squirrels in pots

[Adam Fikso]

Henry.  How thick a layer is sufficient to discourage them?.   Squirrels and
chipmunks both dig some of my stuff up, an occasional skunk, I think, but
that's not too often.    They certainly do like to dig in looser soil (most
loose soil, by definition is recently disturbed) Adam
i


----- Original Message -----
From: "Henry Fieldseth" <treehugger53ah at YAHOO.COM>
To: <ARISAEMA-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL>
Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 9:40 PM
Subject: squirrels in pots


> Joyce,
>
> Squirrels digging in pots is a major problem here in
> the midwest as well.
>
> I have had good luck with poultry grit which is
> chipped up granite, or other hard rock, that farmers
> feed to chickens.
>
> I just cover the potting soil with a layer of grit and
> it seems to discourage the squirrels. I think they
> like to dig in recently disturbed soil and don't
> notice it through the grit. Just a theory but it seems
> to work.
>
> --Henry
> Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, Zone 4-5
>
>
> --- Joyce Miller <onager at MIDTOWN.NET> wrote:
> > Dear Adam and George,
> >
> >          Every gardener has problems.  For a friend
> > in France, it is mice
> > who burrow in his raised beds and eat his bulbs;
> > for another it is
> > crows/ravens that steal name tags.  For me it is
> > squirrels who bury nuts in
> > seedling pots.  They seem to know which are the most
> > select of the
> > select.  What has this to do with normal weather?
> > Nothing.
> >          While our winters are so mild and fairly
> > dry, we can grow
> > oncocylous iris in the ground here, it is our
> > summers that are a
> > problem.  Many plants cannot stand our dry sustained
> > heat of consecutive
> > days of over 100 degrees F.  I don't do well either
> > for that matter.
> >
> >          From your and George's answers, I have
> > choices.  Think I will try
> > forcing.  Previously, I had plunged pots outside for
> > the winter.
> >          Thanks,
> >
> >
> > Kind regards,  Joyce Miller, Sacramento, CA, USA
> > USDA Zone 9A
> > Responses may be sent to:
> > mailto:onager at midtown.netes may be sent to:
> mailto:onager at midtown.net
>
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
> http://shopping.yahoo.com
>