I will be trying this in about a month. My friends in MA had very good luck last year with a small vegetable patch in their back yard. It took a few tweaks to the volts to not kill the birds. But they had an excellent harvest.
I planted my 3 dwarf apple trees 6 years ago and still have not enjoyed a single apple! I had such high hopes last year as I had been prepared with the bird netting wrapped over my trees. The fruit lasted long enough for me to realize I could get enough to make several pies and put up some sauce for the winter, until one afternoon I returned home from work to find the hairy little bugger inside the netting picking the apples and dropping them down to the bottom of the netting.
I scared him and he got out by an opening he had created in the closing seam of the netting. I went inside to get some fasteners to close it up some more and by the time I came out, he was bouncing his harvested apples over to the opening and dropping them to the ground to run off with. If I wasn't so mad, I would be impressed with his ingenuity.
I'll take some photos of the install and instructions in another posting as soon as my friend can get up here and set this plan up.
By DeboraB
I have an apricot tree that generally yields well. This year, there are dozens due to mild winter weather in northest Ohio. The tree is one of those varietals with an alleged, edible pit. In the past five years, we have yet to taste a ripe apricot. The problem, fox and gray squirels during the day and a mystery critter during the night, probably raccoons or flying squirrels. I have tried hot pepper spray, netting and don't think they would be afraid of an owl decoy after a couple of days. The one I placed to scare away the English sparrows has become a perch.
Short of ordinance which is certainly an option and perhaps a diabolical treat for me at this point, does anyone have any suggestions to: 1) Allow a reasonabie harvest of fresh apricots on my part and 2) allow another/ other species to share a few of these tasty fruits?
By Grumpy gardener
By Suntydt
05/18/2012
I don't know if it would work for all the critters but it would cut down on some of them (especially the birds).
Add bells to your branches. Don't hang them from the limbs on strings tie them directly to the branch. This way when a critter goes on the branch (shaking it) the bells clatter. It may scare them away. Find bells that are very senstive. Smaller bells tend to be more sensitive than larger ones because their clacker isn't as heavy.
Another trick (that my father does) is to find a Model T coil and hook it up with a wire around the bottom of the tree. This gives any critter trying to cross and climb a shock. We had raccoons eating peaches off our tree before they developed enough to be picked. This trick stopped the little guys.
I was told or read that you can also put something sticky around the base of the trunk of the tree and it will deter climbing critters. They don't like how their paws stick. Not sure off hand what would be wide enough that the critters wouldn't step over it easily. Something like a fly strip but much wider. Maybe there is a substance they sell at a yard and garden place for insects (like ants) that you can spray on the trunk.
How do you keep squirrels out of nut and fruit trees?
Hardiness Zone: 8a
By Sarah from MS
I just landscaped my backyard and added about 5 fruit trees. First I noticed all the pomegranate blossoms and one small fruit on the ground one morning. Then I was admiring the Asian pear on my tree and the next day it was gone. There was a slight hole under the tree like it was dug away. Lots of gardenia blossoms were also on the ground, but those may be from overwatering.
I do have squirrels visiting my yard cause I feed the birds and they try to get at that food. Any good ways to keep my fruit away from them? I spent a lot of time and money on the yard and was looking forward to the fruit.
By Barb
By fuzzytufts
08/29/2011
The only thing I have found that works to keep my fruit for myself from the squirrels is to grow hot peppers. Make hot pepper sauce with water from them and spray that on the trees. The pepper burns their mouth and they leave it alone but have to add it every couple of weeks. Sometimes I add a little Murphy's oil soap to the mix and that helps too. This was the first year I actually got all my peaches.
Q: Is there a way to discourage squirrels from feasting in my garden? They have eaten every apple on my three trees.
Diane
A: Diane,
This is a tough problem. Other than tying a cat or dog out to guard your tree, your best line of defense is trying to discourage squirrels from climbing it in the first place. Here are a few suggestions:
Attach a 2-3 ft wide metal collar/baffle around the trunk about 6 ft. up from the ground. Use one that is fastened with springs to allow for expansion as the tree trunk grows.
If possible, remove branches less than 6 ft from the ground and those that come within 6 ft of other trees or buildings.
If squirrels are using a telephone or cable wire to access you tree, you can slip a plastic disk or some 10-inch PVC tubing over the wire to prevent squirrels from crossing it. CAUTION: DO NOT do this to power lines! It's very dangerous!
I have a flowering crab tree in my backyard. I feed birds from feeders in my front yard. For the past 5 years I have offered the squirrels and chipmunks a pan of black-oil sunflower seeds a few feet away from the feeders at the base of another tree. So far this has successfully kept them from raiding the rest of my feeders and my apple tree. I haven't noticed any increases in their population, but I admit there may be other forces at work-a large predatory bird population and (unfortunately) several neighborhood cats on the prowl.
By Ellen Brown
More Answers:
By Diane
If it is squirrels... I do not know if that would work. Squirrels jump from tree to tree. Do you have netting that you can put over the tree? What about picking the apples? Are they close to being ready...even if you have to make all of them into apple pies (with lots of sugar) at least you would get to eat the apples, not the squirrels. What about giving the squirrels an alternate source of food (to deter them)?What about spraying a mixture of cayenne pepper on the tree? They HATE that taste. All you would have to do later is wash the apples off.
What do you think? (08/29/2005)
If you and your neighbors have bird feeders in yards that squirrels can get to, it will encourage them to hang around. For us it was a problem keeping the squirrels from eating from the bird feeder. Eliminate food sources is a help ... not always the answer ... but a start.
There are traps that you can trap and release to another area; we have a park that hubby releases them to. We have released hundreds over the years. We have three traps ... one high price purchased and two cheaper ones purchased at a yard sale.
Squirrels are smart little things, and it always seems like they have the upper hand in figuring out how to get the fruits! It is a battle of the witts!
I don't think there is any perfect solution. (08/31/2005)
By syd
These furry rodents are regulars at many backyard birdfeeders and will also attack a variety of garden targets such as young seedlings, berries, fruits, and vegetables. They even have been known to decapitate flowers such as tulips -- seemingly just for fun. Chipmunks are particularly good at unearthing bulbs, eating freshly planted seeds, and munching on maturing root crops.
Control
These rodents are smart. Given time, they'll find a way to get to their desired target. As with birds, it's best to vary your approach every so often to keep the rodents off balance. An good exclusion trick is to place a baffle on fruit tree trunks or bird feeder poles. New "squirrel-proof" feeders appear frequently in catalogs -- they may feature counter-weighted or electrified perches that surprise the critters when they visit the feeder. Some gardeners have had success spraying animal repellents such as cayenne pepper mix, predator urine, mothballs, and commercial formulas on or around plants. Others have had short-term success using ultrasonic noisemakers or setting up separate squirrel-feeding stations to lure them away from the garden. Trapping is the surest way to remove problem rodents. Live traps are very effective for particularly pesky squirrels or chipmunks. However, don't expect to control a whole population with trapping -- there are always more squirrels and chipmunks waiting to move in. (09/04/2005)
By Anonymous, NY
By Kinga Duchin
Keeping squirrels from harvesting your apples and pears. Puncture a hole in a few aluminum pie plates, tie them singly with twine to the lower branches of your fruit trees. The clanging will scare them away.
By Chell
By Raymond
This year, we are over-run with squirrels. They are even picking green apples off my tree, taking a bite out of them, then tossing them to the ground. A late freeze killed most fruits, so I'd like to keep the few apples I have left. If anyone has ideas on what to do to deter these pests, I'd appreciate all the help I can get.
Susan from Arkansas
Solution: Squrrels can't go to the shops and buy apples, you can, so why not do that. (06/17/2007)
By A Drachmann
They have destroyed my garden (this summer I've planted it 4 times), have raided my berry patches (strawberry, raspberry, gooseberry, and blueberry), dug up and killed several plants in my flower beds, made their way through my flower boxes, and dug up most of my potted plants on my porch --who knew squirrels liked avacado pits that had already grown into trees? They go into my German shepherd's pen when he is asleep, to eat his food and squeeze into my cat's pen when he is in the house to eat his cat food. I've put out squirrel feeders that you place corn cobs on hoping that they'd leave other things alone, but that idea failed. They've destroyed a bird feeder I paid over $150 for that was supposed to be squirrel-proof (metal is only a minor deterrent to them). They have eaten through our phone and cable TV lines, dug into our home's eaves trying to nest in our attic (we have a 3-story house, so it's no small matter to repair the damage), got caught in our electric lines where they've gotten fried so badly that we've lost our electricity at times, and dug out the cement between the bricks of our chimney to nest in it. Did I mention that they've destroyed our roof to the point that it had to be replaced? Do you know how hard it is to find someone to reroof a home as tall as ours with a pitch this steep in a small town? The reroof cost us $20,000, we are not rich people.
Living in town, these animals are able to jump from tree to tree to fence to house to garage, to get around. Now I love animals. I take ones in that others have thrown out and find homes for them. I volunteer at our local shelter. I'm the person who carries dog food in the car to put out for starving dogs I cannot catch. But these squirrels are a destructive nuisance. There are far too many to catch and I simply am bewildered on how to handle them.
Suggestions would be appreciated. (06/17/2007)
By susanmajp
By Debbie Columbia, SC
By Lynda
By reallybarb
By gardenman
They have traps for catching mice that work very well. I would think one could construct one larger for raccoons or squirrels and then take the occupant on a nice drive. It is a rectangle with one door that lets them push in to enter and get the goodie, but then is too long for them to push back out.
I also had more fun watching squirrels I was trying to detract from my bird feeder by tying peanuts in the foot section of a pair of tights. When I used string like rope, they got them down in 1 min. But when I used an electric cord they could not chew through so easily it stayed on the tree limb. They could not chew through the tights either. It was on a limb in a fir tree and they were hanging on it and that limb would go way up and down like a bungee cord while they were trying to get the nuts. They hung on for dear life as it kept going up and down. It was wild watching them.
Also, another thought, if seeds are left on the ground it could attract rodants. (09/28/2007)
By Shaleena
By Mars
By Ernie
By Bill
By Ken
By maddy
By Chris
By Toebeanie
I had tried years ago to trap them in Have a Hart traps but after trapping approximately 40 and moving them to a location 2 miles away on the other side of a lake I noticed I trapped the same one a week later. Did I move the same one all the time?
Since then I read that you need to move them 20 miles or so and with the price of gas, so much for trapping. (10/23/2008)
By Don B
By shabazwarda
Each Squirrel has its own zone of trees, if you get rid of one, you are resting for at least 10 days, until the rest of squirrels know that nobody own that zone, they they move in fighting each others until one of them wins. (07/06/2009)
By shabazwarda
I have tried owls, snakes, moth balls and spray. None worked for more than a day. Tried the plastic cone around the trunk and they jumped to the top edge and crawled up anyway.
This year I put "tangle foot", a product that is very sticky and used to keep pigeons off areas. Worked great. As soon as they jumped to the cone edge and got the adhesive on the front feet, they dropped off the cone and did not come back. They were not hurt in any way, but did not like the adhesive.
By rn4005 from Omaha, NE
Can I use hot sauce to protect a peach tree from squirrels?
By Victor from Long Island, NY
By kffrmw88
Here's a Wonderful Sugar Free Option: $50
critter-repellent.com
It's a motion-activated burst of ultrasonic sound that humans can't hear, it sound startles animals and teaches them to stay away
Scare-crow Sprinkler: $75
A motion-activated sprinkler teaches them to avoid the area in future.
You'll have to Google to find the bobble-head owl.
* I'd stay away from the hot pepper or hot-sauce because it's can be very cruel. This is because when animals and neighborhood pets get it in their eyes, the pain can cause them to dig their eyes out! I used to use it and recommend it until many ThriftyFun people wrote and warned me! Plus, the hot sauce has to be re-applied each time it rains. (04/24/2010)
By Cyinda
By zoodad
By HunnyBunnyCO
Russ (06/24/2010)
By rn4005
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Keeping Squirrels Out Of Fruit Trees