Hi all, I have some very active squirrels in my backyard and they are bothering my tomato and pumpkin plants. I've heard that a hot pepper spray may help. Does anyone have a recipe for how to make this? Will the spray damage my plants? Also, if anyone has any other tips for keeping these annoying critters away, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!
I have previously referred people to the movie "Caddyshack" for gopher & squirrel control. Hot sauce? Squirrels probably love hot sauce. If your municipality frowns on discharging firearms & using explosives in in your backyard, you can buy a "live" trap for around $25-30. A tall garbage can costs about $15. A large bag of peanuts in the shell is about $4 (a large bag is a good idea, since then you can eat most of them & still have some left for bait). Water to fill the garbage can is inexpensive & can be used to water your garden after the squirrel has drowned. The squirrel carcass can be buried close to small fruit bushes, rhubarb or some other plant that needs a shot of nitrogen, which saves on fertilizer costs. The hot sauce? That's about $3-5 a bottle & best reserved for my eggs & soup. Note: If I sound a little bitter, it's because I spent several hours up a tall ladder this spring repairing damage to my eaves & siding where squirrels had tried to chew their way in to my house. The offenders were the invasive aggressive black squirrel, NOT our charming, inoffensive, smaller, native-to-BC Douglas Squirrel.
Thanks for the tips! I like the garbage can idea. Sorry to hear about the problems with those black squirrels!