North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Ernest Plutko" <ernestplutko@wiktel.com>]

Put the trap and captured squirrel in a bucket of water.  It will
promptly die.  Then fry the cut-up squirrel.

---- Original Message ----
From: sherwindu@att.net
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] [Bulk]  Protecting Apples
Date: Wed, 01 Jun 2011 17:37:37 -0500

>On 6/1/2011 5:12 PM, Spidra Webster wrote:
>> I didn't have too many apple pests to worry about in my garden in
>Berkeley
>> but it's a new ballgame here in South Pasadena. Yesterday I came
>back from a
>> short vacation to find that one Yellow Newtown Pippin apple had
>been knocked
>> off and another had been either pecked or bitten. Not sure whether
>it's
>> birds or squirrels. We have a number of corvids here (crows,
>ravens, scrub
>> jays) and they're pretty brazen. There are also feral parrots
>though they
>> seem to forage on camphor berries, and mockingbirds.  Then there
>are the
>> freegin' fargin' squirrels, who seem to commit random violence (I'm
>pretty
>> sure they're the ones who bit my sunflower stalk and tipped the
>sunflower
>> over but didn't touch the seeds) over and above what they do while
>actually
>> eating.
>>
>> What can I use to protect the developing fruit and give it a chance
>to grow?
>> I'd rather not resort to bird netting since my gardening ground
>here is
>> borrowed from my parents and my mom will likely object to netting
>those
>> trees. I was hoping there was a plastic cage or some kind of bag I
>could put
>> on the fruit to discourage pests.
>>
>>
>> Megan Lynch
>> http://www.meganlynch.net
>>
>     Megan,
>
>     My answer to the squirrel problem is Havaheart animal traps. 
>Over 
>the years, I have been
>     able to reduce the number of trapped squirrels from over 20 to 
>about 5 a year.  Peanut butter on a
>     piece of bread never fails.  Be sure to set the traps at the 
>trigger point, or they may not go off.
>     Also, be sure to close them at night or you may find some skunks
>or 
>other nocturnal animals
>     inside.  I got a permit to trap from my county forest preserve 
>office, but dumping them is not
>     permitted in most places.  I try and find a large wooded area,
>at 
>least 5 miles from my home.
>     You may not see the results immediately, but over a few years
>there 
>should be a big reduction.
>     Squirrels are territorial, and will move in to fill a gap, so
>you 
>have to do the maintenance thing
>     every year.  Also, bagging your fruit with plastic ziplocks will
>
>slow down some of these attacks.
>
>                                                     Sherwin Dubren
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