"OmManiPadmeOmelet" wrote in message
...
In article YG0oe.312$nk4.225@trndny01, "Laura J" wrote:

"Penelope Periwinkle" wrote in message
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On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 15:03:14 GMT, "Laura J" wrote:

I planted some containers of herbs on my front porch and yesterday
found 3
of the basil plants missing. Just completely pulled up and gone, no
roots,
no leaves, no nothing left but a hole.

Sounds like squirrels to me.


Penelope

That's what I was afraid you were going to say. ARGH. I hate those
things.
Any ideas on how to prevent? They never touched the herbs last year but
the
tricks I used for the tomatoes didn't seem to stop them at all. Now they
have a taste for hot sauce.

LauraJ


A wire cage around the herbs is probably your best bet...
unless you feel like putting out rat poison for the squirrels?

The only time I ever poisoned squirrels was when they knocked out my
internet service. The service guy from Grandecom said there was squirrel
pee on the router box which leaked in and corroded the connections, and
there were chew marks on the cables.

He was delighted to put the rat bait blocks up on the router and
cables..... He hated squirrels because of the damage they did to
electronics. They are worse than rats.

I've also learned to hate squirrels/tree rats! I used to think they were
cute.

Not anymore!
--
Om.

I am well-entrenched in the squirrel-hating camp. Not too psyched about the
poison but I did finally give in and put a fence around the garden in the
yard. We'll see what that does. I'm not sure what I can do for what's on
the balcony though - a wire cage isn't really an option because the herbs
take up approximately half of the space so there is no avoiding having them
up close to the railing and roofline which is how I suspect the squirrels
are gaining access. I only have one cherry tomato up there along with the
herbs. Last year the cherry tomato (Sweet Millions) produced enough that I
didn't mind sharing too too much and this year I have another heavy producer
(Sungold) so hopefully I'll still get to eat my fill. I'll be really ****ed
if this herb-stealing thing keeps up though.

LauraJ