Squirrel Proofing my Pecan Trees

[WM]

First, hurricane Rita wiped out most of my pecan crop. Then all the squirrels from the neighborhood wiped out the rest. So, I'm ready to start the process of protecting my next years crop. Killing them all is not an option so I need a plan.

Naturally, I'm going to trim back all the lower limbs so they can't jump from the house or the fence into the trees. My tree trunks are

3 feet from the corner of the fence, so I need to wrap all the lower trunks in a slick material that prevents them from climbing the pecan trees. And I don't want to damage my trees.

What material do I use to wrap the trunks in?

WM

[Dan C]

Flypaper.

[PipeDown]

Hope you don't have those genius squirrels that can complete a 20 step obstacle course to get to food. Flypaper seems too narrow but be anything but a one day annoyance. They do make a similar sticky wrap for gypsy moth (larva) trapping but that probably wouldn't work either.

Try some aluminum foil smeared with Vaseline and capsaicin (red hot chili pepper powder) or another repellant. Once they learn they taste bad and are slippery they will be able to spot them from far away and leave your trees alone.

[yellowbirddog]

Sheet metal or stove pipe. You can even try coating the very top with petroleum jelly, just in case. The critical part will be the seam. That would be the only place where they might get a toe hold if you're sloppy.

Remember, squirrels can jump higher than you might think. Four feet of sheet metal probably wouldn't be enough, for example. Trapping and drowning wouldn't hurt, either.

[Bill Kearney]

I hang a hummingbird feeder on the sheppard's hook, smearing it with vaseline mixed with hot sauce worked great. Actually saw one of the bastards try climbing it. Got about halfway up, jumped off, licked paws and RAN LIKE HELL. Damned vermin.

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle.

i tried to google it but could not find it . the electric Power company have them on poles on the 10,000 volt service poles and they are pretty good at stopping a squirrel from going up the pole. it is about a 5 foot ring the surround the pole with a flate sheet metal pipe and then a 3 foor extention ring that comes out about 2 feet made of slick ass sheet metal or steel. this Extenion will look like a mushroom shape about middle ways of the cover pipe of the trunk of the tree. I would say this that a squirrel would not go by this stop stuff they have. He would have to just go around this thing by another way.

TURTLE