Your days are numbered, squirrel.

I love most creatures but, these guys are aggressive and just plain a nuisance at the cabin. They are digging up our geraniums and burying their nuts in the soft, fresh soil. We've lost 3 of the 20 already! Yesterday, as I raked the path, I saw two large squirrels in a tree. I stopped raking and started talking to them (I know, crazy). "Are you guys doing this?"  They started chattering. It was almost as if they were mocking me. "When you leave Kim, we're heading back up there to dig up your plants." This experience has taught me to empathize with my Mom and her squirrel battles. So frustrating!

Hmm...a few interesting ideas here. 

QUESTION: How can I keep squirrels from digging in my outdoor potted plants?

 

ANSWER: Commercial repellants (sprays, etc.) are usually only marginally effective for controlling squirrels. Your best line of defense is to physically separate them from wherever you don't want them to be. Here are some things to try:

• You might try fitting screen or wire mesh around your potted plants, or covering the dirt around plants with sticky tape or stones. Squirrels seem most attracted to digging in loose, newly turned dirt so follow up with a top layer of mulch.

• Lure them away from potted plants and bulbs by feeding them corn or sunflower seeds in a feeder located in another part of the yard. This can ultimately result in an increase in the population of squirrels in your yard, but the distraction of the constant food supply is also a good distraction.

• Try laying human, dog or cat hair around the base of your potted plants. Blood meal may also work in some cases. To be effective, these will need to be reapplied weekly and after it rains.

• Spray a foul-tasting product, like cayenne pepper spray on and around your plants as they are growing and after each rain.

• Plant bulbs that squirrels don't like to eat, like narcissus, alliums (ornamental onions) and hyacinths.

• If all else fails you can live-trap them and relocate them. You'll need permission from authorities to do this, however, and it will not reduce the density of squirrels in your area over time. As old squirrels are transported out, new squirrels simply move into the newly emptied habitat.

Since the squirrel population is likely to outlive your potted plants, your best bet is to deploy a number of these methods, alone or in combination with one another until you find something that works. Plan on having a few victories and probably a few defeats.

Squirrel-4, Kim-0