Need some advice please

[Frogsong]

Have any of you ever had to deal with ground squirrels chewing up your plants?
We've already lost several large plants due to them chewing the bark off the trunks.

Plants are outdoors, planted in raised beds and planters.

We tried wrapping them with paper and smearing Tanglefoot on it but that doesn't work. They just tunnel underneath the paper and chew the part that's in the ground. We even tried smearing the Tanglefoot all over the top of the wood around the planters thinking they wouldn't want to get it all over them while climbing over and that hasn't stopped them either.

It's illegal to poison them, and there are too many animals here that feed off the squirrels that can be harmed by the poison. My husband shot one once, but felt so bad about it he can't shoot anymore. We're both animal lovers. We just placed a Havahart trap out there to try to trap and relocate them. There are only a few rogue squirrels doing it as I'm sure if they were all doing it we wouldn't have a single plant left. I'm just hoping we don't catch a skunk... LOL

Do any of you have any other ideas we could try? Something we could smear on the lower trunks and stems that won't hurt the plant, but would taste nasty to the squirrels? Or any other ideas?

We're hoping to build a greenhouse soon so we don't have to worry about the squirrels, but until then I need some way to protect my plants. Any ideas are welcome. Thank you.

 

[Warpuppy]

Re: Need some advice please.

Actually I saw something at a local nursery that might work. Cant remember what it is called but what it does is wrap around the trunk of the plant and it grows with the plant. It was made to protect plants/trees from weedwacker damage. Wish I could remember the name.

 

[HigherDrifter]

That's weird....I mean, why would ground squirrels want to mess with your plants like that? They must like that sweet smelling outer layer. What are you feeding them (the plants) with? Could be a territorial thing too...hard to say. Who knows. Maybe they're secret agents of the DEA...?

In case that trunk-wrap stuff from the nursery doesn't pan out: the only thing I could think of that might help would be to wrap the trunks with some type of wire mesh, perhaps Chicken wire, maybe if it's the finer stuff. I wouldn't settle for only one layer of whatever you intend to use, I'd go at least 2, even 3 layers. Gonna take some ingenuity, but it can be done.

 

[Frogsong]

Thank you Warpuppy and Highdrifter.
The problem with chicken wire is that they can climb it and get even further up in the plant. I slit some plastic water bottles down the sides today and wrapped them around the stems with a little Tanglefoot on them. I don't know if it'll work, but I had to try something.

 

[Twelve12]

Try this cheap remedy on getting rid of the squirrels with homemade pepper spray.

These are tips from a writer Eleanor Jewell for tomato, however you can simply apply it to Cannabis.

[Successful tomato growing can be a rewarding experience for any gardener who savors the taste of homegrown fruits and vegetables. But exaltation can turn to disappointment for anyone who ventures out into the garden for a juicy tomato, only to find that the crop has already been a feast for squirrels. When cages, moth balls and trapping fail to keep squirrels from eating your tomato plants, you may need to leave a bad, peppery taste in their mouths.

Difficulty:
Moderately Easy

Instructions
Things You'll Need

* Yellow onion
* Jalapeño pepper
* Cayenne pepper
* Medium-sized pots
* Spray bottle

1.
* 1

Chop up a yellow onion and a jalapeño pepper. Fill a medium-sized pot with 2 quarts of water and add the chopped onion and pepper to the water.
* 2

Sprinkle 2 tbsp. of cayenne pepper over the water. Place the pot on the stove and turn on the burner.
* 3

Boil the contents of the pot for 20 minutes. Remove the pot from the burner.
* 4

Place a sieve over a second pot and pour the boiled concoction over the sieve. The sieve will contain the onion and pepper, while allowing the liquid material to flow into the pot below.
* 5

Allow the liquid mixture to cool and then pour it into a spray bottle. Spray the tomato plants and the soil around them. The next time the squirrels try to get a taste, they will get a dose of pepper and know to stay away.]

 

[Frogsong]

Thank you Twelve. I will definitely try that too!

 

[HigherDrifter]

Growing Garlic throughout your garden is also a good idea.

Not only is Garlic famous for repelling all kinds of garden pests (insects and rodentia), it's also great for the soil for it attracts beneficial fungi into the soil. Here's a good thread about Garlic: Extremely cheap and effective pest repellent

 

[Frogsong]

I'll try the garlic too! That sounds like a good idea.
Here's what I ended up doing yesterday and it seems to be working so far. This is the first morning we didn't have any new damage, though they were in there digging around. I put a Havahart trap out there yesterday too, with a nice juicy apple and didn't catch anything... LOL

We're also going to buy some cracked corn or peanuts to feed the squirrels hoping to keep them busy and away from the plants.

 

[CannaVince]

Wow frog i think that looks great...i hope that works fulltime..looks like it will..good use for all those pesky water bottles we throw out...nice job

 

[Frogsong]

Thanks CannaVince.

I've been doing some more reading and thinking our problem might actually be mice rather than squirrels. Apparently they are notorious for stripping the bark off the lower stems of cannabis plants. The water bottles should work nicely for mice since they can't climb it. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Twelve12]

Nice work on the stems! If it's mice you can throw in couple snakes. heh

 

[Frogsong]

We have plenty of snakes. Just killed a rattlesnake yesterday. Hubby's just getting over a rattlesnake bite from last month. Those kind of snakes, I don't want.

 

[CannaVince]

Frog its funny you say that cause i have a stuffed snake wrapped around my ballast cord hanging down to scare you when people open the closet door...snakes are actually a good luck charm for your garden..but not rattle snakes....yikes...are they poisonous?

 

[Frogsong]

Vince, yes, rattlesnakes are definitely poisonous. Put the hubby in the hospital for 10 days, then he had to do a month of physical therapy to get his foot and leg working again. After two months, his foot is still bigger than the other one and he still has a slight limp. It's a long healing process.

I actually love snakes, lizards, and even spiders. On the rare occasions we find a King Snake crossing the road we will pull over and pick it up and bring it home and release it. King Snakes kill rattlers. I've picked up many wild King Snakes of all sizes and I have yet to have a single one of them try to bite me.

When I find spiders in the house I catch them and put them outside. I don't squish them. But anything poisonous that's living in my yard with us and our pets has to go. I have 4 dogs and three of them have been bitten by rattlers. One of our cats got bitten two days after the hubby. Yep, they have to go.

Last year we had a rattler on our back patio. I caught it in a trash can and we hauled it off and released it elsewhere, but that was scary, stupid and dangerous, so now we kill them. I feel bad killing anything, even rattlers, but I'd feel worse if one of mine was killed.

I say all this because there are people who get upset when you kill rattlers. I understand where they are coming from because it upsets me when people say they killed a harmless garter snake in their garden for no other reason than it was a snake. But rattlers and garters are not comparable.

The plastic bottles are doing the trick. No new damage so far.

 

[Winkster1]

how about trying an owl made for frightening pests from yard: such as
Sears: Online department store featuring appliances, tools, fitness equipment and more
i hope this link is ok with staff otherwise edit it.
might also keep a few nasty rattlers away from plants also.

good luck
Wink

 

[Frogsong]

We were just talking about making some barn owl nest boxes yesterday so the owls will nest here. We have lots of owls, we just need to give them a reason to hang out.

 

[CannaVince]

Wow frog your husband tell him i said "holy shit dude"....i cant emagine...sounds like a trooper though...i would have cried like a bitch.....anyways the owl idea sounds good...what else do or can you do about them rattlers...

 

[Frogsong]

He didn't cry, but he said the F-word a lot... LOL Even the neighbors heard him hollering and they're about 3 acres away.
He said it was the worse pain he'd ever felt.

As far as I know, there are no repellents or anything that works for rattlers, although someone did tell us that spreading a line of sulfur around your property will keep them from crossing over. We haven't tried it yet, but we might, if it doesn't smell too awful.