Squirrels targetting ONE of my jades only

[LemonBonsai]

I dont know what it is about this jade but the squirrels wont leave it alone, i literallt put it at the end of my bench and the squirrels walked along the entire bench to get to it.

What can I do other then killing these things

 

[ShadyStump]

It may be that one squirrel found, and the others are just following its lead. Squirrels often steal each other's stashes, so when one makes a move, others can follow, even if it was a dumb move.

I've heard of people using cayenne pepper or something else really spicy to make targeted plants unpalatable. I've never tried it myself, though. Sprinkling some powder around it and in the pot is what's mostly talked about, but I imagine mixing it with water and misting the whole tree would work better. Maybe try thinning some ghost pepper hot sauce with water and spraying with that?

Again never tried it myself, but theoretically doing something like this for a week or so until the habit is broken should work.

 

[LemonBonsai]

It may be that one squirrel found, and the others are just following its lead. Squirrels often steal each other's stashes, so when one makes a move, others can follow, even if it was a dumb move.

I've heard of people using cayenne pepper or something else really spicy to make targeted plants unpalatable. I've never tried it myself, though. Sprinkling some powder around it and in the pot is what's mostly talked about, but I imagine mixing it with water and misting the whole tree would work better. Maybe try thinning some ghost pepper hot sauce with water and spraying with that?

Again never tried it myself, but theoretically doing something like this for a week or so until the habit is broken should work.

Ok i will try both those tactics. I positioned the tree in a way that the front of it is hanging off the end of the bench so the squirrels have been chewing the back, but its annoying because jades dont heal over

 

[Backwardsvg]

I have heard caging the tree, cayenne, moth balls if you don’t mind chemicals, Traps and relocation, I sometimes do chicken wire at the base, skewers sticking out of the soil

 

[LemonBonsai]

I have heard caging the tree, cayenne, moth balls if you don’t mind chemicals, Traps and relocation, I sometimes do chicken wire at the base, skewers sticking out of the soil

I might just try every tactic in the book and hope one works lol

 

[19Mateo83]

I use a small animal trap and peanuts as bait near the problem area. Once trapped relocate the nuisance animal more than 2 miles away and they won’t come back. This little guy is about to get deported. He was pulling up chestnut seedlings and eating the roots. This tactic works like a charm. I’ve deported over 25 squirrels this year alone.

 

[Lorax7]

I wrap the trunks of some trees with copper mesh in order to protect against rodents chewing them.

 

[Mike Corazzi]

I wrap the trunks of some trees with copper mesh in order to protect against rodents chewing them.

Where do they sell corkbark copper mesh?

 

[crab apple]

Get a dog, most dogs will keep squirrels out of the yard.

 

[LemonBonsai]

Get a dog, most dogs will keep squirrels out of the yard.

It would be nice if I could afford one, and also have a yard for it lol. Im on a balcony

 

[Lorax7]

Where do they sell corkbark copper mesh?

I got my copper mesh on Amazon.

 

[NMbonsai]

Spray the area around the tree with wolf urine. It is available online. My girl friend had a squirrel eating her tomatoes. She used the wolf urine and he hasn't come back. Or, since it is a tropical, you could always move it indoors for a while and see if he forgets about it and moves on.

 

[nuttiest]

They are after the fungus that was growing in the bark. They cleaned it up pretty well, not much left to do but that will be a long heal.
You can repel squirrels with bittrex, aka denatonium bitartate. There is enough in ethyl alcohol products sold at drugstores to do a 2-coat with a brush. Sold elsewhere as powder and you can brush on very dilute mix.

 

[Carol 83]

I had one the squirrel's wouldn't leave alone, they eventually killed it.

 

[LemonBonsai]

Havent had anything touch this tree in 2 weeks. These are my new defences:

Copper mesh wraping the main trunk


Cut up pieces of hard wire fence to make the soil nice and spikey

 

[ShadyStump]

Haven't had too much trouble with squirrels until recently. They seem to like my new bench near the shed. Hopefully they're just curious about the new addition, but I may have to get going on my own fortifications.

 

[LemonBonsai]

I also need advice for design on this guy. Here is how it looks today.


I plan to repot it at an angle next time as shown above. My question pertains to that ugly scar on the top right of the trunk line. In my mind I have 2 options.

1: i can chop the trunk back to before the scar.


Or I can hope and develop a branch here to cover it up in the future.


And I guess a third option would be to carve it so its a bit smoother and flowing better then wait until it gets that barky texture again.

 

[Carol 83]

I also need advice for design on this guy. Here is how it looks today.
View attachment 448631

I plan to repot it at an angle next time as shown above. My question pertains to that ugly scar on the top right of the trunk line. In my mind I have 2 options.

1: i can chop the trunk back to before the scar.
View attachment 448633

Or I can hope and develop a branch here to cover it up in the future.
View attachment 448634

And I guess a third option would be to carve it so its a bit smoother and flowing better then wait until it gets that barky texture again.

Number 1, chop before the scar. Really nice trunk on that one. Squirrels have been targeting my P. afras all summer.

 

[nuttiest]

Nice wire!

 

[nuttiest]

I think you might get a sprout where you are wanting if you cut back to 1st branch instead of 1, that's only a little further and you will have the branch to help heal.
This was heavily pruned recently?