We have not had a deer in our yard this year (extreme hard knocking on wood), but we have had plenty of squirrels. Squirrels can inflict almost as much damage to a garden and plants as deer and nothing seems to stop them – except a product from Messinas called Squirrel Stopper. This stuff really works.
We had some beautiful red tomatoes ripening on the vines on our patio and the very day we were going to pick them, squirrels either snatched them off the vines or chewed unsightly holes in the sides. They don’t eat the whole tomato; they just ruin them – the little bastards!
We have tried hot pepper chemicals before, to keep them out of flower pots and bird feeders only to see them later sprinkling a little of the pepper on their squirrel pizzas, so that didn’t work.
The guy at Southern States said he had something guaranteed to keep squirrels at bay – Squirrel Stopper. And it does.
Simply spray the stuff around the plants and – no squirrels. They say the spray smells like “death” to squirrels, and who wants to smell death? You don’t spray it on the fruit or vegetable, just near it and it does the trick. We now have had lots of vine ripened tomatoes! I am excited about this product for next year’s garden.
When I plant in the spring, the very next day the damned squirrels are in the garden rooting around and digging up bulbs and seeds. I guess they think I may have buried an acorn in there somewhere, so they dig stuff up and I have to replant or fill in the rows. And they get into my ripe tomatoes as well – biting holes in any and all they think may have a valuable nut inside. But I just picked my first “Abraham Lincoln” tomato and it was blemish-free.
The stuff is supposed to be good for up to 30 days, but I’ll probably use it every two weeks. This is truly an exciting development for backyard gardeners. It’s available in a 15-oz. aerosol spray can at Southern States for about a $10. Try some. It really works.