Where I dwell in northern New England , the growing season is relatively short , generally starting around Memorial Day and terminate sometime in early October . Every day you have and every seed you plant is important , so when you chance your squash and pumpkin mounds shoot down up with the shell of the seminal fluid scattered around , it isnota welcome good deal . While later in the class my problems will be rabbits , woodchuck and the occasional deer , this former season wipeout is the piece of work ofsquirrels .
My friends ask me why I do n’t just shoot the pest . Of course , they necessitate the same question about the woodchucks . only put , I never shoot anything if there ’s another path to do it . While I do search and fish to help feed my family , I do n’t care to kill things needlessly . Another friend recommended using alive traps to entrance the squirrel and then move them . Yeah , right . There are just too many squirrel to move , so that idea is not practical . I tried many different things , and while each work for a few 24-hour interval , they quickly lost their effectiveness . go through that , I came up with a three - fork-like approach , commingle all of the things that I constitute to work on their own .
Step 1
Squirrels , like most animals , are creature of habit . With that in idea , I watched my garden at unlike times of the twenty-four hours and made notes on what I observed . What I mark was that the squirrel were raiding the garden very betimes in the forenoon , so I replanted my squash and pumpkins in the late morning . Then just as the sunlight was go bad down , I covered them with contraband garden cloth , jeopardize it down at both ends . In the morning I pull back the coating and repeated the process until the first immature plants start out to interrupt the surface . This cognitive operation will work until the squirrels figure out that they can jiggle their way under the fabric . When this befall it is fourth dimension to go to abuse two .
Step 2
While still using the smutty fabric , I localize an hooter decoy on the roof boundary of my shed . Like the textile , this process for a few days — the trick is to move the bird of Minerva decoy every so often . Squirrels are pretty smart animals , and it does n’t take them very long to figure out the hoax .
Step 3
By this point , hopefully Steps 1 and 2 have bought enough metre for the seeds to germinate , but if not , you could add an extra layer of auspices : marauder urine . I know it sound disgustful , but it works . I use fox urine , as foxes are plentiful in my surface area and eat squirrel . The pee come in many unlike forms and can be picked up wherever hunt / trapping supplies are sold . I useDeadRun by Conquest Scent Sticksbecause comes in a solid form that looks like a deodorant stick . It applies easily and does n’t make a mess .
Set four wooden stakes into the ground , one at each corner of the garden . ( If you have a large garden , expend more stakes . ) put on the fox urine to each stake every few days . While it does stink , especially if the malarkey burn out in the wrong counseling , you only have to put up with it for a short amount of meter . I highly recommend that you wear boxing glove while using this product to keep the odor from getting on your peel .
While none of these methods is foolproof , when used collectively , they should buy you the clock time you want for your come to germinate . Once the plant have break the airfoil , the squirrels will go forth them alone . In most lawsuit , the plants will not be bothered by four - legged pests until they start to produce yield .
Dana Benner
Dana Benner
Conquest Scent Sticks
