop them and after the "wire" experiment I stopped hanging feeders in the tree and kept them hung from the eaves of the house over the concrete patio on the back of the house, and that way I could at least scare them away as soon as I saw them, and I pretty much switched to feeding thistle and safflower, which squirrels don't like, but when I put even just a little bit of sunflower out they continued to be a Public Nuisance right up until I moved out! Like I said, if they really want something, they're definitely smarter than humans!

About the only thing I can think of that "might" help (really not sure!) would be to get one of the motion-activated water thingies that spray anything that comes into the field of the sensor. They're supposed to work pretty well for domestic animals--dogs, cats, etc., but I don't know if a squirrel would eventually decide it was just a nice bath and ignore it or not! They supposedly work because of the element of surprise, and squirrels are definitely skittish things, so maybe it would work. The couple times I checked them out, they're not cheap, and you need to leave the water turned on for them to work, so you need to be sure you're using a GOOD hose that isn't gonna blow out or you could wind up with a BIG water bill! But it is at least something for you to consider, and it seems to me that it could conceivably work to scare birds away too if you got one that could be aimed high enough to cause considerable sudden motion of the leaves.

Other than that I don't have any suggestions. Cutting down some of the big trees should help--a LITTLE bit--to "redirect" some of them to other yards with more trees, but if there's something in your yard they want, they'll find it and keep on looking for ways to get it! This year shortly after I started planting fall bulbs I found a couple places where they were digging DEEP looking for them! I'm still waiting on a couple things to see how many come up and how many became expensive Squirrel Chowder! I was able to solve that problem for the rest of the winter by laying chicken wire and my pea and cuke trellises over the areas where they had been digging and where I was afraid they might start digging! That, of course, was in addition to all the chicken wire I have on top of my veggie garden to keep the neighbor's cats from using it as a sandbox! My backyard looked like a wire factory! You might want to keep an eye out for squirrel nests in your or any neighbor trees that you're friends with and if you see them building a nest destroy it so they'll seek out a friendlier place to set up housekeeping. If they're nesting very close to you the babies will become accustomed to making themselves at home in your yard, just making the situation even worse. And be sure you're not attracting them by having dog food outside or anything else they might want like fruit/food scraps on a compost pile.

If you're not familiar with squirrel baffles, I'm linking a search page so you can see what David and I are talking about.

Good luck in your battle with Squirrelus obnoxiousii!

Skybird

Here is a link that might be useful: Squirrel baffles!

Speaking of squirrels! I have figured out what you need!!!

I've had the Decorah Eagle Cam on most of the afternoon and the latest "delivery" to the nest looked to me very much like it was a rat when the eagle first brought it and put it down--but then the eagle moved out of the way and I saw the BIG BUSHY TAIL! It's a squirrel! Quite DEAD! So all you need to do is attract a couple pair of eagles to your backyard--and no more squirrel problem!

;-)
Skybird

I would love to have eagles in my yard! They may thin out the Chihuahua population in the neighborhood as well. That's a win/win situation as long as they don't poop on my car! (Calm down dog enthusiasts....just kidding. I don't really want to kill rat dogs) But maybe they would eat the rooster that lives on my block and crows all day long. (Animal lovers go ahead and get upset, I really do wanna kill that rooster!) We do get owls some nights about once every month or two that I notice. I love them, even though they are a little noisy also!

Skybird, when can you drop off the eagles? I'd trade you for a carload of squirrels!

Cat

My elderly parents just moved to a retirement home, but prior to that, lived in a squirrel-infested neighborhood. The things would chew the bark on some of their trees, either some sort of mating ritual or just after the sap, and it got so bad that my Dad bought a pellet gun, highly illegal, and was busy firing away at the things, until one day, he heard, in the distance, a window break.......

My son has a BB gun but I have never asked him to hunt them. (however, I am under no illusions that he hasn't taken a shot or two) I could just see him shouting one in the eye or something and I would end up with a vet bill and a disabled angry pet squirrel!