How I Solved My Squirrel Problem
 

This is my first year gardening in San Antonio, before that, in El Paso, never had any squirrels taking my fruit. This year, I have seen squirrels in my raised beds several times. They started taking a couple red fruits a day, then started even taking green fruit. I could count the fruit because they would leave the fruit, half-eaten, around the raised beds. I would lose at least two fruit a day, and that went on for probably 2-3 weeks. I tried the commercial critter ridder, but that didn't work.

I got some habanero peppers, made a spray, and sprayed that everywhere-on the plants, ground, fruit, etc. That didn't work at all, I was still losing the same amount of fruit.

So I cut some habanero fruit into two pieces, and left the pieces on the raised beds where I had seen the squirrel. I could tell they tried the habanero, because I see torn pieces scattered. Since then, I have not lost one fruit. They are obviously attracted to the orange habanero fruit. I make sure there are pieces of the habanero on the raised beds, and every 2-3 days, I can tell they have tried them.

I am hopeful that this will "train" these squirrels to leave my beds alone.

During our mangoe and lychee season we use in con★★★★★★★★ with blank cds strung from trees I grind some superhots in a small Krups grinder and sprinkle along the fence line where the bushy tailed rats come raiding.I believe it gets on the paws and when they lick the paws it sends them scurrying.Here is a related article I saved from years ago that gave me the notion.

[url]http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/09/060918-elephants-chili.html[/url]

Kurt-Thanks for the link. Good idea about grinding the chile up and spreading it.

this has been the worst squirrel problem year for me. For sure the pepper spray hasn't worked. They are eating everything. Hopefully this will deter them.

I think the things know I will eat them so they leave me alone.:lol:
There are dozens of them around my house but they dont bother me.

Worth

Michael, what's your next move if you find out they have developed a taste for the Habs?? :))

What part of San Antonio do you call home? I used to live out west (outside the I410 loop) and just north of highway 90. I don't recall seeing many squirrels around there, but there were a bunch of them over toward Randolph AFB and Fort Sam Houston.

I wish the squirrels that torment me were bothered by heat. They were eating big chunks out of my rocoto peppers. I guess since they are red and shaped like an apple they were convinced they must be as good as the apples they steal from the tree.

Do you guys keep water out for them?

Where I live if you have an underground sprinkler system and no place to get water they will eat your sprinkler heads to get water.
I have the water and the neighbor lady has a deer feeder in the back yard for them.
This seems to keep them happy.
To get from the food to my bird baths they have to walk right by the tomato plants and they dont even bother with them.
Squirrels are smart and they learn from each other.
I can see if where one started eating tomatoes the whole population would start.
Maybe a tomato sitting on a squirrel catapult would train them to stop.:lol:

Worth

Container-If they get so they like habanero, I will have to go to plan b.

Worth-I don't leave water out for them.

Heaven forbid they ever start eating my tomatoes.
My neighbor ladies (pet) squirrels will be eaten.
Her back yard has turned into a rodent sanctuary, rats and mice too.

Worth

I caught one a couple of days ago in my live trap. Used a tied down apple smeared with peanut butter. Went out to reset and the trip lever is out of position. Not sure how I messed it up removing the beast.

Squirrels around here have about a 3 year population cycle. Come October 17th that cycle will begin to reset again. It takes about 3 years before a sufficient population comes back to annoy me again. Me and my trusty .17 HMR. I have a good friend that also makes some of the tastiest squirrel dishes around, so it all works out.
Instead of giving away my food resources to discourage them, they supplement my food resources.

You need to provide water and have a quiet stealthy means of elimination. Or just provide some water. Tomatoes are not on their bucket list.

Hot Peppers didn't work. The tiptoed over the nice hot peppers and went straight to the maters. I am at plan F. Lol. I put dog food in the trees. The bird bath is always kept full. No mater taken last night but then they have devoured everything over 1/2 inch. And all the sweet peppers. I have very smart squirrels in my yard, but they did eat the dog food.

There's an old saying about not feeding your dogs chicken bones because it will make them kill your chickens. I've heard that saying for 50 years now. It makes me wonder if squirrels are like people and bad habits? Once they try eating something that they had no previous interest in - they find they like it, and the little gets more and more.

I googled, "Why do squirrels eat tomatoes?" First result [URL]http://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/stories/7-ways-to-keep-squirrels-from-eating-your-tomatoes[/URL] Prevention methods 2 and 3 = Okay, I guess that explains why the squirrels leave our tomatoes alone. We have 3.5 cats (One male is here a week and then gone for a week) and my brother's Boarder Collie is always out by the gardens.

Now, I have to tell my brother that his dog is actually useful :lol::twisted:

I also wonder if a fence actually attracts squirrels? A few weeks ago, money was tight and the cats were out of food, so my wife picked up a small bag of off-brand cat food that as it turns out the cats wouldn't eat a bite of. Not even the feral cats would eat it. So I closed the bag and sat it on the kitchen floor to go out to the compost pile. We bought their favorite food and the cats were happy. The funny part is that they ate a hole in the bag of off-brand food and are eating it. Makes me think they want it because it was fun trying to get to it - or it's good to be bad - lol. Same with a fence and the squirrels - HA, I stole your tomato :P