On Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:12:58 GMT, "brooklyn1" wrote:


wrote in message
.. .
Greetings all....

Time to start planting bulbs and some suggestions are needed on
repelling squirrels. I've heard of Ropel (haven't used it).

Does a natural... mix it yourself remedy exist ?? Something
low cost but effective. (Drink instant coffee, so no usablecoffee
grounds.)

Just lost a whole winters collection of potted bulbs to those tree rats
I can always set up a trap to discourage the pests from
coming around, however I'd like to try something more
humane first as I have a new assortment of tubers going in shortly.



A note for general information... returned a whole bunch of encore
azaleas to Lowes and Home Depot. I purchased 8 last year,
sinking 6 in the ground and overwintering two. Purchased another
8 on sale this year. The ones in the ground didn't fare well over the
winter nor did
the mulched ones.

Started asking questions..... the answer is.... encore azaleas do well
in zones 7 - 10 however they are not recommended for zone 6 where
they need to be treated as annuals or tender perennials. I'm at the
very northernmost part of zone 7.. about 40 miles from zone 6... so
either 6 or marginal 7 depending upon how the wind blows.

The tag did not have ANY hardiness zones listed whereas
many of the other shrubs had. I had to search the encore site and look
for the FINE PRINT to discover the recommended zones.

Kinda ****ed off about this as I started looking at encore azaleas
several years ago, observed growing habits and selected the types
of plants most suitable for the growing location in terms of size, growth
rate, sunshine, color and moisture. Looked like a really nice plant.

A lot of research done, and a lot of garden center browsing done,
for a plant which is marginally acclimated for this climate. Wish I
had all the knowledge up front... it would have saved me a lot
of time better spent elsewhere.

You would think the big box garden centers would actually
THINK about what they sell. Instead, I'm finding tropical
plants in the middle of January and Wal Mart is selling
Day Lillies and Peonies, already sprouting in the
middle of February when they can't be planted till
May. Isn't anyone using their brains ???

Aargh, my gardening education continues...

end of rant...

Thanks !!!

Peter

Forget garden centers, think stupidmarkets. If you feed the squirrels they
won't eat your bulbs... I have like a dozen squirrels in the trees 40 feet
from my window, each morning I toss out a couple handfulls of in-shell
peanuts or some crackers or stale bread, any suitible crumbs/crusts. I have
bulbs planted under and around those trees but since I've been feeding they
don't touch my bulbs, and I only feed them during the coldest periods....
during the warmer weather they seem to find enough natural foods... they're
living in a 60' tall windbreak of Norway spruce, plenty cone seeds is what
initially attracts them. And this feeding all started to entertain my cats,
so there's a double benefit. Peanuts are cheap... $5 worth lasts me all
winter... stale bread and a piano sized crate of lousy wheat thins from
Same's Club would get tossed anyway.



Good suggestion... it might work under many circumstances, but not
in this one. The critters are a little too destructive.

For me, traps usually work well... .

Just interested in a deterent, otherwise back to trapping which
works well. It's time consuming. but keeps the population down.
Got about 30 of those buggers about two years ago.. only saw one
this season, but already he got into an entire stock of roots

Foxes are a great idea... wish I could get a few of them
hanging around... unfortunately there is a large unleashed dog
population chasing everything away.

Now, occasionally, some 'misguided' animal activist always
chimes in with 'heartless' and 'cruel'. The following is appended
just for that audience.

1- Used to have a bird habitat... nesting boxes, feed stations, refuge places
The squirrels continuously destroyed everything. The entire project was
scrubbed after 3 years of watching the squirrels destroy everything. Yes
they had their own feeders. Does anyone really believe that a squirrel
will just go after one feeder...

2- The population rapidly grew from just a few, till when I trapped over
30 squirrels in one season.

3- Incredible damage to the house.... ripped screens, holes chewed
in fascia, damage to attic space, holes chewed in wooden garage doors.
Weatherstripping chewed on cars as they tried to get into a bag of
sunflower seeds. A lousy tree rat is not worth thousands
of dollars worth of home repair. This is a totally unnecessary
expense. I can't afford it.... anyone wanna donate ???


4- Incredible damage to all roots, tubers and bulbs. They were digging
them out as quick as I could plant them. Landscaping is for the purpose
of providing cover for other species also...including birds, bees and valuable
insects. The tree rats don't exist in balance with nature... I suspect that
squirrels are an indication that nature is no longer in balance.

5- Despite Walt Disney, they're tree rats.... fine... keep out of the house
and out of the yard.... I wouldn't let mice and rats in the yard...squirrels
are next on the list... they have plenty of other places to live. I'm surrounded
by tens of acres of 'community space'. Guess whose house and yard they
travel to.

6- Not just squirrels, but deer also... the deer population has already destroyed
tens of acres of natural habitat... browse lines and destroyed trees all over
the place. This lets scrub grass grow... which dries up in the winter and
is extremely flammable.

I'm landscaping a yard with everygreens, plants, shrubs etc because the natural area
looks like a wasteland..... nature looks totally out of balance here... no
bees, few butterflies, some birds but the natural habitat can't support the
population without feeders, nesting boxes, winter refuge. Lousy bat population,
for whatever reason the nesting habitats are being destroyed by nature, not by man.


Anyway... a squirrel feeder is a great idea under many circumstances, but
just not feasible here.

Thx !!

Peter