# Any ideas how to keep squirrels out?



## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Every year I have this beautiful pear tree that is loaded with pears and the squirrels usually take every single one of them. I am so tired of fighting these squirrels. Do you have any idea how I can keep the squirrels out of this tree? I thought about bird netting but DH says the squirrels will just chew right through it. I've tried shooting them and have killed many of them, but I can't just sit out there and guard that tree all day long.


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## Texasgirl (Feb 28, 2013)

Are they climbing up the tree or jumping onto the tree from some other source such as a power line? If they are climbing up the tree, wrap the trunk with sheet metal or flashing material. The squirrels cannot get their claws into the sheet metal and therefore can not climb the tree. But if they are just jumping onto the tree from another tree, then sheet metal won't work.


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

What about some kind of cayenne spray? Do you have dogs? We never see squirrels because of ours.

Another thought is those scary eye balloons. They will get desensitized to them but you can buy sets of three that look different and also don't put them up until just before they would normally eat them and take them down after harvest.


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

Dad always offers them some other treat. He gets squirrel feeders and places them away from the trees in question, he keeps them full especially right before ripening. 

We have our LGD, Meira that will get them immediately. SO I have never had to worry about Squirrels. Now if she could learn to fly to get those pesky birds....
Tam


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

They go up the pecan tree, jump over into the top of the fig tree and then jump over into the pear tree. The tree is inside my fenced in yard where the dogs are but since the squirrels never have to touch the ground it doesn't really help. Maybe some sort of scarecrow and those balloons sound like an option.


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## Qz Sioux (Feb 21, 2009)

what about one of those motion sensing water sprinklers? They might not like a spray of water in their face.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Never seen one. I'll try to google it.


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

I have one of those motion sensor water sprinklers and it works great.. but more at ground level. Perhaps you could get an extension to place it up higher.. but I think it would go off every time the wind blew the tree leaves. It does have an adjustment for sensitivity and perhaps a level could be found that did not cause excessive spraying but still worked when a squirrel was in the tree.;


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## Texasgirl (Feb 28, 2013)

Squirrels are very inventive. Since they are jumping onto the pear tree I dought you will prevent them from having a feast.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Maybe I could wrap the tree in baby chicken wire. What do you think?


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

They have tree netting you can buy.


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002ITKVE6/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1363813083&sr=8-3&pi=SL75


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Ok never mind, apparently the little jerk squirrels will chew through it.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Lol:d


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## Texasgirl (Feb 28, 2013)

Just passing this fb post to you: "According to the 2013 Old Farmer's Almanac All-Seasons Garden Guide, you can deter deer, squirrels, and woodchucks by scattering dog or human hair (go to you barber or hairdresser to get some) around the perimeter of your garden.

Have you picked up your copy of the Garden Guide yet? http://www.almanac.com/product/almanac-all-seasons-garden-guide-2013-annual-edition"


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## Junkscouts (Jul 18, 2010)

We only have ground squirrels here and the squirrelinator traps work great (http://squirrelinator.com/). I'm not sure if they work for regular squirrels, but you could ask them.

Last year I started shooting squirrels 3 months before our apricots ripened and then put out the traps a couple weeks before they ripened and we got our first apricot crop in 6 years.

One thing you can do is bag the fruit. It's a little labor intensive, but you can save some of the fruit that way. 
 
Also pears ripen off the tree so try picking some before the squirrels eat them, or do they eat them way before they are mature?


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## informative (Aug 24, 2012)

haha pecan fig pear and plum same trees we have in the yard in the subdivision home in town. plum is dying from some beetles or something though soon to just be pear pecan and fig.

There was supposed to be some sonic rodent and insect repel device that chases them with high pitched sounds, could be worth a try. Have you tried the owl scarecrows good ones have movement and sound and should be scary to any small rodent. Some use jalapeno spray to keep pesky things off. Dirty laundry that smells like human could be put on a scarecrow - maybe put one of those motion detector Halloween doorstep scare things - when they see motion they make some scary noises.


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## tlcnubians (Jan 21, 2011)

If they're climbing up the pecan tree, maybe putting a metal climbing guard around the trunk of that tree might stop them. Also, like Tammy says, offer them something else to eat away from the pear tree.


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

Wrap all the trunks so they have no way up!


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## jdavenport (Jul 19, 2012)

This works on larger animals, maybe if you turned the sensitivity up it would pick up squirrels?
http://www.contech-inc.com/products...s/scarecrow-motion-activated-animal-deterrent


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