Enough is enough

[Attila Soos]

Well, it's been over a month since I started this, and I have no rodent damage anymore. The traps are doing their jobs. Fortunately, most of the time they remain empty, as if the rats and squirrels realized that there is danger lurking in every corner, and stay away from the garden. Sometimes weeks go by before I have to empty any of the 15 traps.

As to protecting the soil surface from being digged by squirrels, the solution that I've found a few months ago, is working perfectly. I place a piece of shadecloth on the surface of the soil (with the hole in the middle, for the trunk of the tree), and nothing touched the soil ever since, the moss is perfectly intact. An added benefit is that the soil says moist in the hottest of days, due to the shade created by the shade cloth. Before, the hot sun would heat up the bonsai pot, but now the pots stay cool and shaded, while the plant above gets plenty of sun.

 

[JTGJr25]

Thats good to hear. I really like the shade cloth idea...I might have to give that a try.

Tom

 

[grasshopper]

kangaroos

I am not to sure about squirrels but in Australia I have kangeroos that happily graze on my Bonsai's. I have had to put up wire fence around my bonsai's and vegie garden. I don't have to mow the lawn because it is done for me, so there is a little give and take here. My 6 month old puppy also found its way into my bonsai's and tried a bit of trimming!!

I would strongly advise against a cat as they are the ultimate killer of birds, lizards and other small animals that you would like to see around. I am fortunate here in that I live in country Australia and we have some beautiful native wildlife here that has no chance of survival against the domestic kitty. No matter how cute they look and how many bells you put on their collar, they are very efficient killers. Even if you live in the middle of suburbia, there is always going to be some sort of wild life that needs to be protected. Caution with the cat option.

 

[Beng]

City squirrels are the worst. They are fearless, if you live in an urban area there is no way to stop them 100%. Fortunately my upstairs neighbors have 2 outdoor cats that like to climb down from their patio into my yard. My next door neighbor has two acrobatic cats that frequently jump the tall fence into my yard. Plus I have 2 cats inside my house. That keeps the little monsters moderately in check.

I've also learned that they despise the smell of Green Dream fertilizer. Tried other things like bone meal and blood meal with no luck. But once I put it out green dream they steer clear of my trees for around a month or more, maybe it has some kind of animal urine in it. If they really get pesky I wire chicken wire to all my pots but that is a pain in the butt. Hoping to not have to do that this year. They seemed content with only bothering one azalea in an anderson flat I left on the ground last year crossing my fingers their new children are also only mildly aggressive.

I was searching for mosquitoes and ended up here, they are the only pests worse then squirrels.