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I planted a few petunias and geraniums in containers. The squirrels are digging up the soil and my petunias and geraniums are losing leaves and buds. Is there a way to keep squirrels off my plants? Is there some nutrient in the potting soil that they are after? I'm wondering if a decoy pot will help.
What if you install a Squirrel feeder a distance away from your potted plants, and keep the feeder filled with corn, nuts, and seeds? You can enjoy watching their antics without them digging in your plants.
a outdoor dog would help, mine would love to come over and play.
spray Tobasco sauce at 1 oz per gallon of water repels most rodents including mice, rats, rabbits and squirrels. Good repelling also results from putting peppermint oil on cotton balls around the plants.
Im not sure planting the peppermint plant around them will work or not.
Borrow my poor, slightly neurotic Weimaraner. Bless his little heart, but he will sit at the foot of the sycamore tree in our backyard for hours, anticipating the one little guy we had take-up with us, having to come down out of the tree at some point.
It may not run the squirrel completely out of your yard, forever, but it will buy you a good several hours.
In all seriousness, there must be something in the potting mix. Both of our dogs will do exactly what you describe the squirrel(s) doing. When I was at the nursery yesterday, the owner said they may be after the bone meal (or blood meal?).
Someone on the Pet Forum here suggested I put some of the dogs' poop in the planter(s), and it has worked like a charm. I have no idea if it would deter a squirrel, but it might be worth a try.
a outdoor dog would help, mine would love to come over and play.
spray Tobasco sauce at 1 oz per gallon of water repels most rodents including mice, rats, rabbits and squirrels. Good repelling also results from putting peppermint oil on cotton balls around the plants.
Im not sure planting the peppermint plant around them will work or not.
Good point about the tobasco sauce. I heard this works for deer as well. I have a peppermint bush and the squirrels leave it (and my herbs) alone. That said--always plant peppermint (or spearmint) in a potted container, otherwise it will spread and get out of control quickly.
As for putting out squirrel food in hopes that they will leave the other stuff alone...they won't. Did that for years and it didn't work.
The dog poop idea is interesting...but nasty. :0 I wouldn't want to have mess with that when changing annuals.
My elderly mother wanted to sit outside with a high powered water gun....she had fun but was too bad an aim.
The dog poop idea is interesting...but nasty. :0 I wouldn't want to have mess with that when changing annuals.
Actually, it takes just the tiniest bit to deter the dogs. The looks on their faces the first time I tried it was priceless. It's the smell that must deter them, and we don't smell it. It works because it dries-out, too, and I just use my little spade and remove it, when I want to work in the container. That, and I always wear gardening gloves.
It's the only luck I had keeping them out of the planters.
You can also use metal hardware cloth just under the surface of the soil. It lets water and air in, but the squirrels can't dig through it. Just use tin snips to cut it to the size of the container, cut a hole for your plants, cut a straight line from that hole to the edge so that you can slip it around the existing plants, and cover it with a little soil or mulch. You can also try moth balls in the soil, but the smell is very strong to me.
I haven't used it, but my neighbor swears by Hot Pepper Wax (http://www2.yardiac.com/long.asp?tgs=14662684:19135102&item_id=995 - broken link) to keep squirrels away. Apparently that's why they are all in my yard.
I planted a few petunias and geraniums in containers. The squirrels are digging up the soil and my petunias and geraniums are losing leaves and buds. Is there a way to keep squirrels off my plants? Is there some nutrient in the potting soil that they are after? I'm wondering if a decoy pot will help.
What about a bb gun? Just kiddin'....
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Feed them?
Just kiddin'....
