How to Protect a Pumpkin From Squirrels

Squirrels can chew into ripening pumpkins and eat the flesh and seeds. This ruins the pumpkins and can damage your entire patch. Prevent damage by protecting the pumpkins from squirrels. Use solutions that will deter squirrels from going into the area, or cover the pumpkins so squirrels either can't see them or don't have access to them.

Things You'll Need

• Petroleum jelly
• Hot pepper sauce
• Hay
• Mulch
• Bucket

Instructions

Hot Pepper Sauce

1. Mix 1 cup petroleum jelly with 1 tbsp. hot pepper sauce.

2. Rub a thin coat of the jelly over your pumpkins. Squirrels hate the smell of hot pepper sauce, and they will not come near the pumpkins.

3. Replace the petroleum jelly when it wears off or after rain.

Covering

1. Spread a thin layer of hay over the pumpkins. Squirrels will not eat pumpkins that they cannot see.

2. Spread a thin layer of mulch over the pumpkins, but don't cover them completely, because blocking out all light may kill the pumpkin plant.

3. Leave the layer on the pumpkins until they are ripe and ready for picking.

Raising

1. Set a bucket upside down on top of the soil.

2. Set the pumpkin on top of the bucket. The squirrel will not eat the pumpkin if it is too far out of reach.

3. Let the pumpkin ripen on top of the bucket.

References

• StarTribune; Fixit: Protecting Pumpkins From Hungry Squirrels; Karen Youso; October 2006
• PlanetGreen.com; Protect Pumpkins and Squashes From Animal Pests; Colleen Vanderlinden; September 2009