I've got ground hogs running through mine, but I see the squirrels running through, if anything did grow properly in the garden, it wouldn't make it anyways.

I'm making beds to fix the problems with soil, but I'm attempting another living fence, the milk thistle didn't grow at all last year. I still have more, but now a green globe artichoke fence is as prickly, not sure if it's prickly enough, but it will probably keep deer out.

Briers and thistles are a medieval way to handle the little creatures. A thorn vine like Green briers sound good. I'm sure I can find those for free somewhere, but they would have to grow up something permanent, not sure.

I'll bet a squirrel can climb a chain link fence, but that is a guess. Thought it would help. Good luck!

I heard that squirrels don't like to climb bare-wire chicken wire.

Last year they ravaged my garden, but over the winter the coyotes did a number on them. Maybe you could invite some coyotes in?

electric fence.

When we moved in last year, there were a couple of dozen squirrels (at least!) on the property

The hawks have discovered them since then, so now we have only a couple--predators are good!

You might be able to speed the process up by getting a dog ;-)

they are very easy to catch in a live trap. I suggest a dab of peanut butter on a small dish inside the trap. Put the dish on the closed end of the trap. on the open end under the pan slip a stone to keep the trip from setting off until the squirrel is farther into the trap.

>You might be able to speed the process up by getting a dog ;-)

HA! It sure would. Get a dog anything like mine and they'll make quick work of your pumpkins, tomatoes, snap peas, swiss chard, ...the list goes on and on. The squirrels won't stand a chance. :-)
I have to fence the dogs out. However, the squirrels in my yard seem to pay a protection fee to my dogs. They toss plums/peaches down on the other side of the fence for the dogs to eat.

I don't know what product is 'dried blood', but I'm not aware of blood meal being a deterrent to squirrels. Surely there is a plethora of threads on this forum with folks describing successful deterrents. Personally I'd live trap.

Dan

If you live trap, either kill them or take them to the humane society. Do not bring them out to my place and let them go to be a pest for me.

I don't know about tree squirrels, but ground squirrels will eat road kill, so I can't see blood meal being any sort of deterrent.

If you live trap, either kill them or take them to the humane society. Do not bring them out to my place and let them go to be a pest for me.

Altho I do like the OR Cascades, I'm not driving across 4 states to dump squirrels I caught in my garden. ;o)

And its a good point about where you release them.

Dan

I keep small foot-hold traps set in the garden most of the time. They catch rats, squirrels, rabbits, ect. The trap doesn't kill them, but the local birds of prey do.

Those steel traps hold up much better in the garden than rat-traps do.

It wouldn't address the "needing individual attention" issue, but maybe instead of netting, try putting a stocking over each pumpkin (similar to how people sometimes sling melons)? It would take care of the problem of the vine growing and moving things around.

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback so far. Here's a picture of a pumpkin with a net over top:

{{gwi:111469}}

It's a bit hard to see in the photo, but the netting kinda bunches up near the ground. I'm operating under the theory (unproven!) that, while squirrels can gnaw through anything, a bunch of loosely bunched netting will be annoying, and they'll move on.

I'm tempted to try the electric fence, but they're expensive. My field is 60' x 70', so I'd need an extension kit, too. But I'll do it if it's the only way to keep them out. Anyone have a recommendation for a fence kit that works?

For that extension Steven, you will need the $59.99 at TSC, which gives 2700V at the terminals. Then, to improve conductivity, you may want to buy three ground rods, not just one, and plant them apart from one another. Unless your soil becomes extremely dry, that should be enough.

I have had one significant break-in this year, and I am tempted to put drip irrigation also along the fence, to keep the ground moist there.

Also keep in mind that raccoons and squirrels tend to handle the wire(s), and they get zapped. Rabbits and ground hogs tend to be isolated by their fur. Where I have the wire at the top of a chainlink fence, everyone gets zapped as they climb the conductive fence. Zero breakins in there, since at least 2000 or whenever I got around to fortify the bottom of the fence.

Where I have just two wires running along the beds, it is less safe, but still safe enough that squirrels have not touched the sunflowers this year (unheard of).I may fence it next spring.

I wish I had more squirrels in my yard, mmmm fried squirrel. I have to drive 20 miles for a decent hunt. The smell of gun powder is an excellent deterrent.

My suggestion would be the same as Glib's - electric fence.

My setup is a bit different. It uses a FI Shock 525 constant 1350 V charger which range from $25 to $35 depending on where you get it. I paid $25 at Lowes. Alternative is the Zareba Red Snapr 33C selling for about the same price. This was the charger I had for the first 8 years, then it died. My wire and insulators were about $15, purchased 8 years ago. Today these would likely be about $25. Poles to hold the wire were free - I had something that worked perfectly. So the whole setup would likely be about $60 (a guess).

Normal setup is 6 and 12 inches. You'd need to go lower for squirrels... probably 3 for the lower wire. I have 3 wire lengths which can be put down and taken up in minutes. Wire is spooled onto an extension cord hand spool.

The constant 1350 voltage is not high enough to harm most animals. Even our cat did not have any issues with it. The only animals lost thus far were an occasional bird or frog. It's possible the pulse chargers might have had no creature losses. However, these models had a few negative reviews on ability to keep raccoons out. And, raccoons are my main problem.

The electric fence controls raccoons, oppossums, rabbits and squirrels. My electric fence was one of the best investments I've ever made.

If you are going to buy a fence charger, go on-line and check the offerings and prices at Jeffers Livestock Catalog. I've been doing business with them for 30 years with good results.

I wouldn't mess around with posts and insulators. Just buy the step-in plastic posts that you attach the wire to directly. I buy those at the local farm supply store. They are cheap and very easy.

You used to be able to purchase a net made out of the plastic electric fence wire. It was made to keep rabbits out. If that is still available, that would be the one to get for squirrels.

Well, I've resorted to making individual little chicken wire cages for each fruit/flower that I want to protect. Insane. At least they're cheap, in terms of dollars. Time is another thing :)

I bought some 36" x 25' green plastic chicken fencing, and made a set of 18"- and 12"-high cylinders, capped with another piece of fencing, all held together with twist ties. I've got ~20 of them sitting in the field right now. In a few days I'll follow up with a loss report.

By the way, if anyone wants to see what the field looked like 2 weeks ago, here's a QuickTime VR panorama:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3552590/PumpkinPatch1.mov.

You'll need to have QuickTime installed, but anyone who has iTunes installed already has it. Click and drag inside the picture to move around, press Shift to zoom in and Ctrl to zoom out.

I'll try to find time to shoot another one, maybe this afternoon. It'll show the massive vine (and weed) growth we've had over the last two weeks, and also some of the anti squirrel cages I"ve put in.

Here's a quick easy squirrel recipe.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mmmm!