RE: Ground squirrel control

That looks like it. Thanks! 


Cyndi


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On
Behalf Of Vera Metzke
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2007 5:53 PM
To: gardenchat@hort.net
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Ground squirrel control

    would this by chance be it....I hightlighted it when it came
up....keeping it in mind!
Vera
 show details
 5/14/06
From: james singer <islandjim1@verizon.net>
To: gardenchat@hort.net

Cyndi, here's a post from another list re gopher/ground squirrel
problem--


I've tried electric fences before using a "small pet" transformer, and
that stopped the ground squirrels for a while -- then they started just
taking the shock and destroying things again.

So this year I covered the railroad ties that surround the garden with
wire mesh ("hardware cloth") so that any animals on them would have a
good "ground".  Then using a "large animal" transformer I put plastic
insulators on top of the railroad ties and ran the wire about an inch
and a half over the tie.

So far I've actually killed every ground squirrel that has tried to get
into the garden -- with zero damage to any of the plants!

Of course I have forgotten that the electric fence is there and I've
shocked myself a number of times.

Richard Primbs
Encinitas CA




On May 9, 2006, at 1:52 PM, Johnson Cyndi D Civ 95 CG/SCSRT wrote:

> Good weather and gardening, what more can you ask?
> I meant to take pictures of the gardens this weekend but once again 
> didn't get to it. It'll be in full bloom for a little while yet so 
> there's still plenty of time.
> I did most of my activity in the vegetable garden, figured I would get

> on top of the weeds there while they are still small. So the onions, 
> the lettuce, and the peas are all weeded and mulched. We are feeding 
> our ewes oat hay instead of alfalfa to help dry up their milk, and 
> they waste so much of it there's plenty of mulching material. The 
> tomatoes look pretty nice, the soybeans and the corn are up, but the 
> green beans I planted didn't sprout. Could be old seed...or maybe the 
> ravens ate them all...I figured I'd replant and see if it works. It's 
> very late to be doing that, green beans don't set real well in the 
> kind of heat we get in the summer, but what the heck - I don't need 
> many. And I direct seeded some eggplant and okra, pretty old packets 
> though, we'll see what happens there too. Peppers are hardening off 
> and will go in probably next weekend. One thing about cutting back 
> this year is I didn't buy new seed, so I'm getting rid of all those 
> old packets I was going to use "someday". Silly to keep old seed but I

> am a pack rat, no denying it. Now I can plant them with a clear 
> conscience  and I've even tossed those I know I won't use.
> We have gophers and ground squirrels galore. It's incredible, there 
> can't be 10 sq ft anywhere without a gopher hole in it. My husband has

> about 10 gopher traps set all over the place and as soon as he catches

> one and moves the trap to the next place, a new hole sprouts where he 
> just was. And ground squirrels, we have not seen them in years but 
> last night we saw two scampering in the vegetable garden. They do a 
> lot of damage to my irrigation system, plants, and they dig big 
> burrows. I hear they steal eggs from chickens too, but I've never seen

> that. Anyway we are trapping for them too.
> Sheesh!
> We bought a new ram lamb the other day, the girls need a boyfriend for

> next fall. Lots of pushing and shoving when you introduce a new member

> to the flock. Sometime during the night somebody busted through the 
> gate into the veg garden. My husband shouted for me that morning and 
> my heart just sank, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.

> They had walked on everything but didn't eat much so there was 
> surprisingly little damage considering. Talk about lucky.
> Out front the roses are blooming, not yet fully loaded but soon. The 
> dutch iris and bearded iris look great. The hardy geraniums are the 
> best I've ever seen them - maybe they really liked the wet/cool 
> weather we had since February? I've got to get after the vinca though,

> it will smother them. I've moved a bunch of daylilies, I don't even 
> know what colors they are so that will bear watching. The dry garden 
> looks very nice indeed although I still have bare spots. It's harder 
> now to plant in there, new natives want a season of almost regular 
> water while the established ones will hate that.
> Going out there with a watering can is not real practical but it may 
> be what I have to do. I have already lost a few of the new salvias to 
> gophers, grrr, it's what I get for not taking the time to make the 
> cages.
> But all in all, it's pretty good. Going to be about 90 today. Wish I 
> were outside...
>
> Cyndi
>
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Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4 W
Hardiness Zone 10
Heat Zone 10
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
Maximum 100 F [38 C]



On 5/7/07, Johnson Cyndi D Civ 95 CG/SCSRT
<cyndi.johnson@edwards.af.mil>
wrote:
>
> Some time back I was griping about ground squirrels, and someone sent 
> me a thing from another list - a guy who had set up a high-powered 
> hotwire so that the ground squirrels would get electrocuted when they 
> travelled over the wire.  It sounded like an interesting idea and 
> husband wants to try it, but I can't find the message. I think we 
> could figure it out - but if whoever sent that to me is still around, 
> and has the message, could you send it again? I can't find it in the 
> hort.net archives either, so maybe I'm remembering wrong, but decided
I would ask.
>
> Cyndi
>
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