Finally! No new squirrel damage anywhere in my garden!...

[southernfried]

My planting set up this spring is a container garden in the sunny area behind my apartment and a shaded flower bed (with plants like foxgloves). I had read that squirrels were not fans of strong smelling herbs, namely things like garlic and mint. Anyways, in an effort to keep the squirrels out of my containers this year, I planted fragrant herbs amongst them such as chives, basil and catnip. Early on the squirrels were getting into my containers. Not any more. I have one pot of shallots, and the squirrels would dig one or two of them up and not eat them. I also occasionally found a couple of holes in my other pots. They finally stopped and focused their attention on my shaded flower bed. After they seriously damaged one of the foxgloves, I went to the store last night and got crushed red pepper flakes and dried bhuts. I made a perimeter defense with the dried bhuts, and placed the extras in the spots they really seemed to enjoy digging in. If there was any doubt about the potency of the bhuts in dried form, I was sneezing for a solid 10 or 15 minutes afterwords just from handling them although there was no skin or eye irritation. Then the gf and I sprinkled crushed red pepper flakes all over the ground (it's her flower bed, she is actually starting to turn against the creatures she once thought were so cute haha). Well, this morning for the first time in two weeks there was no squirrel damage. I know the capsaicin will diminish and eventually have no effect, but my goal was to give them such a nasty surprise they would be hesitant to return back. Anyways, just sharing that my experiment with dried chilis worked to keep them out of the flower bed, and the chives and basil seem to be working as well. I have some green onion seeds I also plan on sowing on the outskirts of my pots should the squirrels regroup and reattack my pots.

Unfortunately I live in an apartment complex, else this dilemma would have been more easily solved with a pellet gun.

 

[mmcdermott1]

Pepper stuff always works. I have told people to put pepper seeds or dried flakes in their bird feed when they have problems with squirrels eating their bird food. Birds can't taste the capsaicin but squirrels can..they will only eat it once!

Pellet gun works too

 

[SRBII]

Pellet gun works too

Pesky lil tree rats...cheap 8 dollar slingshot works as well

 

[southernfried]

Pepper stuff always works. I have told people to put pepper seeds or dried flakes in their bird feed when they have problems with squirrels eating their bird food. Birds can't taste the capsaicin but squirrels can..they will only eat it once!

Pellet gun works too

I was skeptical about the peppers deterring the furry beasts. When researching methods to repel them, I came across one account where a guy had put dried chili peppers in his seed and all over the ground under the feeder. He said eventually the squirrels started feeding again, and he would watch them run off down his fence line, stopping to rub their faces every so often. Hopefully the bhuts were enough of a shock that they won't return.

 

[southernfried]

Update - Just checked my garden, squirrels had attempted to root in my container containing my contender beans and the container with my tomatillo seeds. The pepper flakes did not keep them from rooting, but they did keep them from making major damage. It looked like they were after the green bean seeds, two seeds were uncovered, but not taken (and they were beginning to sprout, so I guess that's good news). It looks like the chili flakes were enough of an irritant to keep the squirrel from claiming his prize. Hopefully he won't try it again, but just for good measure I put more chili flakes on the surface.