Vegetable Garden Pest Problems – Squirrels?

Up until this point I’ve been pretty lucky with the pest problems in either of my gardens. The fire escape garden has a built in defense from pests being on the fourth floor. My backyard vegetable garden doesn’t have that luxury.

Back in June there were some small signs of pest problems, but nothing horrible. The containers seemed to be a pest deterrent.

I’ve since expanded to more than containers though to cinder block gardening and during my final fall planting used traditional pots.

The pests seem to be much more willing to mess with the plants in these. One of the cinder block had nearly all of the plants pulled up out of the soil. Two of the pots had huge holes dug into them and the plants were scattered.

My guess is that it’s squirrels doing this because, well I always see squirrels scampering around in the backyard and almost saw one approach the pots.

Now the question becomes how do I deter them? Thoughts?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=291puzfePBE

12 Replies to “Vegetable Garden Pest Problems – Squirrels?”

  1. Try some cayenne pepper. You have to reapply after rain but it's cheap in the bulk section. That or chicken wire covers….ugh 🙁

  2. Try some cayenne pepper. You have to reapply after rain but it's cheap in the bulk section. That or chicken wire covers….ugh 🙁

  3. I’m not sure how to deter squirrels but I know that they love cinder blocks, all rodents do. Cinder blocks are the perfect size for them to crawl in and out of and nest in…so if all else fails you could always go back to pots that are less appealing to the little monsters.

  4. Good luck. I’ve tried all of the suggestions so far with limited luck. I bought a fake owl with a head that swivels and that worked until they figured out it was fake. I;m guessing that might be the same for pinwheels?  Tried hot peppers, and hot pepper spray…nope. Blood meal or something like that was supposed to work too, nope.

    I have heard that marigolds give off an odor that 
    squirrels don’t like, so I am going to try that this year. 
    Squirrels are super smart and it’s an ever changing battle.

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