Squirrels
Sciurus carolinensis
Dig up newly planted bulbs and raid fruit and nuts. Lay wire mesh over pots and freshly planted bulb beds until shoots emerge.
How to know it
You will see the animal. What identifies squirrel damage rather than anything else is the neat excavation: a small conical hole with the soil scattered around it, and a bulb or a hoard removed rather than eaten in place.
What you'll see
- Newly planted bulbs dug up within days, with small holes and scattered compost.
- Freshly planted pots and containers excavated, often repeatedly.
- Nuts, sweetcorn cobs and stone fruit taken just before they ripen.
- Strips of bark torn from young trees in early summer, sometimes ring-barking a leader.
- Crocus and tulip beds thinned out year after year with no other explanation.
Where it comes from
Resident all year with two breeding seasons, in late winter and midsummer. Caching behavior in autumn is what drives bulb digging — the squirrel is burying its own hoard and finding yours — and pressure eases once natural food is abundant.
Any garden near mature trees or a park. Damage peaks in autumn during caching, and again in early summer when young animals disperse and strip bark.
Dealing with it
- Lay wire mesh or chicken wire over newly planted bulb beds and pots, pinned down, until the shoots are through.
- Plant bulbs deeply and firm the soil hard, then water — a disturbed, fluffy surface advertises the planting.
- Cover sweetcorn cobs and ripening fruit with mesh sleeves.
- Protect the trunks of young trees with spiral guards or mesh collars.
- Do not bother with repellents and deterrents; the evidence for them is thin and the squirrels adapt.
Keeping it out
- Plant tulips and crocus late, and cover the bed for the first few weeks.
- Grow bulbs in mesh baskets sunk into the ground.
- Choose daffodils and alliums, which squirrels leave alone, where damage is chronic.
- Keep bird feeders squirrel-proof and away from the beds you care about.
- Clear the tell-tale scattered compost so the site is not obvious.
What it goes for
Tulips, crocuses and other bulbs; sweetcorn, nuts, apples, plums and strawberries; the bark of young trees.
See also
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's bestiary at cottagegardencompanion.com