Last summer was our first significant crop on our new peach trees. We
found that squirrels like peaches enormously greener than humans do!
Does anybody have experience keeping squirrels out of small trees?

TIA, Dianna
_______________________________________________
To reply, please remove "fluff" from my address.

Dianna Visek wrote:

Last summer was our first significant crop on our new peach trees. We
found that squirrels like peaches enormously greener than humans do!
Does anybody have experience keeping squirrels out of small trees?

TIA, Dianna
_______________________________________________
To reply, please remove "fluff" from my address.

I think that trying to keep a squirrel out of a tree will be pretty
fruitless g.

--
Steve

Men are from Earth. Women are from Earth. Deal with it.

On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 20:02:03 GMT, Steve Calvin
wrote:

Dianna Visek wrote:

Last summer was our first significant crop on our new peach trees. We
found that squirrels like peaches enormously greener than humans do!
Does anybody have experience keeping squirrels out of small trees?

TIA, Dianna
_______________________________________________
To reply, please remove "fluff" from my address.

I think that trying to keep a squirrel out of a tree will be pretty
fruitless g.

Well, that's how it was last year. Dianna

_______________________________________________
To reply, please remove "fluff" from my address.

Dianna Visek wrote:

On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 20:02:03 GMT, Steve Calvin
wrote:


Dianna Visek wrote:


Last summer was our first significant crop on our new peach trees. We
found that squirrels like peaches enormously greener than humans do!
Does anybody have experience keeping squirrels out of small trees?

TIA, Dianna
_____________________________________________ __
To reply, please remove "fluff" from my address.

I think that trying to keep a squirrel out of a tree will be pretty
fruitless g.


Well, that's how it was last year. Dianna

_______________________________________________
To reply, please remove "fluff" from my address.

Seriously. I don't think that you're gonna have any luck diverting
them. They are very agile and persistant when there is something that
they want.

--
Steve

Men are from Earth. Women are from Earth. Deal with it.

Dianna Visek wrote:
Last summer was our first significant crop on our new peach trees. We
found that squirrels like peaches enormously greener than humans do!
Does anybody have experience keeping squirrels out of small trees?

TIA, Dianna

You could get even by painting the trunk and lower branches with tangle
trap. You would have some very messy squirrels! (probably not really a
good idea)

If the only way into the trees is up the trunk, there may be a chance.
If there are branches so low to the ground that squirrels can jump up to
them, your options are few.
Peaches are usually trained with a very short trunk before the branches
start. If, by chance, yours have a tall trunk, you might try stacking 2
liter soda bottles or pop bottles depending on where you live ;-)around
the trunk. Cut off the top and bottom, then slit the side. Slip them
around the trunk and stack as many as needed. They are very slippery
(remove the paper label) and hard to climb. (A single bottle half way up
my bird feeder pole was what finally worked for me.)
It depends on how smart and determined your squirrels are. I'm SURE some
have figured out how get around soda bottles.

OK, so the trunks are probably too short. I wonder what would happen if
you sprayed hot pepper wax on the green peaches they would get to first?
By harvest time it would be weakened and you will peel them anyway,
right? Just a thought.

Steve (the other one)

Dianna Visek wrote:
Last summer was our first significant crop on our new peach trees. We
found that squirrels like peaches enormously greener than humans do!
Does anybody have experience keeping squirrels out of small trees?

TIA, Dianna

You could get even by painting the trunk and lower branches with tangle
trap. You would have some very messy squirrels! (probably not really a
good idea)

If the only way into the trees is up the trunk, there may be a chance.
If there are branches so low to the ground that squirrels can jump up to
them, your options are few.
Peaches are usually trained with a very short trunk before the branches
start. If, by chance, yours have a tall trunk, you might try stacking 2
liter soda bottles or pop bottles depending on where you live ;-)around
the trunk. Cut off the top and bottom, then slit the side. Slip them
around the trunk and stack as many as needed. They are very slippery
(remove the paper label) and hard to climb. (A single bottle half way up
my bird feeder pole was what finally worked for me.)
It depends on how smart and determined your squirrels are. I'm SURE some
have figured out how get around soda bottles.

OK, so the trunks are probably too short. I wonder what would happen if
you sprayed hot pepper wax on the green peaches they would get to first?
By harvest time it would be weakened and you will peel them anyway,
right? Just a thought.

Steve (the other one)

Another alternative to the plastic bottles is an inverted cone of sheet
metal (tin or aluminum) installed as high up the trunk as possible. If
the diameter is big enough, the squirrels would have dificulties scaling
over it, and them they would probably slide down it's steep sides. Cut
out
a circular piece of metal, flare an inner circle the diameter of the
tree,
bend the inner flaps up, and hold in place with a large hose clamp. Of
course, the surest way to solve the squirrel problem is to trap them. I
usually remove 20-30 a year, and near the end of the trapping, the
frequency of seeing new squirrels goes down to almost nothing. Of
course,
new squirrels will move in the following season, but I find that the
total
number seems to be going down every year.

Sherwin Dubren

Steve wrote:

Dianna Visek wrote:
Last summer was our first significant crop on our new peach trees. We
found that squirrels like peaches enormously greener than humans do!
Does anybody have experience keeping squirrels out of small trees?

TIA, Dianna

You could get even by painting the trunk and lower branches with tangle
trap. You would have some very messy squirrels! (probably not really a
good idea)

If the only way into the trees is up the trunk, there may be a chance.
If there are branches so low to the ground that squirrels can jump up to
them, your options are few.
Peaches are usually trained with a very short trunk before the branches
start. If, by chance, yours have a tall trunk, you might try stacking 2
liter soda bottles or pop bottles depending on where you live ;-)around
the trunk. Cut off the top and bottom, then slit the side. Slip them
around the trunk and stack as many as needed. They are very slippery
(remove the paper label) and hard to climb. (A single bottle half way up
my bird feeder pole was what finally worked for me.)
It depends on how smart and determined your squirrels are. I'm SURE some
have figured out how get around soda bottles.

OK, so the trunks are probably too short. I wonder what would happen if
you sprayed hot pepper wax on the green peaches they would get to first?
By harvest time it would be weakened and you will peel them anyway,
right? Just a thought.

Steve (the other one)

I also trap and relocate them, this past year I relocated 22 squirrels, 21
possums and 19 coons. It is the first year I have gotten more than a handful
of pecans off my two trees. I still have plenty of coons and possums but
have not seen a squirrel in a couple months.

--
Sam
Along the Grand Strand of Myrtle Beach,SC
"Sherwin Dubren" wrote in message
...
Another alternative to the plastic bottles is an inverted cone of sheet
metal (tin or aluminum) installed as high up the trunk as possible. If
the diameter is big enough, the squirrels would have dificulties scaling
over it, and them they would probably slide down it's steep sides. Cut
out
a circular piece of metal, flare an inner circle the diameter of the
tree,
bend the inner flaps up, and hold in place with a large hose clamp. Of
course, the surest way to solve the squirrel problem is to trap them. I
usually remove 20-30 a year, and near the end of the trapping, the
frequency of seeing new squirrels goes down to almost nothing. Of
course,
new squirrels will move in the following season, but I find that the
total
number seems to be going down every year.

Sherwin Dubren

Sam wrote:
I also trap and relocate them, this past year I relocated 22 squirrels, 21
possums and 19 coons. It is the first year I have gotten more than a handful
of pecans off my two trees. I still have plenty of coons and possums but
have not seen a squirrel in a couple months.



Check your local laws prior do relocating. In New York, it's illegal
to trap, relocated, and release animals.

--
Steve

Men are from Earth. Women are from Earth. Deal with it.

Steve Calvin wrote:
Sam wrote:

I also trap and relocate them, this past year I relocated 22
squirrels, 21
possums and 19 coons. It is the first year I have gotten more than a
handful
of pecans off my two trees. I still have plenty of coons and possums but
have not seen a squirrel in a couple months.



Check your local laws prior do relocating. In New York, it's illegal to
trap, relocated, and release animals.




It is? I guess I'll have to be careful and not get caught! They sell
live traps in NY. I wonder what they think people are using them for?

So Sam, (or anyone else) what is the best way to get a squirrel into a
live trap? What bait is hard for them to resist? I haven't relocated any
squirrels yet but would like to, in spite of Steve's warning.
I'm way too far north for pecans but I do have some very hardy hazel
nuts that try to produce a good crop 2 or 3 times a decade. The
squirrels just about get them all.

Steve (the other one) in Northern NY

Steve wrote:



Steve Calvin wrote:

Sam wrote:

I also trap and relocate them, this past year I relocated 22
squirrels, 21
possums and 19 coons. It is the first year I have gotten more than a
handful
of pecans off my two trees. I still have plenty of coons and possums but
have not seen a squirrel in a couple months.



Check your local laws prior do relocating. In New York, it's illegal
to trap, relocated, and release animals.




It is? I guess I'll have to be careful and not get caught! They sell
live traps in NY. I wonder what they think people are using them for?


Yup. Pretty stupid isn't it. You can poison it and that's just fine.
Or you can use bear claw traps and kill it. It is legal to live trap
animals but then you're supposed to call a game specialist to release
it somewhere at a probable cost of $75 or so. Just another one of the
idiotic laws in New York.

--
Steve

Men are from Earth. Women are from Earth. Deal with it.

I also live in upstate New York, Albany to be precise. I bait my
havaheart traps with peanut butter on crackers. It is irresistable for
both squirrels and possums. Aware of the idiotic relocation rule, I
run a fleixible hose from my car exhaust into the trap which I have
placed in a large plastic bag. They are killed humanely in about 4 or
5 minutes.

On Thu, 01 Jan 2004 17:11:08 GMT, Steve Calvin
wrote:

Steve wrote:



Steve Calvin wrote:

Sam wrote:

I also trap and relocate them, this past year I relocated 22
squirrels, 21
possums and 19 coons. It is the first year I have gotten more than a
handful
of pecans off my two trees. I still have plenty of coons and possums but
have not seen a squirrel in a couple months.



Check your local laws prior do relocating. In New York, it's illegal
to trap, relocated, and release animals.




It is? I guess I'll have to be careful and not get caught! They sell
live traps in NY. I wonder what they think people are using them for?


Yup. Pretty stupid isn't it. You can poison it and that's just fine.
Or you can use bear claw traps and kill it. It is legal to live trap
animals but then you're supposed to call a game specialist to release
it somewhere at a probable cost of $75 or so. Just another one of the
idiotic laws in New York.

Richard Goldstein wrote:

I also live in upstate New York, Albany to be precise. I bait my
havaheart traps with peanut butter on crackers. It is irresistable for
both squirrels and possums. Aware of the idiotic relocation rule, I
run a fleixible hose from my car exhaust into the trap which I have
placed in a large plastic bag. They are killed humanely in about 4 or
5 minutes.



Poughkeepsie here. It's it so stupid what the state says is legal and
what isn't. I gave up trying to figure out idiots here after the last
senate election.


--
Steve

Men are from Earth. Women are from Earth. Deal with it.

Richard Goldstein wrote:

I also live in upstate New York, Albany to be precise. I bait my
havaheart traps with peanut butter on crackers. It is irresistable for
both squirrels and possums.

Just as information- there is a season for both opossum and squirrels
[grays anyway] in NY. You also need a license to trap furbearers
[opossum] even on your own property. [if your primary occupation is
farming you and your immediate family can trap some furbearers on your
property]

Aware of the idiotic relocation rule,
-snip-

It is hardly idiotic. Why should someone else 'benefit' from your
nuisance animals? If they are harming your property or endangering
your family then encon will dispose of them.

Jim

Steve wrote:

-snip-
It is? I guess I'll have to be careful and not get caught! They sell
live traps in NY. I wonder what they think people are using them for?
-snip-

Selective trapping. Live traps make releasing a skunk or possum [or
cat, or dog] from a raccoon set much easier. It's been many years
since I trapped, but I've also let small coons go rather than bother
to skin them.

Jim