Squirrels driving me nuts

[E-Jag]

I know that many of you folks keep your orchids, or some of them, outside. My phals and dens are on my back balcony and love it there. We have, in our yard, conservatively speaking, perhaps 46 million squirrels and all but six have discovered my dens. They have either dug up or chewed off nearly all the new growth. Can't move the dens because this is the only place they get sufficient light/direct sun. Surely I'm not the only one with this problem. I appeal to those of you with !@$#*! squirrels. Is there a solution?

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E-Jag

[janet_a]

can't help you--when i spray my hibiscus with neem, the squirrels pull the leaves off and roll them up and eat them like burritos.

[fzzdk]

i'm sorry but the only suggestion i can give you is to shoot a gun whenever they get near your orchids. my grandfather did that with his pecan trees and eventually the squirrels left it alone. that's probably not a great option if you're in an urban area though.

can you put the orchids in some sort of a cage?

[Sharyn]

E-jag: I think you might be stuck with them. They really are annoying. I live in a 3-story brick condominium and those goofy squirrels climb up the building to the 3rd story balcony and snag a little piece of carpeting at the edge and run, unraveling the carpeting as they go! We once had a "mentally challenged" squirrel that robbed cherry tomatoes and dug up the yard to bury them for the winter.!
Maybe a sling-shot

[E-Jag]

I live in a second story condo and tried a pellet gun for awhile but it was fairly loud and if I missed I risked hitting a car or neighbors window. The little so-and-so's have dug up just about everything I've tried to grow out there. Defeat is an option I may have to consider at some point - perhaps tomorrow. I still have one new stalk/leaf left. Sigh.

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E-Jag

[butt0n]

Wow...I would have never guessed squirrels would pose a problem against orchids. I guess building a little cage would be the best option?

[Maddy]

Years ago, I had rolled a rack of plants out onto the back deck for some sun. Later that day, after I got home from school, my mom told me that a squirrel had gotten one of my plants and eaten it before she could chase it off (the squirrel, not the plant.) There was only one empty pot in the rack - the one that had held a small, very spiky cactus.

I did get some satisfaction out of knowing that the squirrel probably had some serious indigestion afterwards...

[Anton]

Recently I was sent an Email that had a "squirrel catapult".

Funniest thing I have ever seen, it was like a gigantic slingshot, and when the squirrels would go to the bowl at the end of it for nuts someone would trigger it and the squirrels were sent flying about 50 feet away

I had tears in my eyes for half an hour after seeing it.

Maybe one of those may solve your problem.

[prisana]

Got a dog ? or a cat will do . Squirrels do most of their feedings in the AM, tie your dog near the plant or if you have a fence, you can let him loose ( just make sure he's not hungry ) . My cat is a trooper when it comes to squirrel chasing. She is a good help. She never caught one but managed to scare them all away. The squirrel won't leave the tree if my cat is nearby. I had a bad squirrel problem last year , but this year so far I haven't seen them bother my plants .

[Tony]

I know its not pretty, and I have only a couple of orchids, so I have been putting milk crates over them.

[pikevi]

I have heard that sprinkling black pepper powder or paprika powder around the affected area may keep he animals away.

I have not tried it myself but I don't think it will hurt to try.

The idea seems good

[Ellen]

I tried cayenne pepper mixed with bird seed in our bird feeder. Strangely, birds don't taste hot pepper, but squirrels do. The pepper worked for a while, but eventually the #$%@ creatures developed a taste for extra spicy bird seed. You might try spraying tabasco sauce on your dens. For a while you would at least get some entertainment from watching the squirrels shake their heads and paw at their mouths when they taste it.

[Sharyn]

My sister used an organic repellent made of fox urine! It's safe for kids & pets, but might be a little costly if you need to keep reapplying after rains. Black pepper oil (you can make up in spray bottle) is another thing you might want to check out (also pretty cheap). You can usually find that in a good health food store that carries essential oils. You only need a little added to a spray bottle filled with water. And last, but not least, recipes for castor oil repellents you can make up. Good Luck - I hope you win this battle.
http://www.critter-repellent.com/squ...ource=GoogleAW
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopes...eet_000669.htm
http://www.herbalhut.com/article-Nat...epellents.aspx

[Sea_Sun88]

How about putting up a bowl of friuts and nuts outside for the little precious.(MONSTERS) hehe and hopefully they will get distracted from your orchids.

[slippery_biscuit]

The cat and dogs keep them at bay for me. Here in WA it is okay to trap and kill the overgrown rats, but it is against the law to trap them and transport them, even just further into the forest. For my bird feeders I finally ended up going to extra pains to squirrel proof them. Not nearly as many hanging around since.

They eat squirrel down south (so I hear) but I can't imagine modifying one's diet to that extreme...

[Maddy]

Originally Posted by slippery_biscuit

...They eat squirrel down south (so I hear) but I can't imagine modifying one's diet to that extreme...

They do, or at least they did. My mom tried squirrel once. She said they're very greasy.

[Ellen]

Sea Sun, supplemental feeding of the squirrels will just attract more of them and they'll eat your dendrobiums and crocuses and tulips and bamboo shoots and strawberries anyway. As far as I know, there's no such thing as a squirrel-proof bird feeder. Even if they can't get into it they come and eat the seed that the birds spill on the ground. I finally stopped feeding the birds, and the squirrel problem has mostly gone elsewhere.

[Carol A]

Definitly the dog does help...my Boston Terrier is obsessed with squirrels and even caught one (killed it of course) in her younger years. She will chase if out when one is around. Other than that, removing bird feeders would make sense, as they are great plunderers for the seed...which provides them with a fast food meal. Good luck

[kmarch]

Squirels kept burying nuts and eventually digging up one of my sister's flower beds, the one with her Lily of the Valley. She made a large loose mesh "tent" and enclosed the flower bed. From the house, except for the support poles, you can't tell there's anytign there and it kept the critters out.

I'm gazing into your future and I seeeeeee........mesh.

[snowballsarebad]

Well, I feel kind of lucky. We have heaps of squirrels too, but they never got into my orchids last summer, though we left them out on the back deck for a couple months. They do like to eat the tulip buds though. And they got into my freesia and ate part of it I think. I guess I will have to keep an extra eye on my orchids this summer to make sure the beasts don't chomp on them, too.
BB guns don't work too well. All we succeeded in doing last summer was shooting holes through our bird feeder; squirrels were definitely afraid of getting shot...but they're quick enough to scamper up the trees and out of the yard as soon as the gun goes off.

[BillC]

I'm afraid there is only one answer to the problem. A wire mesh net designed and supported so that the squirrels cannot get into the orchid space from the outside, and you have complete access from the inside. I have a small bird feeding station which was plagued by the little $%**&^%***; they would remove the covers from the feeders, empty the nuts or seeds onto the ground, and eat or bury everything. So I put up a mesh net!! I spent many happy minutes watching the gang trying to gnaw through the wire. Bill

[E-Jag]

Thanks for all the replies. Am considering a mesh framework that I can sit over them. Anton - would kill for that catapult, just for the entertainment value alone. I wonder if a cayenne pepper solution, or some such, would adversely affect orchid leaves? May have to do a little experimenting. Will advise if I find anything that works. Prefer squirrelcide.

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E-Jag