Squirrels are territorial meaning that the one(s) nesting near your home will chase away the other marauders . About the only time you should see other than your own little group is during mating season and in extreme cold where the grays and blacks will huddle together for warmth. You may want to try one of those nectar feeders from the pet shop with some diluted maple syrup in it. Bob
I don't think this would be a good idea. Bloodmeal is rich in nitrogen, which would probably over-fertilize your JMs.
As I posted earlier, rocks have been very effective at keeping squirrels from digging in my containerized Japanese maples. However, I am wondering if the rocks compact the soil over time. My maples are not growing as much this spring as in previous years, and the only difference I can determine is that I've put rocks around all of my potted JMs during the past year. Now I'm wondering if the soil has become compacted, this slowing their growth. Or maybe it's just my imagination.
I would be concerned about the weight and also heat if they get much direct sun. I believe the containers may naturally heat more than trees in the ground anyway. The rocks might also affect how air meets soil. I have used a pepper spray and also a garlic based spray and so far no damage. I did see 4 squirrels in the Norway maples chomping on flowers/shoots. Maybe they will stay happy there.
I've been collecting rocks at the seashore and using them to hold down mulch and block squirrels for years. I haven't found any ill effects in fact it seems like the rocks encourage more biology in the soil, myco, bugs etc. I believe that the rocks keep the soil cooler rather than warm the soil. A day's sunshine will barely warm the underside of a rock resting on damp soil whereas mulch will get quite warm and wick away a bit of moisture. Dawgie, if you haven't potted up or repotted for a few years it would slow growth considerably. If you put some rocks on top of good potting media last year I bet you're imagining the slow growth.
Well, I repotted some of my maples today and determined why some of them are not growing much this spring. I've got a mite infestation on some of my maples. I had sprayed them with insecticidal soap in the early spring, but the soap appeared to be damaging new foliage, so I quit. Apparently the mites rebounded and were thriving, so I sprayed them again today with an insecticide. I'll probably need to keep spraying this time for several weeks as mites are hard to get rid of.
I woke up today to see those fuggers have been digging in them again! Feeding them doesen't work here as i have acorn tree,pear tree and peach trees which they harvest on every year. I'm thinking of my pellet gun now...I'm just so sick of them! They actually made their way into my atic clawing threw the vent window a few years back and had to set traps. I HATE THEM!
Bob, Those are red squirrels. We're fighting Eastern Grey Squirrels, which is a whole different animal...
I can or have trained just about anything. The commonality vs the two species is that they are territorial and once you have a Grey or Black dependent on you they will chase off other intruders. I would still use wire cloth over my bulbs and seedlings but you can give my advice a try without further jeopardizing your investment . What's a handful of nuts every morning compared to your investment in plants? Bob
What do you feed them and how much do they eat? I'm on the road a lot - is there a feeder you can set up that will hold them for a week straight?
Fresh non salted nuts - peanuts, cashews, sunflowers seeds, raisins, watermellon when it's hot. Dry chicken bones in winter. Always give them water. Lots of water. Pet stores have time release feeders. Remember we are trying to get a balance for you vs critters and your chosen plants. You will have to experiment a bit to get a combo that work for you but once you do you will have it for life. If your neighbours have a similar plight perhasp your can put your heads together and form plan for feeding. p.s. they are smarter than we give them credit for. ( the squirrels) <g> Good luck Bob
Kay or Bob, If you were my neighbor and your practice was to support the unchecked growth of the squirrel population in our neighborhood, I would not consider you a good neighbor. In fact we'd have issues. As far as (squirrel) territoriality it looks to me like squirrels will accept the tiniest plot of space and defend it to a degree. Population density is a factor of food and nesting sites. Squirrels live happily one tree away from each other if there is food to support them. Different conditions no doubt warrant different strategies but artificially supporting the population has an effect on the system. Bob i can tell you definitively that south Philly squirrels are in fact not very intelligent.
Geez Bob that's rather unkind. While you suggest that I "solve most of my problems" by killing, I will respond with 2 modest suggestions. 1- exercise a bit of critical self reflection before generalizing about someone on a public forum and 2- use spell check so that you don't appear both careless AND unhinged.
The blessing for me is that - being in the countryside - I have a healthy population of Red Tailed Hawks, Bobcats, Foxes and assorted Owls that seem to keep the critter population from getting completely out of control. But I WILL try Bob's suggestion during the critical times when they seem to eat all the emerging leaves in the spring. Probably start about a month before leaf-out and continue for a month after. Worth seeing what happens. The deer problem here is another matter entirely! The are NO predators to keep them in check, and so I invite a group of deer hunters to my annual 'Bambi-fest' event each fall and let them thin the ranks. They bagged four at Bambi-fest 2008, which was about 25% of the herd that haunts my woods. By the way - these are all people who feed their families with the venison - not "trophy hunters".
Raccoons, possums, and rats are smart too---as are cats, skunks, and dogs. Hope that these opportunistic feeders are not a problem to you, Bob, or to your neighbors. Likewise, I hope that you may avoid the diseases for which they are vectors or vector-hosts. Do the squirrels need you to feed them...or do you need to feed the squirrels?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1167089/Red-squirrels-die-years-says-Prince-Charles.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFQX04kERoI Someone must speak for the animals. It's a "system" you see. Bob
You cannot place in the same basket the European Red Squirrel and the North American pest. The main reason why the red squirrel is endangered in the UK is because of the introduction there of the North American grey squirrel. The very pro-animal-rights British public opinion is now getting ready for what prince Charles says it politely in your article: The European squirrel is not a pest, does not damage anything and the closest you could ever get to one is 50 meters. Gomero
I don't doubt your observations. I have no experience with the European red squirrels. I do have more than 50 years experience with Canadian wildlife having spent my formative years in the Northern parts of B.C. and the Yukon as well as several forays to Tuktiuktuk , Arctic Red and Aklavik. I had a small 13 mile trap line at Fort Nelson at the age of 12. We have had black bears, Raccoons, Arctic fox , wolves. coyotes etc all near neighbours and ofttimes childhood pets . Through this exposure I have sensed that man has encroached on their natural habitat to a great extent and now at this juncture declares them a nuisance to his tenure there. With nearly 40 million acres of the U.S. alone under domestic use and cultivation the habitat for the creatures has been devastated. Squirrels were dominant in spreading acorns from the mighty oak and nuts walnut trees etc. by virtue of their constant burying of seed. Not any more! Each time man intervenes with mother nature we seem to make it worse for some species. I have no answer to that but to encourage our own population control before this planet becomes uninhabitable. As this topic has suffered a lot of thread drift I will once again simply state my reason for responding in the first place: 1. Unless we are ready to exterminate another species on this planet we should perhaps look to a win/win solution. My experience tells me that with territorial animals that setting one animal up as a dominant generally keeps the other intruders at bay. 2. I merely suggested a couple of inexpensive tests that one could do to see if my method could help with their plants. Cheers Bob