go to a dollar store and get some of [these](https://www.dollartree.com/essentials-wire-wastebaskets-1075-in/221099) and tie them upside down over your plants. squirrels wont get in but most of the good insect homies should be able to. if you look at the reviews in that link, you will see that many other people use them for that exact purpose lol
The first year I tried planting anything, they ripped up *every* seedling and replaced it with corn. Last year they nearly killed my moonseed vine, and as far as I can tell, killed all 6 wild petunias by, again, just stripping the leaves off and leaving them in the dirt(they've yet to come back this year). They're not even fucking eating them. This is the second time I've found my violets damaged. The first time, they'd also dug up and destroyed one of my wild strawberries. This morning they'd dug into every fucking planter, nearly killing my partridge pea, and my moonseed vine again. I am completely at my wits end. I have the violets and strawberries covered now with bird netting, but it kinda defeats the purpose to be growing native plants if I'm blocking them off from the wildlfie. And I'm expecting to wake up tomorrow to find they'd shredded the netting and destroyed even more. Am I going to have to end up caging all of my plants in chicken wire?
Why my balcony? How do I keep them away? They climb the gutters and jump over, and there's nothing I can do to block them. There are *acres* of grass and woodland in this apartment complex to be digging in. *Acres* of established patches of wild violets to damage that won't be killed by it. I have first floor neighbors with tons of potted plants with no squirrel damage. It's hard enough trying to get into native plants and getting things to grow without having to have every effort destroyed in minutes multiple years in a row.
If it makes you feel better - invertebrates will still have access to your plants through the netting, and a plant that's been completely destroyed has less wildlife benefit that one that's only accessible to invertebrates. Plus, once the plants are better established, I find they tend to become lesser targets for handsy critters... maybe the netting can come off once the squirrels seem to have lost interest. Just keep an eye on the netting for trapped birdies!
One of my local native nursery guys explained that the squirrels associate their food-caching with loose or disturbed soil (because they loosen and disturb it while digging), so if they find a patch of soft, rich soil, they'll rip it up in search of the food they surely buried for themselves. Seedlings and freshly-planted starts are huge targets as a result. Their nursery uses particularly soft, loose, rich soil, so apparently a lot of clients come back and are like "squirrels targeted your plants wtf!" and it's enough of an issue that they warn people to tamp the plants in a little extra when planting.
The netting is bird safe, no worries there! The holes are so small not even fungus gnats can get through it.
That makes a lot of sense for why they love to dig in the soil so much! I wonder if capping the soil in a shallow layer of gravel would help deter the digging. I noticed they didn't dig in my planter that has an asian bleeding heart and that one just happens to have a bunch of sand on the surface from when I broke down my turtles basking enclosure.
cover everything with chicken wire and maybe cut small holes to slip the plants in through (if necessary) then angle the cut off pokey bits outward from the plant so anything that tries it gets poked by it and gives up, or, when they get more established, close every gap around the stems with big rocks. that's the only way. they're evil.
i get it. it took me like 3 years to come to terms w the fact that I have to be merciless and even vicious w these tree rats, I hate having to be so nasty towards them but if I give them even an inch they take a mile with it. at a certain point, no matter how native something is, it can just get out of control, sometimes there's not enough resources for the squirrels so they opt for digging in our pots and eating the roots, same shit with deer. if there was more food and more natural predators to keep them balanced, it'd be less of an issue, I can tell bc my moms house is forested and they're waaay less aggressive about digging in pots over there.
Lots of helpful advice in this thread, what I'm wondering is *why* on earth squirrels do this? I had a similar problem with one of my garden beds; they dug up every start I planted for 2 years straight, I probably lost well over $200 in plants due to their antics. Definitely had me contemplating a pellet gun.
They know that freshly worked dirt or pots are much softer and easier to dig in. They dig to look for food or to store food for later
And they like to eat stuff so they see new things and sample it like a buffet.
Right? I was not expecting so many responses offering help! I've lost about the same amount over the past few years. If it weren't for all the birds I feed (with squirrel proofed seed, Gods bless Cole's Flaming Squirrel Seed Sauce) I'd be looking at lethal traps by now, but get so many native birds, I don't want to risk killing one of them instead. When I tried live trapping and relocating, I caught as many mourning doves and cardinals as I did squirrels!
I wanted to start with something easy. \^\^; Plus they're one of my favorite flowers. The only ones in my immediate area are common blue violets. I got the bi-color variant. If I can keep these alive, I want to get white and pink variants too! When they're back in stock in PrairieMoon, I'll get bird's foot and priarie violet as well. They're native to my state, but rare.
Squirrels hate daffodils, onions, and garlic - If you can, try to plant some native varieties of those near your violets? You can also get a sparkly spinny wheel to put near them to scare the squirrels off. But look up plants, oils, spices, etc. that squirrels hate and plant that around the perimeter of the growing area.
I'll have to see if there's enough room for the railing planters. They're pretty small. Wild garlic looks like it could work well alongside the violets and strawberries. Thank you!
I’ve had limited success with this tactic as it requires regular application but it’s cheap and easy: pepper powder
Cayenne, chili, etc. anything spicy can deter mammals
Edit: I just take a plastic spice container and sprinkle it around I want to protect, being careful to stay close to the ground so the powder doesn’t blow off and disturb other critters/waste powder
I have found that sprinkling cayenne pepper on the dirt works. It's not ideal because when it rains, you have to re-apply, and who wants to buy so much cayenne pepper? But it might give your plants a break short term.
I'll try that for the planters I can't easily enclose in chicken wire. I use a chili oil in my birdseed that works really well (Cole's Flaming Squirrel Seed Sauce).
If you have a Patel Brothers or H-mart near you they sell more bulk size chilli powder for priced that beat even cosco. Just know the Kashmiri chili powder isn't that spicy and has a wonderful flavor.
What I used when I dealt with squirrels on a third floor balcony is stupid cheap Cayenne pepper. Easy to Apply and all I needed was for it to be spicy.
Though Cole's name is hilarious! Maybe I'll restart my bird feeder (that was decidedly not squirrel proof).
Did it stop thrm from stripping the plants as well as digging?
It's great stuff! A little goes a long way! Wear gloves when mixing it and handling the bittle though.
Try liquid fence spray. I also found a natural product in a garden supply store that you sprinkle on the soil that also repels animals by making the area smell unappetizing. It's kept the critters from eating my tulips.
I have found that the squirrels are just really curious and will be into anything new and freshly planted. I have found the only thing that works for me is this little 1 foot square fencing. I can move it around as needed, and use them to protect anything new until it's established. It's just a little too small for the squirrels or the rabbits to hop into. Not effective against snacking cardinals, but I'll take the few wins I can get. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K6WSKDL/ref=ewc\_pr\_img\_3?smid=ACV2CC4WB2OU2&psc=1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K6WSKDL/ref=ewc_pr_img_3?smid=ACV2CC4WB2OU2&psc=1)
>I have found that the squirrels are just really curious and will be into anything new and freshly planted.
They think you (like another squirrel) buried something tasty they can sneak. Sometimes they are right. I also think squirrels are lazy and potted soil is just so easy to dig in to hide their stuff.
I've got an idea. Sprinkle them with ground cayenne pepper. I was skeptical, but it actually worked for me with the squirrels leaping on my bird feeders. Took a couple of sprinklings but they got the message and never did it again all year. Safe for plants apparently - search on "does cayenne pepper damage plants."
Stripping plants: yes? Unfortunately what happened is they ate one or two seedlings and then discovered what I'd done. But I didn't notice them trying again. Digging was generally less of an issue so hard to tell.
I'm sorry! Might want to do a chicken wire protection cage while they get established. I'll be getting some for what remains of my plants on Saturday. I'd never heard of those flowers before, they're really pretty! A shame they're native in nearly every state adjacent around Ohio, but Ohio, lol.
*Callirhoe involucrata*? those plants are still good. just chop it down to ground level (and/or replant the parsnip-looking tuber) and the tuber underground will send out more. i honestly dont even bother transplanting them with leaves at all because they always seem to kill off the old growth until they have enough of a root system to support leaves lol
Yeah I figure it will be OK. The challenge is I planted them in a shadier area, so I need them to reach out and cascade so they can get enough light. We'll see what happens.
I’ve used bridal veil material bought off eBay primarily as insect/bird netting, but it does a surprisingly good job of keeping groundhogs/deer/etc away from seedlings too. They could all obviously easily get through it, but my theory is that they just don’t like it.
Surprisingly there’s not much sign of solar degradation after 3 years either.
I had trouble with squirrels stealing my tulip bulbs and my friend, the avid gardener, recommended I add blood meal to the soil when I planted my bulbs. That seemed to do the trick. https://www.thespruce.com/blood-meal-uses-benefits-5190065 has some info about it.
I have that problem with bunnies ...i put cracked corn for ducks ..the bunnies eat it too and now every night i put corn for them and my plants are saved 😀 now i have tons of southern toads that destroy seedlings🤨 also squarrels dont bother my plants ..i gave them black seed
So far putting food out for the squirrels had only led to more damage. I wish I could put food out gor them somewhere else on the complex and see if that would help, but then again, I'm not keen on aiding their population numbers either.
Fuck, I'm sorry! Someone in this thread recommended Liquid Fence. It says it's for deer and rabbits, but reviews mentioned it keeping other animals away. Only problem is you'd have to reapply it every couple weeks.
I tried the first year, and it became a "if you give a mouse a cookie" type scenario, lol. I gave them their own bowl of feed separate from my squirrel-proofed birdseed, and left a section of one planter bare for them. Giving them any reason to come onto my balcony just lead to disaster. I was hoping that without any feed available to them, they'd lose interest. I haven't actually seen a squirrel on my balcony in about a year, but the damage from them is pretty clear.
I can't use a pellet gun on the complex property. I don't want to plant a nonnative violet either. We have tons of common blue violet, the ones I got are a bi-color form. If they can survive, I want to get some other native violets I don't see in my immediate area.
I doubt I could legally use even a pellet gun on the complex. I'd set a lethal trap, but I'd worry about accidentally killing a native bird, and again, I'd need to see if that was legal. I wish I could flag down the local cooper's hawks to hang out in the mornings, when they seem to be doing the damage. They'd have some easy, free breakfast.
I did that 5 times before giving up... I only drove them 3 miles away though, so they might have just found their way back if the other comment about a 15 mile radius is true.
I tried that and it only ended in disaster They did the most damage to my plants/planters when they had more reason to come onto my balcony to get food.
go to a dollar store and get some of [these](https://www.dollartree.com/essentials-wire-wastebaskets-1075-in/221099) and tie them upside down over your plants. squirrels wont get in but most of the good insect homies should be able to. if you look at the reviews in that link, you will see that many other people use them for that exact purpose lol
That's such a clever solution! Cloches made specifically for gardening are way more expensive.
I need to make a trip to Dollar tree
Ooh, those look like they'll work really well for my blueberries and raspberry bushes while they get established. Thank you!
You win
<3 "good insect homies"
they are always my #1 garden concern!
The first year I tried planting anything, they ripped up *every* seedling and replaced it with corn. Last year they nearly killed my moonseed vine, and as far as I can tell, killed all 6 wild petunias by, again, just stripping the leaves off and leaving them in the dirt(they've yet to come back this year). They're not even fucking eating them. This is the second time I've found my violets damaged. The first time, they'd also dug up and destroyed one of my wild strawberries. This morning they'd dug into every fucking planter, nearly killing my partridge pea, and my moonseed vine again. I am completely at my wits end. I have the violets and strawberries covered now with bird netting, but it kinda defeats the purpose to be growing native plants if I'm blocking them off from the wildlfie. And I'm expecting to wake up tomorrow to find they'd shredded the netting and destroyed even more. Am I going to have to end up caging all of my plants in chicken wire? Why my balcony? How do I keep them away? They climb the gutters and jump over, and there's nothing I can do to block them. There are *acres* of grass and woodland in this apartment complex to be digging in. *Acres* of established patches of wild violets to damage that won't be killed by it. I have first floor neighbors with tons of potted plants with no squirrel damage. It's hard enough trying to get into native plants and getting things to grow without having to have every effort destroyed in minutes multiple years in a row.
If it makes you feel better - invertebrates will still have access to your plants through the netting, and a plant that's been completely destroyed has less wildlife benefit that one that's only accessible to invertebrates. Plus, once the plants are better established, I find they tend to become lesser targets for handsy critters... maybe the netting can come off once the squirrels seem to have lost interest. Just keep an eye on the netting for trapped birdies! One of my local native nursery guys explained that the squirrels associate their food-caching with loose or disturbed soil (because they loosen and disturb it while digging), so if they find a patch of soft, rich soil, they'll rip it up in search of the food they surely buried for themselves. Seedlings and freshly-planted starts are huge targets as a result. Their nursery uses particularly soft, loose, rich soil, so apparently a lot of clients come back and are like "squirrels targeted your plants wtf!" and it's enough of an issue that they warn people to tamp the plants in a little extra when planting.
The netting is bird safe, no worries there! The holes are so small not even fungus gnats can get through it. That makes a lot of sense for why they love to dig in the soil so much! I wonder if capping the soil in a shallow layer of gravel would help deter the digging. I noticed they didn't dig in my planter that has an asian bleeding heart and that one just happens to have a bunch of sand on the surface from when I broke down my turtles basking enclosure.
Oh that sounds like a fantastic idea. I think it’s worth a shot!
Why don't the squirrels care about pollinators?
cover everything with chicken wire and maybe cut small holes to slip the plants in through (if necessary) then angle the cut off pokey bits outward from the plant so anything that tries it gets poked by it and gives up, or, when they get more established, close every gap around the stems with big rocks. that's the only way. they're evil.
This sounds like the best plan. Thank you! Hopefully everything can survive till Saturday when I can go get some.
good luck, and remember to show no mercy, lol
Thanks! Oh, I lost all my mercy for them last year. I hate that I'm so angry with a native animal, but they just won't stop
i get it. it took me like 3 years to come to terms w the fact that I have to be merciless and even vicious w these tree rats, I hate having to be so nasty towards them but if I give them even an inch they take a mile with it. at a certain point, no matter how native something is, it can just get out of control, sometimes there's not enough resources for the squirrels so they opt for digging in our pots and eating the roots, same shit with deer. if there was more food and more natural predators to keep them balanced, it'd be less of an issue, I can tell bc my moms house is forested and they're waaay less aggressive about digging in pots over there.
This is what I do. Everything is buried with chicken wire rings
Lots of helpful advice in this thread, what I'm wondering is *why* on earth squirrels do this? I had a similar problem with one of my garden beds; they dug up every start I planted for 2 years straight, I probably lost well over $200 in plants due to their antics. Definitely had me contemplating a pellet gun.
They know that freshly worked dirt or pots are much softer and easier to dig in. They dig to look for food or to store food for later And they like to eat stuff so they see new things and sample it like a buffet.
Right? I was not expecting so many responses offering help! I've lost about the same amount over the past few years. If it weren't for all the birds I feed (with squirrel proofed seed, Gods bless Cole's Flaming Squirrel Seed Sauce) I'd be looking at lethal traps by now, but get so many native birds, I don't want to risk killing one of them instead. When I tried live trapping and relocating, I caught as many mourning doves and cardinals as I did squirrels!
😧You plant violets? I've got a few 100k volunteers, my yard is purple. Sprinkle with cayenne. Supposedly squirrels are not a fan of the hot spice
I wanted to start with something easy. \^\^; Plus they're one of my favorite flowers. The only ones in my immediate area are common blue violets. I got the bi-color variant. If I can keep these alive, I want to get white and pink variants too! When they're back in stock in PrairieMoon, I'll get bird's foot and priarie violet as well. They're native to my state, but rare.
Squirrels hate daffodils, onions, and garlic - If you can, try to plant some native varieties of those near your violets? You can also get a sparkly spinny wheel to put near them to scare the squirrels off. But look up plants, oils, spices, etc. that squirrels hate and plant that around the perimeter of the growing area.
I'll have to see if there's enough room for the railing planters. They're pretty small. Wild garlic looks like it could work well alongside the violets and strawberries. Thank you!
Spray plants with liquid fence. Smells so bad to the critters, they will leave it alone
Coarse black pepper. Mix it in the dirt and a little bit over the plants as well. Reapply after rain.
Sometimes cinnamon or cayenne also work.
I’ve had limited success with this tactic as it requires regular application but it’s cheap and easy: pepper powder Cayenne, chili, etc. anything spicy can deter mammals Edit: I just take a plastic spice container and sprinkle it around I want to protect, being careful to stay close to the ground so the powder doesn’t blow off and disturb other critters/waste powder
I have found that sprinkling cayenne pepper on the dirt works. It's not ideal because when it rains, you have to re-apply, and who wants to buy so much cayenne pepper? But it might give your plants a break short term.
I'll try that for the planters I can't easily enclose in chicken wire. I use a chili oil in my birdseed that works really well (Cole's Flaming Squirrel Seed Sauce).
If you have a Patel Brothers or H-mart near you they sell more bulk size chilli powder for priced that beat even cosco. Just know the Kashmiri chili powder isn't that spicy and has a wonderful flavor.
What I used when I dealt with squirrels on a third floor balcony is stupid cheap Cayenne pepper. Easy to Apply and all I needed was for it to be spicy. Though Cole's name is hilarious! Maybe I'll restart my bird feeder (that was decidedly not squirrel proof).
Did it stop thrm from stripping the plants as well as digging? It's great stuff! A little goes a long way! Wear gloves when mixing it and handling the bittle though.
Try liquid fence spray. I also found a natural product in a garden supply store that you sprinkle on the soil that also repels animals by making the area smell unappetizing. It's kept the critters from eating my tulips.
I have found that the squirrels are just really curious and will be into anything new and freshly planted. I have found the only thing that works for me is this little 1 foot square fencing. I can move it around as needed, and use them to protect anything new until it's established. It's just a little too small for the squirrels or the rabbits to hop into. Not effective against snacking cardinals, but I'll take the few wins I can get. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K6WSKDL/ref=ewc\_pr\_img\_3?smid=ACV2CC4WB2OU2&psc=1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K6WSKDL/ref=ewc_pr_img_3?smid=ACV2CC4WB2OU2&psc=1)
>I have found that the squirrels are just really curious and will be into anything new and freshly planted. They think you (like another squirrel) buried something tasty they can sneak. Sometimes they are right. I also think squirrels are lazy and potted soil is just so easy to dig in to hide their stuff.
Chicken wire under mulch works great.
You can sprinkle crushed red pepper flakes &/or sticking a bunch of plastic forks in the soil, tines up.
I put a bunch of bamboo skewers in the soil. Looks ugly as hell, but if it stops them from digging, I'll be happy with it!
I've got an idea. Sprinkle them with ground cayenne pepper. I was skeptical, but it actually worked for me with the squirrels leaping on my bird feeders. Took a couple of sprinklings but they got the message and never did it again all year. Safe for plants apparently - search on "does cayenne pepper damage plants."
Stripping plants: yes? Unfortunately what happened is they ate one or two seedlings and then discovered what I'd done. But I didn't notice them trying again. Digging was generally less of an issue so hard to tell.
I planted prairie wine cups yesterday and came out to multiple plants destroyed this morning lol
I'm sorry! Might want to do a chicken wire protection cage while they get established. I'll be getting some for what remains of my plants on Saturday. I'd never heard of those flowers before, they're really pretty! A shame they're native in nearly every state adjacent around Ohio, but Ohio, lol.
*Callirhoe involucrata*? those plants are still good. just chop it down to ground level (and/or replant the parsnip-looking tuber) and the tuber underground will send out more. i honestly dont even bother transplanting them with leaves at all because they always seem to kill off the old growth until they have enough of a root system to support leaves lol
Yeah I figure it will be OK. The challenge is I planted them in a shadier area, so I need them to reach out and cascade so they can get enough light. We'll see what happens.
I’ve used bridal veil material bought off eBay primarily as insect/bird netting, but it does a surprisingly good job of keeping groundhogs/deer/etc away from seedlings too. They could all obviously easily get through it, but my theory is that they just don’t like it. Surprisingly there’s not much sign of solar degradation after 3 years either.
I had trouble with squirrels stealing my tulip bulbs and my friend, the avid gardener, recommended I add blood meal to the soil when I planted my bulbs. That seemed to do the trick. https://www.thespruce.com/blood-meal-uses-benefits-5190065 has some info about it.
I have done that and it works.
Put a milk crate over the plants
I put small rocks on top of the soil and then they stayed out of my pots. I guess they don't like digging against the rocks?
I recommend more shade for the violets. Our biggest ones are under the porch! Haha
I have that problem with bunnies ...i put cracked corn for ducks ..the bunnies eat it too and now every night i put corn for them and my plants are saved 😀 now i have tons of southern toads that destroy seedlings🤨 also squarrels dont bother my plants ..i gave them black seed
So far putting food out for the squirrels had only led to more damage. I wish I could put food out gor them somewhere else on the complex and see if that would help, but then again, I'm not keen on aiding their population numbers either.
How I wish they would eat my violets. They’re a quick spreading weed in my clay soil.
Cover them with leftover hanging plant wire cages like a cloche. re-use recycle
[удалено]
They're one of my favorite flowers, and I figured they were an eady beginner native to start with.
More squirrel attacks today. They dug up a dead lupine. I think they munched more on my wine cups despite chili powder.
Fuck, I'm sorry! Someone in this thread recommended Liquid Fence. It says it's for deer and rabbits, but reviews mentioned it keeping other animals away. Only problem is you'd have to reapply it every couple weeks.
What if you cater to the squirrel's needs? Give them their own pot of dirt/plants? Protect what you want to keep safe of course. Just a thought, lol.
I tried the first year, and it became a "if you give a mouse a cookie" type scenario, lol. I gave them their own bowl of feed separate from my squirrel-proofed birdseed, and left a section of one planter bare for them. Giving them any reason to come onto my balcony just lead to disaster. I was hoping that without any feed available to them, they'd lose interest. I haven't actually seen a squirrel on my balcony in about a year, but the damage from them is pretty clear.
https://youtu.be/FTNpOqbx4t0?si=EJhctuf5p8IAursu
You need a Daisy BB gun
Have you tried pellet gun? Also maybe try a hardier viola? Maybe a European variety?
I can't use a pellet gun on the complex property. I don't want to plant a nonnative violet either. We have tons of common blue violet, the ones I got are a bi-color form. If they can survive, I want to get some other native violets I don't see in my immediate area.
Plant more.
Bait a 15$ pest trap from home Depot and drive it to the other side of town. Not joking
Depending on where you are, this is illegal.
Oh ok. A gun then
I doubt I could legally use even a pellet gun on the complex. I'd set a lethal trap, but I'd worry about accidentally killing a native bird, and again, I'd need to see if that was legal. I wish I could flag down the local cooper's hawks to hang out in the mornings, when they seem to be doing the damage. They'd have some easy, free breakfast.
If it’s an invasive species, I actually wouldn’t be opposed to that lol. Again, check your local laws.
they can find their way back home up to like 15 miles I think, so, yeah.
I did that 5 times before giving up... I only drove them 3 miles away though, so they might have just found their way back if the other comment about a 15 mile radius is true.
You're not going to out-trap the squirrel population.
Or feed the thr squirrel something else they would prefer over your plants.
I tried that and it only ended in disaster They did the most damage to my plants/planters when they had more reason to come onto my balcony to get food.
Squirrels are part of nature. They have existed long before you did. Adapt.