From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Squirrel control with Peanut Butter
Date: Wed, 20 May 2009 17:28:48 -0500
The soft-hearted bunny-hugger types typically rail against the thought of
these vermin 'suffering',
Yeah, I'm too tender-hearted to poison the little tree rats. And I guess
they've got as much right to live here as I do,... though I don't want
them eating my fruit. I'm not THAT tender-hearted. Heh, heh. And it's in
town, so I'm limited in what I can do. I figure it's just a matter of
learning to live with wildlife. And why not?
But my low-powered electric fence does discourage them. So far, it
hasn't completely eliminated the problem, but I think it's going to work
well enough. Last year, it kept them COMPLETELY out of my strawberry
patch. Maybe rubbing strawberry juice on the electric wires helped. It
didn't do so well with the peaches, though (even though I rubbed peach
juice on the wires).
But that was my first year with this, and the squirrels had been used to
entering my backyard. I kept the electric fence on all winter, and I
think they've learned to avoid the area. Still, peaches are a powerful
draw, and I still need to make a few adjustments. I really should get a
zapper that's not intermittent, too.
I'll let everyone know how it works for me this year.
Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)
--
A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need
for illusion is deep. - Saul Bellow