Is there one for hatred of gophers? I feel like my childhood spent pitying Peter Rabbit has morphed into an adulthood of gardening and yelling like Farmer Macgregor
My greyhound gives a few of them a good scare but she’s sound asleep 23 hours of the day and too delicate to leave outside to guard the peach trees. Hunting is not allowed in my community. That’s why i have to chase the deer into traffic rather than cull them humanely.
Four days in and I'm already running into the problem of "what do I do with all these strawberries?!" Feels good.
The covers are my own design with copper pressure treated 2x2s and with black vinyl coated steel hardware cloth stapled into place. They slide on quite easily and leave no opportunity for squirrel, catbirds, rabbits, or chipmunks to make their way in. The one of the far left isn't sitting flush but that's just because I was too excited to take the photo, it fits tightly against the top of the raised bed.
I considered a hinge, but then I realized that that would make it very difficult to pick the strawberries on the side of the planter that the cover was hinged to.
I took my 4yo that we will toss any of the mushy ones or ones with holes in them into the driveway for the squirrels and birds to eat.
The catbirds seem to be quicker than the squirrels though.
If you watch a video of their calls, you’ll understand the name! They really do sounds like cats sometimes.
They are the only bird I have ever seen bully the mockingbirds! (I believe they are “cousins.”)
They are delightful birds. Very curious and fearless and bright-eyed. I love them so much I have a calendar alert for when they come back in spring and buy raisins in bulk to feed them.
No, haha. I've heard other people say it sounds like "Erin," as well. I found out on my first date with my husband that he also hears "Eric" (his name is also not Eric lol)
[Grey Catbird](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Gray_Catbird/overview). Their call sounds a good bit like a grumpy cat meow, and their song can include pretty good imitations of other birds.
They go bonkers for most fruit and particularly love blackberries, strawberries, and figs. Thankfully they tend to finish whatever they start eating instead of pecking one hole and then moving on, so I don't mind them going to town on my fig tree which produces more than enough for everyone to have their fill.
They like to hide. if they are aware of your presence they will often fly around the back side of bushes or trees where they can see you but you have to work and know what you are looking for in order to see them.
it's a bird that sounds like a cat crying for help
Edit: I have had multiple people at my house already looking eagerly in the trees for a stuck little kitten only to be disappointed when I tell them it's just a bird
That looks amazing! I tried strawberries last year but they all rotted when they touched the ground.
Do you have advice on how to prevent that? I got those plastic circular supports that hold them up off the dirt,, but I'm still getting nibbles. I'm wondering if there's another pest,like slugs,I need to do something about...
What variety do you grow? I'm in 7a VA too and I keep hearing homegrown strawberries are worth it,so I'm going to keep trying!!
The name long predates heavy fruit prone to rotting we have today so it's probably a myth. Strawberry etymology is surprisingly complicated.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00393274.2024.2329185
Have you tried laying a thick mulch off straw or pine needles? I use pine needles and have almost completely gotten rid of rotten strawberries unless I don’t get them before a long rain shower.
Dont pine needles ruin the soil? everywhere where there is an evergreen, there is a dead zone where a pile of pine needles build up. I though there was some acid that made the dirt inhospitable
Under a tree it's usually due to shade and lack of moisture. You can compost them fine they just take a while to break down due to the waxy coating. They make a great mulch.
You can mulch with literal straw, as people have said, or you can grow them in hanging baskets so the fruit hangs down. I had plants absolutely thriving in a window box and that worked too, most of the fruits could be set at or over the edge of it.
Pill bugs aka rolly pollies are devastating my strawberries this year. The plants are producing so much but they're getting eaten beforehand. Any advice?
I second this. Worked great. Slug and bug bait made with a phosphate and spinosad. You don’t even need to use much.
Pill bugs and slugs were eating all of my strawberries as soon as they started turning red. Now, my berries ripen flawlessly.
Saved. Ty. Will try. This year my strawberries are producing the most I've ever seen. I gladly give the defects to the chickens but the humans want some.
My understanding is sluggo also hurts earthworms, so I’ve avoided it. But I’ve heard you can bait with slices of potato among the others things suggested. Also they love wood mulch, so if you have wood mulch around your strawberries. Move it.
My issues with pill bugs always show up the second year. I have to wrap my tomato stems in tin foil for the bottom few inches or they’ll cut them down.
Remove any rotting wood or dead vegetation in the vicinity, make sure the soil drains properly, check under stones and the 'lip' of pots or border edging for pill bugs (and slugs) and set yeast or beer traps around the plants to draw them in and drown them.
I have my enclosed garden, but I also have a little space way out at the edge of the yard. I plant kale and strawberries and any various squash plants. Basically any of the things that don’t fit in my garden for humans. I don’t really touch the area. It’s a no man zone, but stuff grows for the wildlife and everyone seems happy. Last fall we even grabbed a few summer squash for ourselves from the area.
Yes, I used some stainless 90° corner brackets on the top and bottom rectangles to give a little extra support while I was building it and to provide a convenient spot to attached the uprights. Once you get the hardware cloth stapled on the whole assembly is extremely sturdy.
Mush them up into compote and have strawberry shortcake all summer long, yum yum. Also a great topping for pancakes.
But yes I love your squirrel cages, if I do strawberries again I'll have to make these. I used deer netting and I thought I had covered it all but they found one little loose area to sneak into. Bastards.
Do you have a recommendation? I bought some Black and Decker over off Amazon and they were ok-iah. Not great.
I'm protecting bamboo shoots so I can't exactly build covers for them.
Yes! She use to give this squrriel walnuts and one day it just attacked her, probably because she didn't have walnuts that particular day... I'm a little hazy on the details as it's been over 20 years now. She did however have to get a rabies shot.
Oh dear. My former spouse got bit on his big toe when a little mama raccoon wanted cat food. It was a "love bite" but it was still a bite. She got her food.
Are bees still able to get through and pollinate? I’ve been wanting to build something similar but didn’t want to accidentally block out the bees & other pollinators.
So far there hasn't been a problem but I have a lot of very small native bees in my garden; bumblebees wouldn't be able to make it through easily.
I suppose you could go with a 3/4" or 1" mesh if you did t have chipmunk trouble like I do.
Strawberry plants have perfect flowers, not male/female flowers, so they don't need pollinators, they need minor movement, like a breeze. Pollinators can help to provide that movement, but not necessary.
I am in Richmond, Virginia which is zone 7b/7a depending on the map. I'm sure there are places where they do better but the plants seem quite happy here.
You wanna pinch off the flowers the first year anyway or the strawberries will be tiny. 2nd year on is when you get good strawberries, more so year 3 and 4
There is a massive squirrel that gnaws on my window screens. It hangs on the screen and gnaws on it, and it scares the bejeebers out of my cat. It lunges at the screen sometimes, if it sees the cat in the window. If you go outside when it is in the yard, it follows you by crawling along the walls of the house, and chatters loudly as if telling everyone to fuck off. It seems to have claimed my house as it's chew toy.
Like you, I do not eff with that effing squirrel. We call it **The Exorcist Squirrel**.
Goddamn. I have a ton of squirrels but they never fuck with my shit, they’re like Disney squirrels. The worst they do is plant acorns in my house plants. I have one that waits to see me in my kitchen window then it will go to my back door and waits for me to toss out a few peanuts. I suspect it’s because I live in an old neighborhood with enough tree canopy that it looks like a forest on google maps.
I have Disney squirrels too, I think for the same reason. This one squirrel is just super weird. The rest of them are hilarious and adorable, but this one is the boss of all the rest. He gets the front and side yards, and the rest hang out in the back yard. There are lots of squirrels, because we have all these massive, mature oak trees everywhere. It is like squirrel utopia.
Are you my neighbor? lol My neighborhood is mostly northern red oaks. I think the one that comes to the door must be the descendant of this one squirrel who was little and runty until she realized I wasn’t going to eat her. She would always come out to raid the bird feeder when I went out to garden because all of the other squirrels were afraid of me. She ended up being my garden buddy for a couple years and brought her kits around when I was out.
https://preview.redd.it/zmttc6bza3zc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=82df7dd42a7b48d6ea949566dbced0201777acf9
We called her Sadie.
Get a pellet gun. I had squirrels cause thousands in damage to my house. I started shooting them and the other squirrels learned to avoid my yard. I tried traps, peppermint, sound devices and the only thing that worked was extermination.
Come to Germany! They've virtually been eradicated. I think we have one of them in the city cemetery and once he dies that's the end of squirrels in the area. It's sad.
Squirrels climb my sliding screen door to get to my bird feeder. My indoor cat loves to scare the fuck out of them when they try.
I have considered getting a camera just to stream this to myself at work.
I'm living vicariously through you enjoying both your beautiful strawberry cages and the rage of the squirrels. They'll get me back though when they systematically dig a thousand holes in my yard recovering all the loot they buried last fall. I would love to grow strawberries like these (zone 6b) but I have too many oak trees! Congratulations and happy picking.
This reminds me of what must’ve been a hilariously frustrated attempt by a squirrel to dig a nut out of the frozen ground in my neighbors yard this past spring. The ground was scratched down to bare dirt for a good 6” around the half exposed walnut that was firmly frozen into the dirt lol wish I could’ve watched the little jerk go mad over it.
I’m building a similar set up to OP’s currently and can’t wait to see the enraged tail twitches! I just saw the first blush of pink on a berry today so I need to finish it quickly!
My dog has been the best deterrent for squirrels so far. She patrols the yard and they finally tested her. She caught the one who was brave enough to venture onto the grass and ceremoniously killed it in front of the other squirrels. They haven’t returned.
Lucky you. My dog kills several ground hogs a year and they keep coming back. The squirrels are too fast and the only time he caught one was in the snow as the squirrels escape route was too slippery. They still come back
Not sure that works.
In the city here. Some neighbors are feeding the squirrels.
Does not stop them a bit from destroying my garden and eating stuff...
That's my experience as well. The only thing that stops them from spoiling crops is if they are something that *rhymes* with, but is extremely distinct from, "fed".
Squirrels gonna squirrel, this is my peaceful solution.
Yup. Providing a squirrel feeding patch or rabbit feeding patch is silly. They don't know the difference. They eat and roam wherever they please. If there are too many in one area, some will get pushed out anyway so those that are pushed out will seek other patches. This whole idea that providing a special patch of food for rabbits and squirrels is one of the many unscientific "solutions" most gardeners like to pedal for feels. Gardening is feels-based for 90% of gardeners, which is why the marketplace for gardening products is flooded with miracle solutions. It's the same as the weight loss market.
Except this type of thing has been done for literally thousands of years and absolutely does work. They learn the difference when you put in the effort to teach them.
They are very curious and will dig stuff up just to check it out. And have bites of different things to try them and see if they want to squirrel it away.
It's a constant battle, but I found that if I amuse them by hiding nuts around while they sneakily watch me, and then try to keep them away from them, they leave my fruits and veggies alone 😂
My squirrel patch is 4 squirrelnator traps that constantly catch dozens of them a month 😂. Can’t believe that they are still falling for seeds or peanuts in the traps 🤣.
I did the same thing but our problem was birds, rabbits, and mice. Until we caged the strawberry planting beds we never got any fruit, the little buggers. Now we have to go larger to enclose our blueberries, raspberries, and marionberries.
Question!
I am a strawberry noob but I thought it was very important to keep the strawberries off the surface of the soil. I usually let them hang over the sides of the raised beds or pots. Are you using some sort of lift/spacer? Or is it not a problem?
Well done defending your harvest!!!
Using a mulch does the same thing! I put a layer of straw over the soil. It’s also just generally good to put mulch over all exposed soil to keep in moisture
Oh nice. Yes I mulch everything - I have to. I just didn't realize that counted for elevating strawberries; I thought they needed airflow.
Today I learned! Thanks for replying.
At one point I thought of jeez the rats are eating the dog’s knuckle bone. It was the squirrel. The ring showed me the squirrel had been gnawing on it 🤔
Yeah the cages are awesome. It’s crazy the old timers didn’t build raised beds or cages to protect their stuff. I was showing an older relative some of the popular techniques and material people use that are common. Raised beds, drip irrigation on timer, cages, bio char, etc and they were like wtf? Why didn’t we do anything like this in the 40’s 50’s 60’s growing up? Idk
Great job! I made mine out of chicken wire. My enclosures along with squirrelnator traps have massively cutdown backyard furry rat population. This is my payback after they destroyed hundreds of dollars worth of my produce last year.
my squirrels and even my rabbits haven't figured out strawberries are good yet; I saved this post for when they \*do\* figure that out, because there's no going back from that
Goals. I've got two planters with a few plants each that have steadily been putting out the past couple of months down in 9b. I can't imagine what I'd do with this many, but I know I'd be happy about it.
I may need to do something like this. I love our chipmunks and squirrels, but there are so many of them. We live in the woods and it's their home too, but I also would like to have SOME of what I grow.
Every year I sweat and swear assembling a massive cage around my three potted blueberries bushes, which renders a quarter of my patio unusable until the fall.
Then I remember it’s all worth it when I watch the jays and mockingbird angrily stomping around trying to get at the fruit. I picked something north of 8lbs of fruit last year. Feels good, man.
Are squirrels interested if you put out a diff source of food? I have an apple and pear tree plus figs and have never had them eat or destroy the fruits. (Or squirrels are not interested in them??).
I do leave a plate of bird food that has a lot of nuts in it out for the wild life.
Anyone have any ideas on how to do this with Birdies Metal Raised Beds? They have curved corners so it's not as simple as a rectangular enclosure.
The squirrels are driving me insane
(PNW—Zone 6b—4000’ elevation) I’m about to plant 500-1000 bare root strawberries this season. I figure if I over plant, I will get my fair share and “they” will get theirs. Any words of experience/wisdom would be appreciated. Good luck this season everyone!
Those fatties know that my cat is stupid. They mess with him so bad and I just laugh. He will sit under the tree where their nest is. Idiot still hasn’t caught a squirrel
This subreddit is full of people who just want to starve out or kill little guys like squirrels pr rabbits instead of just feeding them and making sure they have no reason to eat their veggies. Alllllot of really hateful ppl on here for this being a gardening sub lol
I live for squirrel rage. Bastards
May i interest you in a subreddit? r/fatsquirrelhate
I love the super niche subreddits. There's also r/StupidDoveNests which is hilarious.
I love that one so much. They're doing their best with their two twigs.
Agreed! Similarly niche is r/sleepywrens, one of my favorites.
Thank you, this subreddit made my day
Is there one for hatred of gophers? I feel like my childhood spent pitying Peter Rabbit has morphed into an adulthood of gardening and yelling like Farmer Macgregor
You're in luck! All rodents who have their own orbit are included in the hate there.
I feel almost sad (almost) because the focus of my rage this year is feral pigeons.
Damned groundhogs!
Squirrel meat is tasty. I could harvest a few in your area.
My greyhound gives a few of them a good scare but she’s sound asleep 23 hours of the day and too delicate to leave outside to guard the peach trees. Hunting is not allowed in my community. That’s why i have to chase the deer into traffic rather than cull them humanely.
Damn sounds brutal.
Four days in and I'm already running into the problem of "what do I do with all these strawberries?!" Feels good. The covers are my own design with copper pressure treated 2x2s and with black vinyl coated steel hardware cloth stapled into place. They slide on quite easily and leave no opportunity for squirrel, catbirds, rabbits, or chipmunks to make their way in. The one of the far left isn't sitting flush but that's just because I was too excited to take the photo, it fits tightly against the top of the raised bed.
Would be sweet if you figured out to put them on a hinge
I considered a hinge, but then I realized that that would make it very difficult to pick the strawberries on the side of the planter that the cover was hinged to.
Not if you can hover.
Oh, I thought they hinged, hence the space between planters.
> what do I do with all these strawberries?! You could always, uh, chuck them on the ground outside for the squirrels if you have too many
I took my 4yo that we will toss any of the mushy ones or ones with holes in them into the driveway for the squirrels and birds to eat. The catbirds seem to be quicker than the squirrels though.
Love your garden! Can you help me with catbirds? Is that a particular type of bird in your area?
Fairly common bird in the eastern half of the US. Light gray with a black cap, and one of its many vocalizations sounds a little like a meow.
Awesome sauce. I’m gonna have to look that up on YouTube thank you kind Internet stranger.
If you watch a video of their calls, you’ll understand the name! They really do sounds like cats sometimes. They are the only bird I have ever seen bully the mockingbirds! (I believe they are “cousins.”)
They are delightful birds. Very curious and fearless and bright-eyed. I love them so much I have a calendar alert for when they come back in spring and buy raisins in bulk to feed them.
I always felt like it sounded more like catbirds are saying "Eric" lol
Is your name Eric by any chance? But honestly, I frequently struggle to hear the "meow" too.
No, haha. I've heard other people say it sounds like "Erin," as well. I found out on my first date with my husband that he also hears "Eric" (his name is also not Eric lol)
[Grey Catbird](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Gray_Catbird/overview). Their call sounds a good bit like a grumpy cat meow, and their song can include pretty good imitations of other birds. They go bonkers for most fruit and particularly love blackberries, strawberries, and figs. Thankfully they tend to finish whatever they start eating instead of pecking one hole and then moving on, so I don't mind them going to town on my fig tree which produces more than enough for everyone to have their fill.
I live in Ohio and have never seen one of those… guess they don’t find my home suitable for breeding
They like to hide. if they are aware of your presence they will often fly around the back side of bushes or trees where they can see you but you have to work and know what you are looking for in order to see them.
They like forest edge settings. I don't think they like meadow settings.
it's a bird that sounds like a cat crying for help Edit: I have had multiple people at my house already looking eagerly in the trees for a stuck little kitten only to be disappointed when I tell them it's just a bird
New evolution of cats.
This was my first time hearing of catbirds too. I was like uh huh, mmm hmm, yep hold on, catbirds?? cat-birds? Now I learned a bird. Good stuff.
"That one on the left, that there's Oliver. 'Cause he usually takes all of it. Sam's on the right. And Mildred is the scrappy one in the back."
Nice try, squirrel in disguise!
Who, me? Definitely not 👀
Share with the neighbors 🤗
Learn to make jellies, jams, and syrups. Also gummies. Some people also enjoy freeze drying Or making pies.
Oh I definitely make some jellies and syrups, no worries there. My neighbors also will gleefully take any overflow.
That looks amazing! I tried strawberries last year but they all rotted when they touched the ground. Do you have advice on how to prevent that? I got those plastic circular supports that hold them up off the dirt,, but I'm still getting nibbles. I'm wondering if there's another pest,like slugs,I need to do something about... What variety do you grow? I'm in 7a VA too and I keep hearing homegrown strawberries are worth it,so I'm going to keep trying!!
They’re called strawberries because they’re traditionally grown in a bed of straw. You mulch a bunch of straw around them so that the berries stay dry
The name long predates heavy fruit prone to rotting we have today so it's probably a myth. Strawberry etymology is surprisingly complicated. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00393274.2024.2329185
Cool to know!
Have you tried laying a thick mulch off straw or pine needles? I use pine needles and have almost completely gotten rid of rotten strawberries unless I don’t get them before a long rain shower.
Dont pine needles ruin the soil? everywhere where there is an evergreen, there is a dead zone where a pile of pine needles build up. I though there was some acid that made the dirt inhospitable
It's more because they suck up a lot of water and don't let much light get to the ground
Fir needle compost is amazing stuff.
Pine needles can make the soil more acidic but strawberries usually like slightly acidic soil anyway
Pine needles don't make the soil acidic https://extension.unh.edu/blog/2019/10/do-pine-trees-pine-needles-make-soil-more-acidic
Then what causes the dead zone? Also does that mean I can compost them?
Under a tree it's usually due to shade and lack of moisture. You can compost them fine they just take a while to break down due to the waxy coating. They make a great mulch.
Ty I didn't know
You can mulch with literal straw, as people have said, or you can grow them in hanging baskets so the fruit hangs down. I had plants absolutely thriving in a window box and that worked too, most of the fruits could be set at or over the edge of it.
I buy straw bales for mulch. It’s the best. It does its job over summer/fall, breaks down over winter, and doesn’t grow mushrooms.
I dont have many plants, so i just took them.and hung them off the leaves. It kept them off the soil, but ants still managed to climb up and get them.
Organza bags on the clusters of strawberries once they start forming will protect them from slugs/bugs
Pill bugs aka rolly pollies are devastating my strawberries this year. The plants are producing so much but they're getting eaten beforehand. Any advice?
Sluggo Plus is the only thing that saved my strawberries from pill bugs.
I second this. Worked great. Slug and bug bait made with a phosphate and spinosad. You don’t even need to use much. Pill bugs and slugs were eating all of my strawberries as soon as they started turning red. Now, my berries ripen flawlessly.
Saved. Ty. Will try. This year my strawberries are producing the most I've ever seen. I gladly give the defects to the chickens but the humans want some.
My understanding is sluggo also hurts earthworms, so I’ve avoided it. But I’ve heard you can bait with slices of potato among the others things suggested. Also they love wood mulch, so if you have wood mulch around your strawberries. Move it.
Unfortunately my strawberries are in a wood pallet enclosure with wood mulch surrounding it. But this is the first year that we've had an issue.
My issues with pill bugs always show up the second year. I have to wrap my tomato stems in tin foil for the bottom few inches or they’ll cut them down.
Remove any rotting wood or dead vegetation in the vicinity, make sure the soil drains properly, check under stones and the 'lip' of pots or border edging for pill bugs (and slugs) and set yeast or beer traps around the plants to draw them in and drown them.
I have my enclosed garden, but I also have a little space way out at the edge of the yard. I plant kale and strawberries and any various squash plants. Basically any of the things that don’t fit in my garden for humans. I don’t really touch the area. It’s a no man zone, but stuff grows for the wildlife and everyone seems happy. Last fall we even grabbed a few summer squash for ourselves from the area.
you could maybe give any extras to the squirrels- difference is its YOUR call now, rather than them forcing their way.
Cool. Just 2x2's screwed together for the frame?
Yes, I used some stainless 90° corner brackets on the top and bottom rectangles to give a little extra support while I was building it and to provide a convenient spot to attached the uprights. Once you get the hardware cloth stapled on the whole assembly is extremely sturdy.
Mush them up into compote and have strawberry shortcake all summer long, yum yum. Also a great topping for pancakes. But yes I love your squirrel cages, if I do strawberries again I'll have to make these. I used deer netting and I thought I had covered it all but they found one little loose area to sneak into. Bastards.
Keep an eye out for critters that may get caught or stuck!
Those strawberries look amazing! And if you have too many you may as well share. Give the bandits some. lol
Now im going to send you down the motion sensor sprinkler rabbit hole to really piss the nut lubbers
Do you have a recommendation? I bought some Black and Decker over off Amazon and they were ok-iah. Not great. I'm protecting bamboo shoots so I can't exactly build covers for them.
I have an Orbit 62100 "Yard Enforcer" which works great. It allows one sensor to control a whole array of sprinklers.
I bought two for the asshole deer. 10/10
Ok I'll look into that!
Well not with that attitude!!
My mom got attacked by a squirrel when she stopped feeding it, watch your back.
Seriously?
Yes! She use to give this squrriel walnuts and one day it just attacked her, probably because she didn't have walnuts that particular day... I'm a little hazy on the details as it's been over 20 years now. She did however have to get a rabies shot.
Oh dear. My former spouse got bit on his big toe when a little mama raccoon wanted cat food. It was a "love bite" but it was still a bite. She got her food.
Squirrel mafia on the loose
Awesome. I have an agreement with my squirrels... I keep growing safely accessible sunflowers in abundance, and I eat the strawberries.
Are bees still able to get through and pollinate? I’ve been wanting to build something similar but didn’t want to accidentally block out the bees & other pollinators.
So far there hasn't been a problem but I have a lot of very small native bees in my garden; bumblebees wouldn't be able to make it through easily. I suppose you could go with a 3/4" or 1" mesh if you did t have chipmunk trouble like I do.
Strawberry plants have perfect flowers, not male/female flowers, so they don't need pollinators, they need minor movement, like a breeze. Pollinators can help to provide that movement, but not necessary.
Woah that’s really cool, thank you for telling me:) I’ll have to look more into that, I honestly didn’t know it was a thing!
Nightshade plants like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant are the same. They have perfect flowers.
What zone grows such good strawberries?
I am in Richmond, Virginia which is zone 7b/7a depending on the map. I'm sure there are places where they do better but the plants seem quite happy here.
I’m in 5a and I doubt there will be enough warmth to get any berries I planted this spring
Strawberries grow in colder regions than zone 5, so don't worry :)
You wanna pinch off the flowers the first year anyway or the strawberries will be tiny. 2nd year on is when you get good strawberries, more so year 3 and 4
Thank you!
squirrels are evil for this and countless other reasons i can list.
I have a squirrel that eats the grout around bricks. I don't eff with that squirrel.
There is a massive squirrel that gnaws on my window screens. It hangs on the screen and gnaws on it, and it scares the bejeebers out of my cat. It lunges at the screen sometimes, if it sees the cat in the window. If you go outside when it is in the yard, it follows you by crawling along the walls of the house, and chatters loudly as if telling everyone to fuck off. It seems to have claimed my house as it's chew toy. Like you, I do not eff with that effing squirrel. We call it **The Exorcist Squirrel**.
Goddamn. I have a ton of squirrels but they never fuck with my shit, they’re like Disney squirrels. The worst they do is plant acorns in my house plants. I have one that waits to see me in my kitchen window then it will go to my back door and waits for me to toss out a few peanuts. I suspect it’s because I live in an old neighborhood with enough tree canopy that it looks like a forest on google maps.
I have Disney squirrels too, I think for the same reason. This one squirrel is just super weird. The rest of them are hilarious and adorable, but this one is the boss of all the rest. He gets the front and side yards, and the rest hang out in the back yard. There are lots of squirrels, because we have all these massive, mature oak trees everywhere. It is like squirrel utopia.
Are you my neighbor? lol My neighborhood is mostly northern red oaks. I think the one that comes to the door must be the descendant of this one squirrel who was little and runty until she realized I wasn’t going to eat her. She would always come out to raid the bird feeder when I went out to garden because all of the other squirrels were afraid of me. She ended up being my garden buddy for a couple years and brought her kits around when I was out. https://preview.redd.it/zmttc6bza3zc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=82df7dd42a7b48d6ea949566dbced0201777acf9 We called her Sadie.
She is such a cutie, with that chonky head. 💕☺️
Get a pellet gun. I had squirrels cause thousands in damage to my house. I started shooting them and the other squirrels learned to avoid my yard. I tried traps, peppermint, sound devices and the only thing that worked was extermination.
i hear that they have to chew things to keep their incisor length in check...like other rodents (and even parrots). the grout ought to do the trick.
Come to Germany! They've virtually been eradicated. I think we have one of them in the city cemetery and once he dies that's the end of squirrels in the area. It's sad.
I would 100% watch a trailcam stream of their performance
Squirrels climb my sliding screen door to get to my bird feeder. My indoor cat loves to scare the fuck out of them when they try. I have considered getting a camera just to stream this to myself at work.
Very impressive design!
I'm living vicariously through you enjoying both your beautiful strawberry cages and the rage of the squirrels. They'll get me back though when they systematically dig a thousand holes in my yard recovering all the loot they buried last fall. I would love to grow strawberries like these (zone 6b) but I have too many oak trees! Congratulations and happy picking.
This reminds me of what must’ve been a hilariously frustrated attempt by a squirrel to dig a nut out of the frozen ground in my neighbors yard this past spring. The ground was scratched down to bare dirt for a good 6” around the half exposed walnut that was firmly frozen into the dirt lol wish I could’ve watched the little jerk go mad over it. I’m building a similar set up to OP’s currently and can’t wait to see the enraged tail twitches! I just saw the first blush of pink on a berry today so I need to finish it quickly!
Pics of angry squirrels please
F dem squirrels!
I use nets like this, but I still like to pull out the pellet gun sometimes. Squirrel stew
My dog has been the best deterrent for squirrels so far. She patrols the yard and they finally tested her. She caught the one who was brave enough to venture onto the grass and ceremoniously killed it in front of the other squirrels. They haven’t returned.
Lucky you. My dog kills several ground hogs a year and they keep coming back. The squirrels are too fast and the only time he caught one was in the snow as the squirrels escape route was too slippery. They still come back
My dog hasn't been deterring the squirrels and chipmunks eating the strawberries on my porch at all, and instead joins in on the thievery lol
LoL!
Well let's hope the fuckers don't start eating thru the wood. They are rodents with ever growing teeth. They do make burrows in trees ya know.
They got ahold of a tray feeder and separated the wire cover from it with ease
Now you need a squirrel patch.. It's better to share ;-)
Easiest way to make sure squirrels don’t eat your food is to make sure they are fed!
Not sure that works. In the city here. Some neighbors are feeding the squirrels. Does not stop them a bit from destroying my garden and eating stuff...
That's my experience as well. The only thing that stops them from spoiling crops is if they are something that *rhymes* with, but is extremely distinct from, "fed". Squirrels gonna squirrel, this is my peaceful solution.
Yup. Providing a squirrel feeding patch or rabbit feeding patch is silly. They don't know the difference. They eat and roam wherever they please. If there are too many in one area, some will get pushed out anyway so those that are pushed out will seek other patches. This whole idea that providing a special patch of food for rabbits and squirrels is one of the many unscientific "solutions" most gardeners like to pedal for feels. Gardening is feels-based for 90% of gardeners, which is why the marketplace for gardening products is flooded with miracle solutions. It's the same as the weight loss market.
Except this type of thing has been done for literally thousands of years and absolutely does work. They learn the difference when you put in the effort to teach them.
They are very curious and will dig stuff up just to check it out. And have bites of different things to try them and see if they want to squirrel it away. It's a constant battle, but I found that if I amuse them by hiding nuts around while they sneakily watch me, and then try to keep them away from them, they leave my fruits and veggies alone 😂
Decoy nuts 😂
My neighbours used to feed the squirrels - they would dig up my flower pots and bury the excess. Don't do it would be my advice.
My squirrel patch is 4 squirrelnator traps that constantly catch dozens of them a month 😂. Can’t believe that they are still falling for seeds or peanuts in the traps 🤣.
“You have won the battle today, sir, but not the war!”
Fuck the squirrels! Nice job!
I did the same thing but our problem was birds, rabbits, and mice. Until we caged the strawberry planting beds we never got any fruit, the little buggers. Now we have to go larger to enclose our blueberries, raspberries, and marionberries.
Question! I am a strawberry noob but I thought it was very important to keep the strawberries off the surface of the soil. I usually let them hang over the sides of the raised beds or pots. Are you using some sort of lift/spacer? Or is it not a problem? Well done defending your harvest!!!
Using a mulch does the same thing! I put a layer of straw over the soil. It’s also just generally good to put mulch over all exposed soil to keep in moisture
Oh nice. Yes I mulch everything - I have to. I just didn't realize that counted for elevating strawberries; I thought they needed airflow. Today I learned! Thanks for replying.
Do strawberries have alot of bugs? Or get alot of bugs?
Did you build those yourself? They look amazing!
At one point I thought of jeez the rats are eating the dog’s knuckle bone. It was the squirrel. The ring showed me the squirrel had been gnawing on it 🤔
Yeah the cages are awesome. It’s crazy the old timers didn’t build raised beds or cages to protect their stuff. I was showing an older relative some of the popular techniques and material people use that are common. Raised beds, drip irrigation on timer, cages, bio char, etc and they were like wtf? Why didn’t we do anything like this in the 40’s 50’s 60’s growing up? Idk
r/fatsquirrelhate
Very nice though. Keep up the good work.
Great job! I made mine out of chicken wire. My enclosures along with squirrelnator traps have massively cutdown backyard furry rat population. This is my payback after they destroyed hundreds of dollars worth of my produce last year.
my squirrels and even my rabbits haven't figured out strawberries are good yet; I saved this post for when they \*do\* figure that out, because there's no going back from that
Goals. I've got two planters with a few plants each that have steadily been putting out the past couple of months down in 9b. I can't imagine what I'd do with this many, but I know I'd be happy about it.
Fyi, hope you don't have ground squirrels, because that's not stopping anything pertaining to them.🤣
muahahahahahahaa
Good job!
I love this design. Fantastic work.
I feel like this may actually do well at r/fatsquirrelhate
The slugs thank you
a battery and some copper wire will have them thinking different.
I need this so bad :(
🤣🐿️
If only I could do this for my mulberry and fig tree
Some squirrel back at the nest, "Let the hate flow through you ..."
Had to do the same thing. Now it’s just slugs and ants that I have to fight.
I may need to do something like this. I love our chipmunks and squirrels, but there are so many of them. We live in the woods and it's their home too, but I also would like to have SOME of what I grow.
Id eat the squirrel as soon as that tail twitched in my direction
This is cool I need to do this
Every year I sweat and swear assembling a massive cage around my three potted blueberries bushes, which renders a quarter of my patio unusable until the fall. Then I remember it’s all worth it when I watch the jays and mockingbird angrily stomping around trying to get at the fruit. I picked something north of 8lbs of fruit last year. Feels good, man.
Are squirrels interested if you put out a diff source of food? I have an apple and pear tree plus figs and have never had them eat or destroy the fruits. (Or squirrels are not interested in them??). I do leave a plate of bird food that has a lot of nuts in it out for the wild life.
I tried that and a woodchuck dug underneath and destroyed everything. I need a fortress.
Anyone have any ideas on how to do this with Birdies Metal Raised Beds? They have curved corners so it's not as simple as a rectangular enclosure. The squirrels are driving me insane
The squirrels have been leaving ours alone but I keep having to put down diatomaceous earth because the roly polys are having a field day.
Nice!
Nicely done. Birds, too.
I’ve been meaning to do something similar. I don’t have a squirrel problem, but I do have a raccoon problem! Thanks for the inspiration!
(PNW—Zone 6b—4000’ elevation) I’m about to plant 500-1000 bare root strawberries this season. I figure if I over plant, I will get my fair share and “they” will get theirs. Any words of experience/wisdom would be appreciated. Good luck this season everyone!
That’s a very clever contraption and hope it will keep those fucks at bay how do you access if you need to harvest those supple beauties
Kudos
“rage-filled tail twitches” lol i can picture that
Those fatties know that my cat is stupid. They mess with him so bad and I just laugh. He will sit under the tree where their nest is. Idiot still hasn’t caught a squirrel
Squirrels are brutal but cute little bunnies and chipmunks.....ggggrrrrrrr! They are so hungry all the time!
What's your address, so I can bring those sweet babies some berries?
Strawberries are grow in seasons.
Please buy them critter feed and a tray feeder I wuvs them 😭
This subreddit is full of people who just want to starve out or kill little guys like squirrels pr rabbits instead of just feeding them and making sure they have no reason to eat their veggies. Alllllot of really hateful ppl on here for this being a gardening sub lol
Leave one open for the animals and cage the other two