~The squirrel dug up my bulbs, nearly 200 of them....~

[PrincessCandaceMarie]

Okay, after doing some research in the rock garden, and watching the nasty *** squirrel running across the lawn (before the snow hit) I realized he or she had dug up nearly all of the bulbs I planted last season! Is there anything I can use, do, spray, anything to make this squirrel leave my bulbs alone? I can't believe after the time, money, sweat and long hours of working on the garden, it's a total mess!

 

[bananiem]

Oh no! I'm so sorry! At our old house I had trouble with deer, bunnies and cats and I found sparying them (the plants, not the animals! with watered down tabasco or sprinkling the ground with chili pepper kept them away. Maybe it would work for the squirrel too.

 

[Snowwark]

Oh no!!! I'm sorry, and after all your hard work.

Those scoundrels can be very persistant!

In the past we've had to use chicken wire placed over where the bulbs were planted, to keep them out. You can cover it with some soil so it's not too visible, and anchor the edges so the squirrels can't move it.


Kim

 

[PrincessCandaceMarie]

Thank you, I'll try the tabasco and chili pepper! That's great! Thank you so much!

Oh no! I'm so sorry! At our old house I had trouble with deer, bunnies and cats and I found sparying them (the plants, not the animals! with watered down tabasco or sprinkling the ground with chili pepper kept them away. Maybe it would work for the squirrel too.

 

[PrincessCandaceMarie]

Thank you Kim, it really was awful! And I'll try the chicken wire too, and *Goofy* question coming here, when they start to come up, how far along should I wait to remove the chicken wire???

Oh no!!! I'm sorry, and after all your hard work.

Those scoundrels can be very persistant!

In the past we've had to use chicken wire placed over where the bulbs were planted, to keep them out. You can cover it with some soil so it's not too visible, and anchor the edges so the squirrels can't move it.


Kim

 

[Snowwark]

We used 1" chicken wire, and the foliage grew up through it just fine. Because we'd covered the wire with some soil so you couldn't see it, we left it until the flowers were finished. You could remove it (carefully), after several inches of growth, and hopefully they won't bother with the flowers then.

I had problems with squirrels digging up some of my containers one year, and thanks to a suggestion on this forum, I put decorative stones around the plants in my pots. It worked very well!

BTW, I'm not sure that I mentioned this, but Welcome to the F & G board, Candace Marie!

 

[PrincessCandaceMarie]

We used 1" chicken wire, and the foliage grew up through it just fine. Because we'd covered the wire with some soil so you couldn't see it, we left it until the flowers were finished. You could remove it (carefully), after several inches of growth, and hopefully they won't bother with the flowers then.

I had problems with squirrels digging up some of my containers one year, and thanks to a suggestion on this forum, I put decorative stones around the plants in my pots. It worked very well!

BTW, I'm not sure that I mentioned this, but Welcome to the F & G board, Candace Marie!

Thank you so much for your help and kindness and the truly warm welcome! I've been 'recruited' to do the gardening for my Nana and it's been very interesting to say the least...lol...and I'll also keep in mind the squirrels and the containers too, Nana has a lot of those too, and I didn't even think to check in there! Guess what I'll do as soon as I get home?! The stones are a great idea too, and I'll be doing a trip to Home Depot for some (and of course more lime green MM icons too...). Thank you again for everything, you're so kind to me!