Cookaholics Bulletin Board

We have GREAT success lighly spreading bone/blood meal over the soil of our freshly planted bulbs. it is also a mild fertilizer. However, obviously it dissolves in the rain. It does stink slightly but where they (Chip & Dale et. al.) used to basically follow behind our bulb planting nary a track can be seen. We've used it for 3 years. I also spread it around our basil plants to great results. $7 for 3 pound box.

If they weren't so damn cute.....

Fuzzy, make chicken wire cones to put around/over your potted plants. I've also heard of putting chicken wire under your mulch. I can't vouch for it but some folks say it works. I do know the cones work.
fitzie

Wino....thanks for the tip. I usually put some bone meal in the hole I have dug for bulbs, but never used it on the soil. I cannot wait to try it on basil next spring. And, squirrels have lost all of their "cuteness" for me...we are at war!
Ilene

Well, the reason why we didn't have issues before is that some of our neighbors had very large black cats ( as in 13-15lbs) who were serious hunters. Even if they didn't kill a lot of squirrels, their presence kept the squirrels up in the treetops and not digging much. The mice didn't live long either.

Current neighborhood cats are only a couple fat and lazy tabbies, who probably wouldn't bite down if a mouse walked across their tongues. Neighbor across the way has a pair of bloodhouds, so the squirrels avoid that yard, but that doesn't do me any good.

I'll try the bone meal; plants could use some fertilizer anyway.

We have a problem with the little red squirell most falls. They manage to get into the house on occation. About 3 years ago one of the little buggers brought an apple in with him. We had fruit flies all winter and could not get to the source. I had little glasses of apple cider vinegar on every window sill. Just try and have a cocktail, we had to cover out glasses. What a PITA that was. My husband now shoots them. If he see's even one now, it's done. Our fire marshal told us one of the biggest fire hassard is the red squirrel. They will find a way in and chew on the wiring. He sugested shooting. My husband is a good shot and the neighbors are used to seeing him with his gun out by the road under our 3 big white pines. LOL

We rarely have a problem with the regular black or brown squirrels.

Laurie

It's working!

I just got a catalog in the mail featuring a squirrel feeder. It said it would entice the enchanting creatures into your yard so you could have hours of fun watching them. I guess the enchantment value decreases as the population increases.

Carry on brave warriors.

Mary

Anyone have a recipe for crow pie, crow au vin? Wayyy too many annoying big black birds stomping on our roof and fighting the many squirrels for acorns from our oak trees. They laugh ( and peck) at the fake owl we put up on our roof.

Sprinkle some cayenne pepper around your porch box, maybe? Or 4 tablespoons in a quart of vinegar and spray. Those are a couple of solutions I've heard about. I liked the squirrels, but we didn't have a ton of them and they were not digging up plants at my place.

Every year about this time crows pick a particular spot in Kansas City and mass there every night. Thousands of them. You can see them flying to that spot in the late afternoon/early evening from almost any spot in town. You don't dare park your car anywhere near there. Lawns and sidewalks have to be hosed off every day. It's the biggest mess you've ever seen. People set off bottle rockets, fire crackrs, etc. but to no avail

fitzie