How to identify a squirrel in the gardenSeemingly cute and innocuous animals often turn out to be a real scourge. Why should you worry about squirrels?
With its passion for fresh vegetables, fruits and flowers, ordinary gray protein gives a lot of inconvenience to amateur gardeners. Throughout the US, these insidious creatures are pulling geraniums out of window boxes, cutting cherry tomatoes from their vines, and gnawing apple trees like real fruit pickers. Although they are active at any time of the year, autumn squirrel raids can drive you crazy.
During this period of time it is especially activated. Animals do not hibernate, so their underground storerooms are vital winter stores. The squirrels have a developed stockpiling instinct that helps them survive. Little rascals hide food, burying it everywhere in their territory.
Although several types of squirrels live in North America, it is the gray squirrel that brings gardeners( and people who breed birds) so much trouble. How do these resourceful pests find bulbs? Why do they terrorize some areas and do not touch others? What do they eat?
Read also: Mole Repeller, Made in China
Proteins usually collect nuts, acorns, pine cones, bark, fruits, berries, mushrooms and insects, but not bird eggs and bulbs. Sometimes they just spoil the flowers for fun. Follow these unexpected guests and try some of our tips to get rid of them.
How to identify a squirrel in the garden
Most often, it is the gray squirrel that mischief in your garden. It weighs about half a kilo, and wool color varies from gray to dark brown and black. The fur is light on the chest. The length of the body reaches 25 cm, the same is occupied by the bushy tail - the famous feature of the squirrel. The luxurious fur layer is used for warmth, communication and balance.
Proteins have a very keen sense of smell, which allows them to uncoverly dig out the bulbs. The nose of these experienced thieves is a very small, but extremely powerful tool for finding nuts and berries. Gardeners are not sure whether proteins dig up onions purposefully, but this problem is real and widespread.
As we already mentioned, if you find that spring bulbs are dug, you are dealing with squirrels or chipmunks. They love to do it during the autumn feeding, eating onions and using the holes to store their nuts.
Proteins also devastate bird feeders. If you notice that the food disappears too quickly, probably fluffy rodents have reached your site.
How to get rid of
protein Try to keep orange and lemon peel during the winter. Put them in the freezer, and in the spring dig in the ground in the right places. This will discourage the pest from digging.
Read also: Eight toxic plants that can not be used in poultry farming
You can scatter dog hair or human hair throughout the garden. One farmer shared his experience: “I used to have a problem with the proteins that my bulbs dug. Now, once in the spring and once in the fall, I ask my hairdresser to collect a large packet of hair for me, and then I mix my hair with the ground. Squirrels do not tolerate human smell and go to feed on other territories. ”
Blood meal scattered across the beds is also an effective way to fight. The same effect has the coffee grounds, discouraging the desire of pests to dig the earth.
Do not try to catch and take away the squirrel to release far away. This is obviously a losing method, because the population of fluffy nut eaters is extremely large. In addition, if the animal is a female, there is a chance that you remove it from the young, whose survival depends entirely on the mother.
Preventive measures
Do not draw attention to the recently buried bulbs, leaving peel residues on the surface. Tidy yourself up completely, and do not lay the bow on the ground while digging holes for planting. Squirrels smell their favorite smell from afar and immediately come to their senses.
Read also: Causes of unusual eggs in chickens
Want to keep pests away from bird feeders? Install them at a height of about 180 cm from the ground and at a distance of at least 3 meters from trees and buildings( squirrels can jump a distance, and sometimes further).
Bury several cloves of garlic near spring bulbs. You can also cultivate the land around the plantings with garlic powder or cayenne pepper when the plants enter the flowering phase. The smell should scare off the protein.
Loose earth causes the temptation to dig it, so properly tamp the soil after the completion of the work.
Wire Mesh is another effective method. Surround this defense by planting onions. Plants can easily grow through the wire, but proteins will not reach the bulbs. Also, consider planting crops that pests do not like: narcissus, muscari, allium, and snowdrops.
Squirrels adore tulips and crocuses, so these flowers are better not to plant, knowing that fluffy animals appeared in the garden.
Now you know that cute animals, which we love to feed from the hands in the park, can be a real scourge in the dachas. By following our advice, you can get rid of them, or coexist side by side and be calm for your landing.
Protein in the country - video
