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#1
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squirrels attacking maple trees
I have a couple of big silver maples, 40 years old and about three feet
in diameter. I've noticed in the past few years that fox squirrels are trying to dig a hole in each tree by clawing and biting. Each wound is in the trunk, about chest high, where a small limb has been removed years ago and the trunk is growing out around the stub. So there is already a kind of recess in the trunk, and they are trying to turn it into a hole. I have noticed that sometimes a lot of thin sap runs out of the wound and wets the side of the trunk. Sometimes woodpeckers also do their work on the same wound. What is the best way to stop the damage and make the trees live longer? |
#2
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squirrels attacking maple trees
On 12/29/2011 2:54 PM, Matt wrote:
I have a couple of big silver maples, 40 years old and about three feet in diameter. I've noticed in the past few years that fox squirrels are trying to dig a hole in each tree by clawing and biting. Each wound is in the trunk, about chest high, where a small limb has been removed years ago and the trunk is growing out around the stub. So there is already a kind of recess in the trunk, and they are trying to turn it into a hole. I have noticed that sometimes a lot of thin sap runs out of the wound and wets the side of the trunk. Sometimes woodpeckers also do their work on the same wound. What is the best way to stop the damage and make the trees live longer? Make the lives of the squirrels shorter! Don |
#3
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squirrels attacking maple trees
On 12/29/2011 03:21 PM, IGot2P wrote:
On 12/29/2011 2:54 PM, Matt wrote: I have a couple of big silver maples, 40 years old and about three feet in diameter. I've noticed in the past few years that fox squirrels are trying to dig a hole in each tree by clawing and biting. Each wound is in the trunk, about chest high, where a small limb has been removed years ago and the trunk is growing out around the stub. So there is already a kind of recess in the trunk, and they are trying to turn it into a hole. I have noticed that sometimes a lot of thin sap runs out of the wound and wets the side of the trunk. Sometimes woodpeckers also do their work on the same wound. What is the best way to stop the damage and make the trees live longer? Make the lives of the squirrels shorter! Don I will probably take that as my Plan B. |
#4
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squirrels attacking maple trees
On 12/29/2011 2:54 PM, Matt wrote:
I have a couple of big silver maples, 40 years old and about three feet in diameter. I've noticed in the past few years that fox squirrels are trying to dig a hole in each tree by clawing and biting. Each wound is in the trunk, about chest high, where a small limb has been removed years ago and the trunk is growing out around the stub. So there is already a kind of recess in the trunk, and they are trying to turn it into a hole. I have noticed that sometimes a lot of thin sap runs out of the wound and wets the side of the trunk. Sometimes woodpeckers also do their work on the same wound. What is the best way to stop the damage and make the trees live longer? They can't claw away healthy wood. They're removing rotting wood to make a nest. It won't necessarily injure the tree - this is, after all, how wild squirrels make their homes - but if a tree has several such holes, you may want to have an arborist give you an evaluation of the overall health of the tree. Usually, once you get a hole in the trunk, you get decay starting in it. It used to be advised to fill the hole with cement, but they've found that doesn't stem the progress of the decay. Usually you can keep the tree well-watered and healthy for several more years, although if the decay eventually becomes substantial you'll have to take it down. Like I said, ask an arborist for an opinion. Some cities have arborists on staff; if your city does, you can probably get a free consult. |
#5
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squirrels attacking maple trees
On 12/29/2011 03:47 PM, Hell Toupee wrote:
On 12/29/2011 2:54 PM, Matt wrote: I have a couple of big silver maples, 40 years old and about three feet in diameter. I've noticed in the past few years that fox squirrels are trying to dig a hole in each tree by clawing and biting. Each wound is in the trunk, about chest high, where a small limb has been removed years ago and the trunk is growing out around the stub. So there is already a kind of recess in the trunk, and they are trying to turn it into a hole. I have noticed that sometimes a lot of thin sap runs out of the wound and wets the side of the trunk. Sometimes woodpeckers also do their work on the same wound. What is the best way to stop the damage and make the trees live longer? They can't claw away healthy wood. They're removing rotting wood to make a nest. It won't necessarily injure the tree - this is, after all, how wild squirrels make their homes - but if a tree has several such holes, you may want to have an arborist give you an evaluation of the overall health of the tree. Usually, once you get a hole in the trunk, you get decay starting in it. It used to be advised to fill the hole with cement, but they've found that doesn't stem the progress of the decay. Usually you can keep the tree well-watered and healthy for several more years, although if the decay eventually becomes substantial you'll have to take it down. Like I said, ask an arborist for an opinion. Some cities have arborists on staff; if your city does, you can probably get a free consult. Yes, I know they are trying to provide housing to their descendants and kill off a tree that provides no food, while they are planting acorns all around. They are causing injury to the outer layer of wood (the new growth ring). They are biting and digging through bark and into healthy wood. They are not mainly removing rotting wood. The trees are mainly healthy. |
#6
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squirrels attacking maple trees
"Matt" wrote in message
... I have a couple of big silver maples, 40 years old and about three feet in diameter. stuff snipped What is the best way to stop the damage and make the trees live longer? You can buy commercial repellents designed to deter squirrels. Gardening stores often sell repellent sprays, which have a bitter taste that deters squirrels from gnawing on trees. Repellents containing thiram or capsaicin (same as the pepper spray used to repel OWS'ers g) work well to deter squirrels. You can make your own with ground pepper or pepper oil. Some people use shields - a 1 or 2 foot band of thin metal sheeting around the trunk of the tree allegedly keeps squirrels from climbing above the metal band. This remedy does not work when trees are close together or squirrels have an aerial path to the tree trunk. Plus, it looks like hell. Personally, I use three Hav-a-hart traps baited with pudding cups with peanut butter smeared on the inside. I tie one of the cups just beyond the trap treadle and the other I place at the entrance to the trap. The traps have two doors so that it can be set to catch animals that are shy about entering an enclosed space. I've found over the years that too many of them were able to zoom out head first as soon as they heard the trap closing and were able to escape before the trap closed. Now, after they feast on the freebie at the entrance to the trap, all but one or two of the oldest, wisest and fattest squirrels enter to get the second cup. They walk all around it first, and even climb on top of it, trying to avoid entering the trap. Some even leave for a while. But they almost always come back for that second cup. Since they are nose first in the trap, the doors swats them on the butt and they actually move further inside and help the trap to shut. I used to transport them in a small animal carrier to the big agricultural park a few miles from here until one got loose in the van on the way to his new home. Now they are relocated to squirrel heaven. I had one get into my house when I was gone for a week. I came into the house, saw stuff strewn around, drapes pulled down and finally, when I went to take a leak, I saw the rim of the toilet bowl was covered with dirt! "Who on earth," I thought, "would break into my house to stand on the toilet with very dirty shoes?" After hours and hours of searching I found Rocky wedged into a tiny space behind the over. I had borrowed my friend's cat (and him) to help in the hunt. The cat was sitting in a carrier in the living room when we heard the squirrel barking as we got near the stove. At the time I didn't know the wide range of noises squirrels can make so I didn't know at first WHAT was behind the oven. I made a loopstick out of phone wire and some old oak picture framing and yanked him out - the fattest squirrel I had ever seen - he made the oak bend he was so heavy. Then with the squirrel fighting and chattering like a whirling dervish, my friend opened the window and out went the squirrel and loopstick. All the while we're doing this, the poor cat locked in the carrier in the other room starts yowling away, apparently thinking whatever is happening to the squirrel in the other room was going to happen to her next. It was quiet a welcome home party. -- Bobby G. |
#7
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squirrels attacking maple trees
On Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:56:25 -0600, Matt
wrote: They are causing injury to the outer layer of wood (the new growth ring). They are biting and digging through bark and into healthy wood. They are not mainly removing rotting wood. The trees are mainly healthy. Wire cloth / mesh? Sized to order. They need to chew because of the size of their teeth :\ |
#8
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squirrels attacking maple trees
I have a couple of big silver maples, 40 years old and about three feet in diameter. stuff snipped What is the best way to stop the damage and make the trees live longer? I'm getting ready to fabricate traps out of 55 gal barrels, and some 4" PVC. The three foot or so PVC has a tipping point slightly off center so it resets itself. It is open on both ends, but placed so the squirrel goes in one end. There's a trigger on the bait. When he reaches the bait and trigger, he's well past the balance point. When he hits the bait trigger, the tube is released, and it pivots. His weight causes him instantly to plummet into 18" of water. The tube resets itself under its own weight and balance point. The bait stays put, either being peanut butter slathered inside the tube, or pecans wired on the trigger. It's a reusable trap and resets itself. I built one last year, and it worked good. I intend to make four this year so we can try to keep the squirrels under control and out of our fruit trees. Steve |
#9
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squirrels attacking maple trees
Matt wrote:
I have a couple of big silver maples, 40 years old and about three feet in diameter. I've noticed in the past few years that fox squirrels are trying to dig a hole in each tree by clawing and biting. Each wound is in the trunk, about chest high, where a small limb has been removed years ago and the trunk is growing out around the stub. So there is already a kind of recess in the trunk, and they are trying to turn it into a hole. I have noticed that sometimes a lot of thin sap runs out of the wound and wets the side of the trunk. What you should have done when the limb was removed was to perform a correct clean-cut of the limb at the trunk and then paint over the stub with pruning paint. The black tarry paint will water-proof the wood (and it is wood that you've just exposed - lumber if you will) and will prevent this wood from rotting while the tree grows over it. If you look at exposed wood that hasn't been painted, if the area is large enough the tree can't grow over it fast enough before it rots and prevents the bark from completing it's growth over it, leaving a permanent cavity that will just continue to rot and eventually become the reason why the tree must be cut down. With that said, I also notice that squirrels will chew on the TOP side of horizontal branches of maples (particularly sugar maples) and will remove large areas of bark on the top side close to the trunk (THE SIDE YOU CAN'T SEE FROM THE GROUND) and will eventually kill the branch. The squirrels are doing this because there is probably too many of them in your local area and not enough food supply, and they're going after the bark because there's not much else for them to eat. Again, applying a thick coating of black pruning paint seems to repel them from continuing to damage the branch, and the coating will give the branch a fighting chance to grow it's bark back. I've done this on a few of my maple trees, and to a chestnut, and have also applied the paint to the top side of other branches that show no (or minimal) squirrel damage. What is the best way to stop the damage and make the trees live longer? You've got to approach this like a carpenter, and imagine that just under the bark surface what you have is wood - lumber. And just like your deck will rot in a few years when it's exposed rain and dampness, so too will the inside of a tree unless you take steps to waterproof it and prevent cavities from forming. The bark must be allowed to grow over these exposed areas, and the bark won't or can't grow back over top of rotted-out wood and cavities. And maybe buy a few 40-lb bags of black-oil or striped sunflower seeds and throw some down every few days for the squirrels to eat - instead of them eating the bark of your trees. |
#10
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squirrels attacking maple trees
On Thu, 29 Dec 2011 22:36:27 -0500, Home Guy wrote:
The squirrels are doing this because there is probably too many of them in your local area and not enough food supply, and they're going after the bark because there's not much else for them to eat. Reverse course. Plan C: simmered squirrel, brown gravy and fresh biscuits. |
#11
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squirrels attacking maple trees
"Steve B" wrote in message
... I have a couple of big silver maples, 40 years old and about three feet in diameter. stuff snipped What is the best way to stop the damage and make the trees live longer? I'm getting ready to fabricate traps out of 55 gal barrels, and some 4" PVC. I knew there was going to be trouble dumping all that nuclear waste in Nevada! Them's some might big squirrels you're looking to catch, pahdner. (-: My wife absolutely hates even have the little 3' Hav-a-harts scattered around the house. She would go into full-scale rebellion if I put 55 gal drums around. But I do admire the one-step nature of your solution. I used to put the whole trap in a heavyweight clear plastic bag and then spray enough ether (starting fluid spray) to know them out for transport. My wife hated that method since it tended to fill the house with ether fumes. "The neighbors will think we're running a meth lab!" The auto store clerk looked at me like I was a huffer when I'd pick up six cans of the stuff when it went on sale. Another reason to dispatch them quickly is that the older ones are usually crawling with parasites of all sorts. A fair number of them are crippled, too, missing eyes and ears or having some other malady (one had what looked very much like a small caliber "through and through" wound. I sextuple bag them to make sure the parasite don't jump ship and end up on my dog. Now, I have converted a cattle prod to just stun them with stun being a euphemism for electrocute. Very quick and mostly painless from what I can tell. I used to spend considerable time and effort to relocate them to the park, but after the one got loose in the van and climbed up onto my head (Gott what sharp, nastly claws) and another bit my thumb during the transfer process, it was no more Mr. Nice Guy. As I am sure you've noticed, they look just like kissing cousins of rats when they're soaking wet and that cute fluffy tail slicks down to a narrow diameter. I'm sure those brought on Bambi are horrified, but that one damn squirrel that spent a week in my house did thousands of dollars of damage to all the Andersen windows in the house trying to chew his way out. The molding and woodwork on the basement casement-style windows got particularly savaged. My feeling is once you come onto my turf, you've earned whatever happens. Squirrel or burglar. I still find ossified squirrel turds on upper shelves, on top of the free-standing bookcases, etc. In the spring and fall, I can catch up to 7 a day and sometimes they're just waiting around for me to reset the trap. Aside from the damage, the little suckers are always activating the front door motion sensor. When it chimes three time in an hour, out go the traps. The three foot or so PVC has a tipping point slightly off center so it resets itself. It is open on both ends, but placed so the squirrel goes in one end. There's a trigger on the bait. When he reaches the bait and trigger, he's well past the balance point. When he hits the bait trigger, the tube is released, and it pivots. His weight causes him instantly to plummet into 18" of water. Clever! Put it over a fire and you've got yourself Chunky Squirrel Soup. I surprised they don't figure out a way to get out. I guess it's hard to jump up from the water. I've seen them to some pretty impressive vertical leaps. I also watch them just hanging off the "squirrel guard" on my neighbor's bird feeder like little Flying Wallendas. The tube resets itself under its own weight and balance point. The bait stays put, either being peanut butter slathered inside the tube, or pecans wired on the trigger. It's a reusable trap and resets itself. I built one last year, and it worked good. I intend to make four this year so we can try to keep the squirrels under control and out of our fruit trees. I have a wonderful elderly neighbor who has four or five bird feeders around her house. Ever since they went up, the squirrel population skyrocketed as well. I'm practicing ZSPG - zero squirrel population growth. -- Bobby G. |
#12
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squirrels attacking maple trees
"Home Guy" wrote in message ...
stuff snipped And maybe buy a few 40-lb bags of black-oil or striped sunflower seeds and throw some down every few days for the squirrels to eat - instead of them eating the bark of your trees. I probably wouldn't do that since my neighbor's multiple and well-stocked bird feeders are what caused the explosion in the local squirrel population. With a good supply of food, they'll make a good supply of squirrel pups. Rodent populations tend to expand very rapidly in the presence of a copious food source. Maybe if you laced the feed with birth control hormones . . . -- Bobby G. |
#13
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squirrels attacking maple trees
Matt wrote:
Yes, I know they are trying to provide housing to their descendants and kill off a tree that provides no food, while they are planting acorns all around. They are causing injury to the outer layer of wood (the new growth ring). They are biting and digging through bark and into healthy wood. They are not mainly removing rotting wood. The trees are mainly healthy. So build a squirrel house or two and mount it up in the tree. They will probably take to it right away and solve your problem for you. Jon |
#14
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squirrels attacking maple trees
"Matt" wrote in message
... I have a couple of big silver maples, 40 years old and about three feet in diameter. . . . What is the best way to stop the damage and make the trees live longer? If your trees have grown to 3 ft. diameter in 40 years, they seem so exceptioally vigorous you need do nothing to make them live longer. -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) |
#15
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squirrels attacking maple trees
And maybe buy a few 40-lb bags of black-oil or striped sunflower seeds and throw some down every few days for the squirrels to eat - instead of them eating the bark of your trees. Yeah, at $30 a bag, that's going to happen. Steve |
#16
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squirrels attacking maple trees
On Dec 29, 2:54*pm, Matt wrote:
I have a couple of big silver maples, 40 years old and about three feet in diameter. snip What is the best way to stop the damage and make the trees live longer? Silver maples are one of our commonest fast growing weed trees. Any city with a large population of these trees has rather high damage problem after every high wind weather event. Considering the size and probable condition of your trees , it would be prudent to plan the removal and replacement as soon as you can. Contact a tree service soon and if winter work suits them have the work done now. It will probably be cheaper, since dry wood and bare branches make it easier. Come spring, have a better variety put in place and enjoy. Sturdy Norway maples are good in many places, but your location might have even better species. This advice is based on BTDT, as they say. My losses over the years from white maple disasters, mostly insured, have been several thousand dollars. Tends to give you an attitude. Joe |
#17
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squirrels attacking maple trees
"Don Phillipson" wrote in message ... "Matt" wrote in message ... I have a couple of big silver maples, 40 years old and about three feet in diameter. . . . What is the best way to stop the damage and make the trees live longer? If your trees have grown to 3 ft. diameter in 40 years, they seem so exceptioally vigorous you need do nothing to make them live longer. -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) I like two 220v, (440 where available) bare copper 3/0 wires running up the trees, one inch apart. Slathered, of course with peanut butter, or sprayed with peanut oil. This minimizes the damage from squirrels. Steve |
#18
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squirrels attacking maple trees
On 12/30/2011 02:37 AM, Jon Danniken wrote:
Matt wrote: Yes, I know they are trying to provide housing to their descendants and kill off a tree that provides no food, while they are planting acorns all around. They are causing injury to the outer layer of wood (the new growth ring). They are biting and digging through bark and into healthy wood. They are not mainly removing rotting wood. The trees are mainly healthy. So build a squirrel house or two and mount it up in the tree. They will probably take to it right away and solve your problem for you. Jon Thankfully squirrels limit the sizes of their families so their offspring always have places to live. I expect they would move in to the house and be grateful and satisfied so that they and their descendants would never try to live anywhere else. |
#19
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squirrels attacking maple trees
On 12/29/2011 05:36 PM, Robert Green wrote:
"Matt" wrote in message ... I have a couple of big silver maples, 40 years old and about three feet in diameter. stuff snipped What is the best way to stop the damage and make the trees live longer? I had one get into my house when I was gone for a week. I came into the house, saw stuff strewn around, drapes pulled down and finally, when -- Bobby G. Were you feeding the squirrels by any chance? Doesn't sound like it, but ... I knew a guy who had a 12-foot shack/cabin in the country, and he used to feed the red squirrels. He went away for a week or more and returned to find that the squirrels had gotten into the shack and turn things upside down looking for food. Red squirrels are little and probably didn't have much trouble squeezing through some little crevice into the shack. |
#20
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squirrels attacking maple trees
On 12/29/2011 09:36 PM, Home Guy wrote:
Matt wrote: I have a couple of big silver maples, 40 years old and about three feet in diameter. I've noticed in the past few years that fox squirrels are trying to dig a hole in each tree by clawing and biting. Each wound is in the trunk, about chest high, where a small limb has been removed years ago and the trunk is growing out around the stub. So there is already a kind of recess in the trunk, and they are trying to turn it into a hole. I have noticed that sometimes a lot of thin sap runs out of the wound and wets the side of the trunk. What you should have done when the limb was removed was to perform a correct clean-cut of the limb at the trunk and then paint over the stub with pruning paint. The black tarry paint will water-proof the wood (and it is wood that you've just exposed - lumber if you will) and will prevent this wood from rotting while the tree grows over it. If you look at exposed wood that hasn't been painted, if the area is large enough the tree can't grow over it fast enough before it rots and prevents the bark from completing it's growth over it, leaving a permanent cavity that will just continue to rot and eventually become the reason why the tree must be cut down. With that said, I also notice that squirrels will chew on the TOP side of horizontal branches of maples (particularly sugar maples) and will remove large areas of bark on the top side close to the trunk (THE SIDE YOU CAN'T SEE FROM THE GROUND) and will eventually kill the branch. The squirrels are doing this because there is probably too many of them in your local area and not enough food supply, and they're going after the bark because there's not much else for them to eat. Again, applying a thick coating of black pruning paint seems to repel them from continuing to damage the branch, and the coating will give the branch a fighting chance to grow it's bark back. I've done this on a few of my maple trees, and to a chestnut, and have also applied the paint to the top side of other branches that show no (or minimal) squirrel damage. What is the best way to stop the damage and make the trees live longer? You've got to approach this like a carpenter, and imagine that just under the bark surface what you have is wood - lumber. And just like your deck will rot in a few years when it's exposed rain and dampness, so too will the inside of a tree unless you take steps to waterproof it and prevent cavities from forming. The bark must be allowed to grow over these exposed areas, and the bark won't or can't grow back over top of rotted-out wood and cavities. Thanks for the insights. So it makes sense that they are tearing up the bark and trunk around the stub of the limb, stopping it from growing around the stub. I'll look into the pruning paint idea if you think it will still do some good. And maybe buy a few 40-lb bags of black-oil or striped sunflower seeds and throw some down every few days for the squirrels to eat - instead of them eating the bark of your trees. Whoops, I was with you until that last paragraph. It sounds like a way to produce more tree-destroying squirrels. |
#21
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squirrels attacking maple trees
On 12/29/2011 11:09 PM, Robert Green wrote:
"Home Guy" wrote in message ... stuff snipped And maybe buy a few 40-lb bags of black-oil or striped sunflower seeds and throw some down every few days for the squirrels to eat - instead of them eating the bark of your trees. I probably wouldn't do that since my neighbor's multiple and well-stocked bird feeders are what caused the explosion in the local squirrel population. With a good supply of food, they'll make a good supply of squirrel pups. Rodent populations tend to expand very rapidly in the presence of a copious food source. Maybe if you laced the feed with birth control hormones . . . -- Bobby G. I have a bird feeder on a stand, with a baffle that keeps the squirrels from climbing up. This summer, the branches of the victim tree in question started hanging down close the feeder so the squirrels could drop down from the tree onto the feeder and get the sunflower seeds. They were very brazen, and if I went out and shooed them away, they were back about as fast as they could climb the tree and drop down again. They actually tore the feeder apart trying to get at a few seeds that had fallen into the cracks between the little boards of the (wooden) feeder. |
#22
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squirrels attacking maple trees
Joe wrote:
Silver maples are one of our commonest fast growing weed trees. Any city with a large population of these trees has rather high damage problem after every high wind weather event. Considering the size and probable condition of your trees, it would be prudent to plan the removal and replacement as soon as you can. That is complete bull**** advice. The truth is that people don't live long enough, and certainly not in the same home, to see a "more desirable" replacement tree grow into maturity. I have two silver maples (each about 2 ft diameter) one in the front yard and one in the back. I have seen what high winds (and even extreme snow events in October - BEFORE they drop their leaves) can do to them over the past 10 years - and the truth is not very much. Until we can buy mature trees at Home Despot and "install" them as easily as we can buy and install a hot tub or a deck or some other relatively expensive piece of out-door infrastructure, I suggest you treat any existing mature trees on your property as the only ones you'll ever have in your lifetime. |
#23
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squirrels attacking maple trees
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#24
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squirrels attacking maple trees
On 12/30/2011 10:04 AM, Don Phillipson wrote:
"Matt" wrote in message ... I have a couple of big silver maples, 40 years old and about three feet in diameter. . . . What is the best way to stop the damage and make the trees live longer? If your trees have grown to 3 ft. diameter in 40 years, they seem so exceptioally vigorous you need do nothing to make them live longer. Maybe it is out of character for a Canadian, but you may not be familiar with silver maples. They grow very fast. Not so exceptional for them. And the neighborhood is as old as the trees, so there were no other trees to shade them out. The ground is pretty wet here too. |
#25
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squirrels attacking maple trees
"Matt" wrote in message
... On 12/29/2011 05:36 PM, Robert Green wrote: "Matt" wrote in message stuff snipped RG I had one get into my RG house when I was gone for a week. I came into the house, saw stuff strewn RG around, drapes pulled down and finally, when Were you feeding the squirrels by any chance? Doesn't sound like it, but ... I knew a guy who had a 12-foot shack/cabin in the country, and he used to feed the red squirrels. He went away for a week or more and returned to find that the squirrels had gotten into the shack and turn things upside down looking for food. Red squirrels are little and probably didn't have much trouble squeezing through some little crevice into the shack. Nope. But my very close by next door neighbor does. It turned out that the chimney didn't have a wire mesh cage on it and the old damper on the old furnace had a swivel vane (almost exactly like Steve's pivot pipe, ironically) that may have served as the access point. The source of that incursion was never definitively found but there were no more incursions after I had a fairly sturdy wire-cage chimney cap installed. That lasted until the huge red maple out front got killed in one of the 100 year snow storms we now have about every 10 years. They had pulled away a section of siding, chewed through wood and insulation and got into the attic. Hearing them skitter about at night was more than my wife could stand. The war was on. While my current method of dealing with them sounds fiendish, the neighbor's five fully stocked and not effectively squirrel proofed birdfeeders are the main problem. Rodents expand their families as the food supply expands. There's a great episode of the Late Croc Hunter at a granary where there are so many mice when they opened a bin chute, they ran out in a stream like living water. And straight down his wife's blouse. Once my wife saw that, the squirrel war heated up. At first, I trapped them with peanut butter laced with Halcion, a sleeping pill with an LD50 so high, a human has to eat over a thousand of them to die. That was a tip I got from some squirrel research that wanted to catch and band them. It was cheaper than buying traps at $30 a pop. But dealing with doped up squirrels wasn't really a useful method for a homeowner so I went to Ebay and got 3 double-ended squirrel traps. In the beginning I was happy to take a drive to the park (near a great sub shop - hoagies not boats) to relocate them. Then, the Incident occurred. At that time, I still knew little about squirrels and some of their remarkable capabilities. They can chew through plastic coated wire in very short order. Burlap impedes them not at all. The guinea pig cage inside TWO burlap bags I used to transport them was no barrier to a big adult male with huge incisors. Driving 35mph with a very big, very crazed, escaped squirrel in the van marked the beginning of my war on squirrels. I'm basically a live and let live sort of guy until someone or something invades my turf, climbs onto my head and whizzes on me with noxious squirrel spurt. That's when things went from "Bambi" to "The Predator" in a few short seconds. Yes, I know that's just instinct their instinct, but I have my instincts, too. The feeling I had that night that I might soon die in a car crash because I was trying to save a squirrel's life changed the equation forever. Now I feel perfectly justified in quietly removing squirrels from the gene pool that hang out around homes and not trees. I learned something about them that day as he climbed up my back and onto my head: squirrels seem to prefer to make their escape by instantly going for altitude. The damage that was done in the house was primarily to the upper shelves and a check of the spoor revealed he spent most of his time at the windows or on a "elevated highway" he had mapped out. It wasn't until they got into the attic that I learned a great deal about how they move around inside a house. When someone suggested that relocation might interfere with studies they might be doing at the Agricultural research center, the whole concept got redefined. My one-house Squirrel Relocation Service became the Squirrel Population Control Service. There was some humor in it. The squirrel had grabbed things like bags of cookies and knocked them to the floor, always chewing into the bag where he saw a picture of the contents. I remember looking at a bag of Chips Ahoy on the kitchen floor and seeing a hole where the cookie picture had been. Then I realized that I was not burglarized, but squirrelized. -- Bobby G. |
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squirrels attacking maple trees
On 12/29/2011 09:36 PM, Home Guy wrote:
With that said, I also notice that squirrels will chew on the TOP side of horizontal branches of maples (particularly sugar maples) and will remove large areas of bark on the top side close to the trunk (THE SIDE YOU CAN'T SEE FROM THE GROUND) and will eventually kill the branch. insidious |
#27
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squirrels attacking maple trees
"Matt" wrote Thankfully squirrels limit the sizes of their families so their offspring always have places to live. I expect they would move in to the house and be grateful and satisfied so that they and their descendants would never try to live anywhere else. I think them singing "KumbaYah" all night might be a little bothersome. Steve |
#28
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squirrels attacking maple trees
"Matt" wrote Whoops, I was with you until that last paragraph. It sounds like a way to produce more tree-destroying squirrels. Squirrels LOVE BOSF. (Black oiled sunflower seeds), and you will have them migrating from the next township if you start feeding that. Plus, the seeds are around $30 or so for a 40# bag these days. Don't know exactly how much, cause I quit buying them after they went past $20. Steve |
#29
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squirrels attacking maple trees
"Matt" wrote in message ... On 12/29/2011 11:09 PM, Robert Green wrote: "Home Guy" wrote in message ... stuff snipped And maybe buy a few 40-lb bags of black-oil or striped sunflower seeds and throw some down every few days for the squirrels to eat - instead of them eating the bark of your trees. I probably wouldn't do that since my neighbor's multiple and well-stocked bird feeders are what caused the explosion in the local squirrel population. With a good supply of food, they'll make a good supply of squirrel pups. Rodent populations tend to expand very rapidly in the presence of a copious food source. Maybe if you laced the feed with birth control hormones . . . -- Bobby G. I have a bird feeder on a stand, with a baffle that keeps the squirrels from climbing up. This summer, the branches of the victim tree in question started hanging down close the feeder so the squirrels could drop down from the tree onto the feeder and get the sunflower seeds. They were very brazen, and if I went out and shooed them away, they were back about as fast as they could climb the tree and drop down again. They actually tore the feeder apart trying to get at a few seeds that had fallen into the cracks between the little boards of the (wooden) feeder. I have seen lots of deterrents to squirrels. The best I saw was one that is battery powered. When the squirrel climbs down the line, or jumps over to the feeder, the cover drops down under the squirrels weight, and no seeds can come out. Then a battery powered motor starts the whole thing spinning. After about three revolutions, the squirrel is dizzy, and lets go. A guy with time and tools could probably build one. Don't know how much they cost new. Google spinning squirrel. About $50, I'd say. Allows the light birds to feed. Steve |
#30
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squirrels attacking maple trees
On 12/31/2011 12:10 PM, Steve B wrote:
"Matt" wrote in message ... On 12/29/2011 11:09 PM, Robert Green wrote: "Home Guy" wrote in message ... stuff snipped And maybe buy a few 40-lb bags of black-oil or striped sunflower seeds and throw some down every few days for the squirrels to eat - instead of them eating the bark of your trees. I probably wouldn't do that since my neighbor's multiple and well-stocked bird feeders are what caused the explosion in the local squirrel population. With a good supply of food, they'll make a good supply of squirrel pups. Rodent populations tend to expand very rapidly in the presence of a copious food source. Maybe if you laced the feed with birth control hormones . . . -- Bobby G. I have a bird feeder on a stand, with a baffle that keeps the squirrels from climbing up. This summer, the branches of the victim tree in question started hanging down close the feeder so the squirrels could drop down from the tree onto the feeder and get the sunflower seeds. They were very brazen, and if I went out and shooed them away, they were back about as fast as they could climb the tree and drop down again. They actually tore the feeder apart trying to get at a few seeds that had fallen into the cracks between the little boards of the (wooden) feeder. I have seen lots of deterrents to squirrels. The best I saw was one that is battery powered. When the squirrel climbs down the line, or jumps over to the feeder, the cover drops down under the squirrels weight, and no seeds can come out. Then a battery powered motor starts the whole thing spinning. After about three revolutions, the squirrel is dizzy, and lets go. A guy with time and tools could probably build one. Don't know how much they cost new. Google spinning squirrel. About $50, I'd say. Allows the light birds to feed. Steve I forgot to mention that I got on a ladder and cut the overhanging branches, which solves the problem until they grow back down in a few years. |
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