From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] squirrels in apples
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:23:40 -0500
Does anybody have any advice about how to keep squirrels out of apple
trees?
I've had great luck with a low-powered electric wire (like a cattle
fence, but for pets or other short-haired animals). Last year, I put one
on the chainlink fence around my backyard, and at first I didn't think
it did anything at all. The squirrels climbed up the fence without even
noticing it. But they must have been zapped occasionally, because after
awhile, they developed a strong aversion to climbing the fence. And this
year, despite apples, peaches, plums, strawberries, and sweet corn in
the backyard, I didn't have a single squirrel in there. (They do try to
dig under the fence sometimes, but that's easy enough to prevent.)
I've got a few fruit trees - including one dwarf apple - outside the
fence, too. So this year, I put a ring of chickenwire (12 inches tall)
around them, and a couple of strands of the electric wire on top of that
(this kept the electric wire out of the grass, which is necessary).
Squirrels did steal a few green apples, but not many. Well, as I noted,
it takes them awhile to learn where the electric wires are, so I expect
it to work even better next year.
Note that I regularly feed the squirrels peanuts in the front yard, so
they're not all that hungry. I figured if they were starving, they'd
never stay away from the fruit. And I'm in town, where I can't shoot or
trap them (and even if I did, more would move into the yard almost
immediately - which is exactly what happens when "my" squirrels get run
over).
Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)
--
A stimulus is the right thing. You hope it doesn't get watered down in
many ways. Our first stimulus bill ... was sort of like taking a half a
tablet of Viagra and then having also a bunch of candy mixed in, you
know, everybody was putting in things for their own constituencies. It
doesn't really have quite the wallop that might have been anticipated
there. - Warren Buffett