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. Some of my sage leaves have also
been cut off. This is on a third floor balcony so I can't blame it on the
neighbors or their pets. I have known squirrels to steal tomatoes but whole
herb plants? And usually they dig but in this case the mulch around the
missing plants was undisturbed. Any ideas on what could be doing this and
how to prevent it in the future?

TIA!

LauraJ

In article Si_ne.8$2H2.6@trndny08, "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. Some of my sage leaves have also
been cut off. This is on a third floor balcony so I can't blame it on the
neighbors or their pets. I have known squirrels to steal tomatoes but whole
herb plants? And usually they dig but in this case the mulch around the
missing plants was undisturbed. Any ideas on what could be doing this and
how to prevent it in the future?

TIA!

LauraJ


My sister's dog does this. She couldn't figure out where her little
potted herbs were going and then one night she let the dog out and
caught her in the act.

Don't suppose you have a pet you let out on the balcony?

marcella

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

"Marcella Peek" wrote in message
...
In article Si_ne.8$2H2.6@trndny08, "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. Some of my sage leaves have also
been cut off. This is on a third floor balcony so I can't blame it on
the
neighbors or their pets. I have known squirrels to steal tomatoes but
whole
herb plants? And usually they dig but in this case the mulch around the
missing plants was undisturbed. Any ideas on what could be doing this
and
how to prevent it in the future?

TIA!

LauraJ


My sister's dog does this. She couldn't figure out where her little
potted herbs were going and then one night she let the dog out and
caught her in the act.

Don't suppose you have a pet you let out on the balcony?

marcella

Nope, no pets, just my DH and he swears he didn't touch it...

LauraJ

"Penelope Periwinkle" wrote in message
...
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

I put habanero flakes on our porch railing when they decide to start
eating the porch. They never came back.

John!

Laura J wrote:

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

"Penelope Periwinkle" wrote in message
...
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
Black birds are using them for their nests. They even get my smaller tomato
plants this time of the year.

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

"Penelope Periwinkle" wrote in message
...
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.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." -Jack Nicholson

"GA Pinhead" wrote in message
...
I put habanero flakes on our porch railing when they decide to start eating
the porch. They never came back.

John!

Laura J wrote:

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

Thanks for the advice - maybe I just need to try something hotter than I
used last year.

LauraJ

"ed" wrote in message
...

"Penelope Periwinkle" wrote in message
...
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
Black birds are using them for their nests. They even get my smaller
tomato plants this time of the year.


Hm, now that is an interesting idea. My DH the bird-lover says we don't
have blackbirds around here but maybe it's another type of bird. I had some
extra basil seedlings so I put them in the same spot the missing ones were
and, lo and behold, those were gone the next day. The weird thing is that I
have about 20 other basil seedings, along with many very small parsley,
marjoram and a couple others and they haven't touched the other ones. Just
the ones in that one large pot. Bizarre. Anyway, I'm not going to replace
those and I got some netting to cover up everything else so hopefully that
will keep the critters off for a little while at least.

LauraJ

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

"Penelope Periwinkle" wrote in message
...
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

I'm having squirrel trouble on my 3rd floor balcony. They jump from an
adjacent tree.

I don't have herbs or vegetables, just plants. They have been digging
up my New Guinea Impatiens, hostas and coleus. I hate them

I went to a garden store today and she recommended a powder made from
coyote urine. Unfortunately, this was $21 and seemed a bit too much
for my little container garden. She also recommended blood meal (which
is also a fertilizer) which I decided to try at $4 a bag.

A friend has a neighbor who is a hairdresser. She saves "nasty" hair
(hair from clients that is oily, dirty, etc.) and puts it around her
tomato plants. I asked my hairdresser for some "nasty" hair today and
he said that his clients all use so much fruity smelling stuff on their
hair that it would probably encourage the squirrels.

In article .com,
wrote:

I'm having squirrel trouble on my 3rd floor balcony. They jump from an
adjacent tree.

I don't have herbs or vegetables, just plants. They have been digging
up my New Guinea Impatiens, hostas and coleus. I hate them

I went to a garden store today and she recommended a powder made from
coyote urine. Unfortunately, this was $21 and seemed a bit too much
for my little container garden. She also recommended blood meal (which
is also a fertilizer) which I decided to try at $4 a bag.

A friend has a neighbor who is a hairdresser. She saves "nasty" hair
(hair from clients that is oily, dirty, etc.) and puts it around her
tomato plants. I asked my hairdresser for some "nasty" hair today and
he said that his clients all use so much fruity smelling stuff on their
hair that it would probably encourage the squirrels.

Bird netting?
It's inexpensive and comes in big rolls.

That and some "tomcat" brand bar poison rat bait....
I won't use poison grain as birds will tend to get that.
Just the big solid bar baits. Pin it down so they can't carry
it off, or use suet cages like I do.

Sorry, but I'm sick to death of squirrel damage!
They just are not cute anymore.

Both items are sold at Lowe's.

Good luck!
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." -Jack Nicholson

"OmManiPadmeOmelet" wrote in message
...
In article .com,
wrote:

I'm having squirrel trouble on my 3rd floor balcony. They jump from an
adjacent tree.

I don't have herbs or vegetables, just plants. They have been digging
up my New Guinea Impatiens, hostas and coleus. I hate them

I went to a garden store today and she recommended a powder made from
coyote urine. Unfortunately, this was $21 and seemed a bit too much
for my little container garden. She also recommended blood meal (which
is also a fertilizer) which I decided to try at $4 a bag.

A friend has a neighbor who is a hairdresser. She saves "nasty" hair
(hair from clients that is oily, dirty, etc.) and puts it around her
tomato plants. I asked my hairdresser for some "nasty" hair today and
he said that his clients all use so much fruity smelling stuff on their
hair that it would probably encourage the squirrels.

Bird netting?
It's inexpensive and comes in big rolls.

That and some "tomcat" brand bar poison rat bait....
I won't use poison grain as birds will tend to get that.
Just the big solid bar baits. Pin it down so they can't carry
it off, or use suet cages like I do.

Sorry, but I'm sick to death of squirrel damage!
They just are not cute anymore.

Both items are sold at Lowe's.

Good luck!
--
Om.


Since I was the OP, just wanted to come back and say that I tried the bird
netting and haven't had any more damage (so far - we'll see how long it
lasts though).

Good luck, I hate them too.

LauraJ

My mom had trouble with squirrels getting her potted plants. They took her eggplant plants right out of the pots. Now the weirdest one was when the squirrel called 911 for my mother in law! she had a knock on the door at #;00 am from the police and it scared her to death. then later the next day the phone company found where a squirrel had chewed on the phone wires and it called 911. Those squirrels do wild things!