Seems like nothing will stop him.

I had him trapped inside small cage today and he was going crazy tearing the pots apart soi.had to let him out to save my transplants. Im in process of caging everything in but he's digging faster than I can build. I this k he enjoys the challenges I put in front of him but this Guy might just have to die

I was thinking filling a squirt gun with.something that he dislikes and squirting him when he pops back there

And relocating is also illegal. The only good thing, as lucille says, is that you've got it used to going into a cage. Once it's caged, submerge the whole thing in a tub of water.

I have several dwarf fruit trees that just began bearing fruit last year. Squirrels got every peach before it was ripe enough for me to pick. This year the apple is blooming. More goodies for the squirrel family. Grrrr....

Hubby said he could build a huge cage around the trees--I said he was crazy. I can buy a heck of a lot of fruit for what such an enclosure would cost, so I guess the varmints win. I could take out the trees out of spite, I suppose, but I just cannot bring myself to do that in case I can come up with an idea to save my fruit.

I've started trapping and relocating squirrels to keep the population down. The key to trapping is bait. For my gray squirrels, an awesome bait is ... peanut butter. They are drawn magnetically to the stuff. Just leave some out near a tree and get them attracted. Then put the stuff in a trap in the same place. Poof! You've got 'em. Really simple.

Relocating is illegal in some states. Not in Texas. If you're worried about their survival, relocate them in the spring, not in the fall, which would separate them from their food stores. As to fighting for their food, they will simply move to a spot where they don't have to fight for their food. They will seek out an ecological niche which, ideally, isn't anywhere near your veggies.

If one completely encloses a plant in hardware cloth, it is hard to see how a squirrel can get in.
Hardware cloth can be spendy, but galvanized cloth should last for some years.

I heard once that blood meal might work.

They are very smart creatures and love the challenge. I use to leave out a few nuts for them until I found they were just burying them. They have moved a few of my bulbs to different locations and have required me to re-transplant. I do have a cat that likes to stalk them and the birds. She does not have much luck but it never stops her from trying.

If this were about deer, coons, or possums, I could make it work. But squirrels climb and dig easily and are incredibly crafty.

Some other methods I've heard of (but do not have personal experience with - yet):
- hanging those disposable pie tins will scare them away. The
noise and reflection of light maybe?
- spreading around dog hair and/or urine
- spreading garlic paste
- spraying plants and/or soil with a hot pepper mix (I worry about how this would affect the plants, I'm sure there are specifics
- give them their own "space" ie put food and water in a separate area away from the garden, somewhere they can dig and feast and thus be distracted from your garden

I don't know the efficacy or validity of any of these, just things I've read.

Deli, I just truck them off to a large urban park with woods a few miles away. That park is surrounded by neighborhoods, and if the guy doesn't like it in the park, there are plenty of other places to try.

A squirrel that is going to stare me down from a few yards away isn't going to be frightened off by some pie plates. These are urban squirrels.

I routinely scatter my used cat litter (indoor cat) around the garden, and the squirrels just don't care. Not one bit. Again, urban squirrels.

As to hot pepper and garlic, I suspect that would just be a lot of work.

As to giving them their own space, with food and water, I'm pretty sure that would just end up attracting more animals to the vicinity. Peanut butter with a side of tomatoes and eggplants, anyone?

Now, to the extent that catnip attracts cats, that'll repel squirrels, as long as there's a cat there!

If u look she has a BB hole in ear

At another location, I had an outdoor catnip plant in a pot that got regularly destroyed by local cats. I think they were trying to roll around on it.

The controversy about attractiveness of mint to squirrels is multiplied by what seems to be similar disagreement about mice and rats. Some say they love it. Others say that hate it. Legend has it that catnip was planted around crops by early Britons to repel rats.

Some earlier discussion here.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/herbs/msg0712520818695.html

First, we had some mice get into the house last fall and they seemed to be active in the walls at night. After a night or two with little sleep, my daughter came up with a similar device that we pugged into an electrical outlet on the wall. The mice seemed not to like it and moved into the basement where I had traps baited. End of mice.

Secondly, the product advertised offers a 45 day money back guarantee. By that time the seeds would be sprouted (or not) and you'd know how well it worked.

By the way, I have no financial interest in this product. It matters not to me whether one buys it or not.

Last year I got only 2 tomatoes from 6 plants. When they started pulling up new seedlings of corn and beans, and I considered my tomatoes this year, I had to declare war.

I don't use poisons or kill traps (there are innocent animals around) and I don't wish to cause pain even to the worst pests. So I pulled out my small have-a-hart trap, dabbed the trip lever inside with peanut butter, and tied it to the top of the fence (their highway) so it wouldn't fall into the absentee neighbor's equally fenced-in yard. After they beat the trap off the fence in their struggles and sprung the doors a few times (escaping) and I finally learned to bungee-cord the cage solidly.

I've caught 5 of them in a month and have sent them to swim with the fishies in my pond. Don't cringe, it's quick and they don't know what happening. *Blurp* and 5 seconds, they are gone...

I think that's the last of that gang in the foodless grove for this year, though the cage will remain baited all this season at least in case others move in and learn the same nasty tricks.

I had to built a tent of 1" mesh chicken wire over the cukes and beans (gave up on replanting corn at this late date).

My plan is to rebuild my framed raised beds a bit larger (since they are rotting and need rebuilding anyway), make the spaces between them narrower (to save space), and construct an enclosure. Basically 10' upright pipe set 2' deep and chicken wire or 2"x3" welded wire around and atop it, with a screen door. There are various ways to make a sturdy frame to put chicken wire around.

But my question is this. The mesh has to be small enough to keep squirrels out, but let pollinators in. I can't seem to find solid information about either. Squirrels can fit through tight spots and I suspect they can get through 2"x3" welded wire fencing or 2" mesh chicken wire. The 1" chicken wire mesh seems to defeat them. But will bees and other garden pollinators go through a 1" chicken wire mesh?

I just can't seem to find to information anywhere. Does anyone know, or can suggest where to ask?

I was having a big problem with chipmunks in my garden and finally managed to eliminate or at least deter them from my veggies. First I filled all of my bird feeders with sunflower seeds a distance from my garden. Secondly, I sprinkled flaked red chili pepper around my plants. Finally, in my garden I half filled a 10 gallon bucket with water, tossed some sunflower seeds in and propped a broomstick on the bucket, a chipmunk diving board. I dispatched 4 of them in a couple of days. There are still some chipmunks around, but they are staying out of my garden. I don't like killing the critters, so I have de-commissioned my swimming pool of death, but I am actually harvesting ground cherries now.

Same with squirrels. One of the silly squirrel traps is to suspend bait over a trash can half filled with water. The idea is that they are dumb enough to jump out to the bait, and end up falling into the water, wherein, with no shoreline, they tread water until they expire.

My squirrels aren't that dumb.

The chipmunk diving board is an interesting option, for either very desperate rodents or ones with negative IQ.

I also watched a squirrel afar (with binoculars) casually hop at a small piece of styrofoam covered with sunflower seeds in a half water-filled barrel and then equally casually, hop out. All it did is curse at me in squirrel talk as it took a green apple away with him.

But my question is about what mesh insect pollinators will casually go through but squirrels can't.

Does anyone have information on that?

But my question is still "If I use 1" mesh chicken wire to keep the squirrels out, will that allow major pollinators like bees to get through"?

Does anyone actually know?

Now of course, it is a given that to ensure pollinators one must NEVER use insecticides like Sevin and countless others in the vegetable garden!

Interplant various herbs among your vegetable plants to attract these tiny pollinators. Thymes, basils, cilantro, dill will do this, and I also allow a few various salad crops to flower-- like lettuce, mustard, bok choi, radishes, etc. Their little flowers attract numerous pollinators who will take advantage of the whole buffet while in the neighborhood, plus you will have the bonus of free seed for next year's garden.

And I not only support wildflowers like queen annes lace by spreading the seedheads around (half the back yard is allowed to grow wild with native plants), I also make sure to let a few carrots grow a second season in the raised garden beds, etc. I have a yard full of butterflies and even honeybees around the cloverflowers in the lawn.

I just wasn't sure what size chicken wire opening the larger pollinators would fly through. Thank you.

They are digging up all my seedlings! They ate all my unripe peaches last year.

I have a chicken wire fence all around my garden. It hasn't worked either.

So, next I'm going to try putting pee-soaked clumping kitty litter and perhaps some hair (apparently they don't like human hair?) around my plants. I'm also going to blend up peppers, garlic and maybe a little oil with water and will try that out too. Wish me luck.

I've used pee-soaked regular kitty litter as well, and it simply doesn't work on at least urban squirrels. Cat pee is a smell they're completely used to. They'll smell it, smile, look both ways, and tiptoe around it. I've tried the other stuff too (well, not hair) and it has no effect.

I trap and relocate. This is the humane time of year to do that. Sorry, but unless you put your garden in a cage, or maybe set up a device that senses them, and actively scares them off, there really isn't any other way.

In my current house I have a clear space for my garden so I was able to put an electric wire around the fence. (The tree placement in the last place was such that the squirrels could have just climbed over it on a tree.) That seems to be doing the trick; they COULD jump over it onto the fence behind, but so far, they don't. I think they can sense the electricity and don't like it.

So in my experience with urban grey squirrels, the only things that will work once they've gotten a taste for tomatoes are 1) COMPLETE enclosure with chicken wire or something similarly metal and unchewable - they'll go through bird netting in a hot second - or 2) electricity.

I don't want to go into it here, but many people call these guys tree rats. If I didn't relocate, I'd be out there with poison or a gun.

So, my seedlings are surrounded by dog hair, cat pee, reconstituted blood and pepper. Oh, and there are moth ball packets interspersed amongst them as well. It looks very strange, but it seems to be working.

I took down my chicken wire fence because it deterred me far more than other creatures.

So I've sorted out the seedling issue (maybe?) and next will have to tackle the issue when the plants are grown. I won't have peaches this year because the terrible winter killed all the blooms.

My strawberries are totally meshed in and so far nobody has invaded - mind you, they are still in bloom. No problem after I meshed them in last year, so we will see.

I have no issues with trap/relocate, but I don't have the time after work and kids to be checking every day and would hate to see one of them left in a trap too long. And I can't bring myself to kill them - again, not judging, just something I can't do myself. Odd, I've been veggie gardening about five years at this location and this is the first year I've had a squirrel problem. Maybe because of the nasty winter?

I'll advise if my multi-repellant approach works or fails.

We also have the urban squirrels who fear nothing. Noise makers, moving things, dog hair, actual dog, nothing deters them. I actually had them eat through the plastic sides of my composter and trash cans. They pick my tomatoes, eat one bite, and then stack them on my fence posts just to mock me and chew out the middle of the cucumbers while they hang on the vine. And these are FAT squirrels. They aren't hurting for food. They are picking my vegetables for sport, the little jerks.

I just wish I could leave my dog out all day to keep them away. I think they know his schedule now.

But I'd still be skeptical that it would make much of a difference to at least my squirrels.

Manda, your perspective on squirrels is EXACTLY mine. Oops. I just caught another one ... off to give it a new home.

Oh, it seems that my disgusting method is working so far. But I think the blood damaged some of the new leaves. They still dig holes, but elsewhere. I think it might be the litter, but not sure.

NOW, how about those terrible red beetles that are attacking my lilies? Vile, vile things, and their larva are even more disgusting. Any thoughts?

I guess I could just put a sheet of paper towel in the tray and could use it similarly.

Now, I've just started intensive trapping, and my wife is telling me that maybe I'm bailing the ocean. I've clearly displaced the squirrels in my yard, and I guess I'm gradually clearing out the neighborhood! Nabbed #8 this morning. I have a bird feeder that was regularly raided, and it's now been left alone for days at a time. Getting better.

Now, the number of squirrels you have to trap depends on what is called their "displacement rate", which is how fast squirrels move from one locale to the next. Squirrels live in a locale on the scale of a couple of acres, and if there are just a few squirrels per acre, you can clean out your locale pretty fast. Having trapped seven squirrels, I haven't seen any for several days. The experiment I'm doing is to see how long that lasts. If it works for a growing season, it's probably worth it.

rats with good PR, little bastards!

But those are my rural squirrels who are perhaps more sensitive than their urban buddies.

I don't recommend the blood stuff. It was bad for those leaves the spray hit. It appears to be a winter deer thing.

You know it is dire when you come across a line like this....

"So, my seedlings are surrounded by dog hair, cat pee, reconstituted blood and pepper." !!!!!! LOL The lengths we go to.... ;)

The trick is that the "dispersion rate" of urban squirrels is pretty low, so in trapping and relocating, you aren't "bailing the ocean".