Hot Pepper Wax?

goosetown

Mame
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Alright, so I'm officially at the end of my sanity rope with regards to the squirrels in my neighborhood. While I was away this weekend, one completely dug up a tiny tree of mine in order to bury an acorn. They also tend to really get at the roots of one of my bigger trees.

Bastards.

They tend to leave the soil alone as long as there's fert on top of it, but I'm obviously not going to overfertilize just to keep them off. I know Cayenne pepper has been recommended, but now that I'm watering twice a day in the summer heat, that's going to be a gigantic pain in the ass. I'll do it if I need to, but I'd rather avoid if there's a better option.

Thus, has anyone used this product?

http://www.bonsaioutlet.com/hot-pepper-wax-dg08-p545.aspx

Would like to hear your experiences if you ever tried. I know someone once recommended Deer Off, and if anyone's used that, I'd love to hear your experience with it as well. Thanks a ton.

EDIT: Fencing/burying in the ground is not an option as I live in an apartment. Trees arranged on a bench on my porch. Will take a picture if necessary.
 

daygan

Chumono
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Sorry I can't answer your question directly (regarding pepper wax), but it just occurred to me that squirrels might dislike the smell of citrus in the same way that cats do, so I did a search, and I came up with an e-how page: What is an Organic Squirrel repellent?

Looks like that page has some good solutions (peppers, lemons/lemon juice). As I understand it after reading the article, the pepper doesn't need to be directly on the bonsai soil in order for it to be effective, but simply around or in close proximity to your trees, so that after the squirrel eats the pepper, it associates the general area with being undesirable and proactively avoids it. This seems like a more cost effective method than washing away pepper powder every time you water your tree.
 
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Bird netting has been effective for me this year. Not the easiest stufff to work with but less visually invasive than chicken wire. We did put chicken wire in a bed under pine straw and that has helped too.
 

rockm

Spuds Moyogi
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Squirrels are not easily put off. They get used to spray-on stuff, pepper, deer repellant, etc. It will keep them away for about a week. It also washes off in the rain and with watering.

If you use that kind of thing, they will return. I've been battling the little bastards for years.

Physical barriers (if shooting them isn't an option) are best. Chicken wire or even wire with a finer mesh over the pots is a good idea, wire cages for the trees are too. A bright T-shirt placed over the pot can also bring some temporary relief from digging. The fabric feels weird to them and they will avoid it--for a while...

Also, they tend to be put off with soil that's heavy on the sharp inorganic content. Sharp edges on pumice and the like hurts their little paws.
 
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I have a large inflatable snake that i use to keep house sparrows from nesting in and around my deck and it is very effective, I've also noticed that the squirrels stay away too - they used to dig up our planters. I suppose that they may eventually catch on, but this has been my second squirrel-free season on my deck! Good luck,
 

edprocoat

Masterpiece
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My granny used to use rubber snakes believe it or else, then she bought a plastic owl with the glass reflective eyes and that worked even better as she had to have several snakes or the squirrels would go around them but only one owl perched above her garden worked, it had a sort of bobble head and the eyes would sparkle when the sun hit them.

ed
 

Roberts

Yamadori
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I used to shoot and kill them with a pump-up pellet gun. About ten pumps would do it. As a funny side note, my neighbors cat would haul them off when they hit the ground. She got where she would here me pumping the gun up and would come running and lay in the weeds waiting for them to drop.

I shot 30-40 of them over a couple years, but others would just come and fill the void. Then I started to just put just enough pumps (2-3) to sting them, not kill them. They started avoiding my bonsai area like the plague. In fact, when they wanted to get to the other side of my yard they would use the telephone poles and cross using the wires, would not step foot in the yard anymore.

Just my experience with them, your mileage may vary.

Robert
 

Smoke

Ignore-Amus
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I told all about this in the other thread. No one I suppose that had a problem has bought it. If you do....end of problem. The squirrels will not bother your trees again. Period. Buy it at Home Depot.

Buy the stuff!
 

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