preventing squirrels eating shoots**!**!
 

I planted many different varieties of bamboo several years ago and was
plunged into near despair recently by the fact that squirrels have
developed a taste for and destroyed virtually all of the beautiful new
shoots coming up this year... I have been trying all sorts of
deterrents including caging, hot sauce, bug spray,..etc,. all with
little or no success. I have finally stumbled onto something that
works reasonably well and want to pass it on to others... It occured
to me that cats are a squirrel's natural enemy and so I had a
brainstorm.. a friend of mine has many cats and so I asked for her
kitty litter waste.. This cat urine and feces mixed with clay has
been a godsend to me... I mix it with water and let it soak for a
while and then I stir it all up in a big bucket with a plaster mixer
on the end of a heavy duty drill... I end up with a very stinky
mayonaise textured substance which I then paint onto the shoots as
they come up.. I make a trip around the place every morning and with
a small little broom I apply this nasty stuff to the shoots... When it
dries the clay leaves a stinky residue on the shoots) I am glad to
report that the squirrels leave them alone... (and yet continue to
destroy the shoots that I overlook and don't paint).. I caution you
that I killed a few shoots initially by pouring the mixture on with a
big spoon and I think that it ended up burning them with too much
nitrogen around the base... Since then I just lightly paint the stuff
on... You only need to apply the stuff until the shoots get a few feet
high and harden... Give it a try,... it has worked for me... David

some people just cant let animals be. what gives you the right to hord bamboo when squirrels might need it just as much as we do. obviously your somebody who has absolutely no consideration or deeper knowledge of gardening ettiquete and frankly you are a disgrace.

This HAD to have been written by a squirrel!