In my previous post I bemoaned the invasion of unidentified rodents in our garden. On my sister's advice, I contacted the local extension office to see if someone there could identify the pests and give me some advice about getting rid of them. Unfortunately, they did not identify it, nor did the master gardeners to whom they forwarded my email. All they sent were some non-helpful links I had already seen.
So I emailed our local horticulture expert. I knew she was out of town for the summer, and might not be in range of an internet connection, but she replied promptly. She said it was NOT a vole, mole, mouse, rat, gopher, marmot, or prairie dog. She was quite sure we are invaded by some species of ground squirrel. She made some suggestions, and sent me a very useful link about ground squirrel control. Not only is the article helpful, but the comments are also quite educational.
Following suggestions from her and from the article, I continued to place Juicy Fruit gum in their burrows on a daily basis. I set out six 5-gallon buckets with water in them, sprinkled sunflower seeds on top, and set up a board for a ramp to the top of the bucket. I was able to borrow a live animal trap from Fish and Game. I bought several colorful pinwheels and set them out in the garden, hoping the motion would upset the rodents. I also bought a different kind of sonic rodent repellent devices to put in the garden.
The only critter to drown in the water traps was a tree squirrel, which was not an intended victim. The live animal trap has been sprung twice but remained empty. The deer enjoyed the buckets of water and the sunflower seeds floating on top.
Nevertheless, we aren't seeing as many of those ground squirrels running around. I did find one corpse out in the yard, so maybe it finally ate enough gum to destroy its digestive system. We have no way of knowing whether there are more bodies in the burrows.
I do hope any remaining critters will leave the green beans alone! They are just now starting to blossom, as are the green peppers. There are little tomatoes starting to form, and the corn is beginning to tassel. I have been picking raspberries every few days. I have harvested one zucchini and one yellow straightneck squash. If the varmints will just leave everthing alone now, I might get enough produce to warrant all the work I have put into the garden, plus the expense of extra water.
Here's hoping!
I hope you figure it out and rid your garden of those pests. Is there no end to the critters that can ruin a garden?
Deer, mice, gophers, voles, moles, ground squirrels, birds, grasshoppers.....probably no end to the list!
Nobody can say you haven't done your best. I'll be forever grateful it's only mice and wireworms I have to contend with. I hope the remaining critters loathe peppers, beans, corn and tomatoes. The best of luck!
Thank you for the well-wishes!!
Ohh THANK YOU for this!
Bugs and cute furry mammals (and weeds, and poison ivy) continue to plague my own gardening efforts.
It's easier to show no mercy to a bug.
But the little ground squirrels are so
cuteDESTRUCTIVE (note to self) -DO NOT FALL FOR THE CUTENESS!
Juicy fruit gum. For real???
Perhaps not:
Why should we wage war on the cute little critters?
Does Chewing Gum Kill Squirrels? Facts vs Myths
Looks as if you found even more interesting reading material on the subject! It's easy to fall into the save-the-wildlife and oh-it's-so-cute way of thinking. But when they are eating what I intended to live on all winter, that sheds a whole new light on the issue.
YES
Cute, "save the furries," let them eat our gardens - I know a tender-hearted soul who loses all her strawberries to cute little bunnies. Another friend, also in the Midwest, has a son who pulled his pistol out to take down the bunny who was eating her peas. Not the peas! That is grounds for war. Says the woman who lost most of her peas to bunnies this year. The one year I finally managed to grow peas (an celery!) - and the bunnies pillaged, and the dogs didn't stop them, nor did I.
If you have a garden, there will be some sort of critter/bug waiting to eat it. We all have something different that is trying to ruin our hard work.
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