Pest Control

In August a squirrel started to rob Jinean's tomato plant :

AND MY PRICELESS COTTON CROP!

What To Do, What To Do!

Went to Google. Punched in squirrel repellent. I found all kind of stuff from $8.00 and up. Plus shipping. I don't want to wait for an order to arrive!

THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!

I kept looking. Here it is! Squirrels don't like cayenne pepper!

Here is the recipe:

1 small bottle of hot pepper sauce.
1 tsp dishwashing soup.
1 gallon of water.
Spray liberally on the plants.

Guaranteed to work!

I made up two gallons of the stuff using a 5 ounce bottle of Frank's Extra Hot Cayenne Pepper Sauce, the soap and the water.

So Far So Good! I hope this critter doesn't get a liking for pepper sauce!

Well the pepper sauce didn't work! 

Plan B

Our neighbor suggested ammonia on a sponge under the plants. This worked to a degree, but the ammonia had to be refreshed at least twice a day.

Plan C.

Moth balls! I read somewhere that if you put mothballs loose under the plants that the critters will move them and then eat the plants. The secret is to put them in something and tie them to the plants, so they can not be moved. This is working well.

It ain't fancy, but a little window screen, a piece of string, some 
electrical tape and, of course moth balls, we cut the thefts by about 90%. After a while they started to ignore the mothballs and ate the cotton bolls anyway.

The only way to protect your crop from critters is to fence your crop. Either a fenced in area or individually.

2006

Member Jerry had his cotton crop eaten by squirrels or a woodchuck last year. A friend of ours who gardens extensively, (flowers only and refuses my attempts to give her some cotton seed), says that to keep rabbits away is to spread human hair around the plants. A visit to your local barber shop to get some floor sweepings might be worth while if you encounter this problem.

I went to the barber shop for a haircut and both barbers confirmed the fact that human hair repels all critters. They stated that human hair retains its human scent a long time, and one of the barbers has a vegetable garden and uses hair to protect his crop. Both barbers were more than willing to save their floor sweepings for me. We will give it a try. 

Harvest Time 
The squirrels did the harvesting.
Ten of my plants were completely stripped of cotton bolls. Human hair may work for other critters, but not for squirrels! Moth balls work the best, but not that well. If you have a yard full of friendly squirrels as I do, don't  plant cotton unless you can fence the area. 

2007

Fencing. The only way to go is fencing.

Well maybe not! 
At Home Depot I found a product called "Critter Ridder"  I'm going to give it a try.

I think Critter Ridder would be better on a salad then as a squirrel repellant. ( It is mostly hot pepper.) Anyway, it didn't work! 

Fencing
 The only way to go is fencing.

Got this plastic barrel from my neighbor. It is 24 inches in diameter. I wrap a piece of 1 inch chicken wire, 36 inches high around it, secure it with a couple of bungee cords, cut it off,  and solder the ends together. Labor intensive, but it works.

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