How to Keep Squirrels Away From Pumpkins

Squirrels can be a nightmare to exterminate from a garden.

Squirrels can cause havoc in any garden. Squirrels are rodents like mice and rats and they especially like garden vegetables, such as pumpkins. You can find squirrels in parks and zoos asking for treats and in forests collecting feed. However, squirrels can enter your garden and ruin your year's work by eating up vegetables, fruits and plants. This is why it is important to keep squirrels away from your garden all year-round. Fortunately, several inexpensive tools can help you scare away all squirrels from your pumpkins.

Things You'll Need

• Hair clippings
• Used cat litter
• Petroleum jelly
• Tabasco chili sauce
• Paint brush
• Shake-Away powdered fox urine
• Electric Fence

Instructions

Home Tricks

1. Scatter a handful of hair clippings around the pumpkins you wish to protect. The hair will annoy the squirrels as they sniff it in through their nostrils and it will keep the squirrels away from your garden. You can use the same technique against rabbits.

2. Scatter used cat litter around the pumpkins. The squirrels will keep away from the pumpkins if they smell the cat's urine in the litter. Refresh the litter once a month. Put a plastic or textile cat near the pumpkins to make the squirrels think there is a real cat in the garden.

3. Mix petroleum jelly and Tabasco chili sauce. Spread the cream on the pumpkin's skin with a paint brush. The spicy hot sensation of the Tabasco sauce will burn the squirrels' mouth and keep them away from your pumpkins.

4. Sprinkle Shake-Away fox urine powder around the borders of your garden. The fox urine smell will make the squirrels think that there is a fox in the garden and they will keep away from your pumpkins.

Electric Fencing

1. Set up an electric fence around your garden. The electric fence will shock the squirrels and they will not return.

2. Cut off any branches that hang over the fence to stop squirrels climbing into your garden through tree branches.

3. Set the fence poles around the periphery of your garden following the manufacturer's instructions. Read the manual to find out how much distance you need to leave between each pole and to determine the correct operating voltage for the fence.

Tips & Warnings

• Collect dog urine and place it around the garden in open containers. The urine smell will scare the squirrels away.

• Put signs on the electric fence to warn passersby about the electric charge.

References

• Backyard Nature: Squirrels
• Star Tribune; Fixit: Protecting Pumpkins From Hungry Squirrels; Karen Youso; October 13, 2006
• Squirrel X: Vegetable Garden Squirrel Control