Yep. Squirrels eat apples. More specifically, they rip them off your tree, roll them around for a while, scratch them up a bit, take a half hearted bite and then scamper off to dig up your geraniums. Here's how to stop that.
Let's get the whole "but squirrels need to eat too" thing out of the way shall we? I know there are those of us in this society that view squirrels as cute, furry, leaping, running creatures of Mother Earth.
I'm even one of those people. But they still need to stay away from my apples.
Since I planted apple espaliers I've been searching for a way to save at least some of the apples for myself.
Because every year the squirrels get 90% of my apples.
Some years I think the only way I'm going to be able to eat one of my apples is to eat one of the squirrels.
In the past to keep squirrels from getting my apples I've tried:
- Placing the apples in plastic sandwich bags.
- Wrapping the entire trees in bird netting.
- Putting net apple bags over each apple.
- Buying my apples at the store.
Each of these techniques worked a little bit.
- The sandwich bag technique helped, but by the end of the season the squirrels still managed to get over half of my apples.
- Wrapping the entire tree in bird netting was a bit of a deterrent but the squirrels eventually found a way in and got the apples.
- Putting each apple in a net bag with a ribbon drawstring close? Well the squirrels just saw these as gift wrapped apples.
Then last year I had an epiphany. I covered the apples in some small plastic cloches that I use in my garden.
AND IT WORKED.
It looked ridiculous. But it worked. Like that time you had to wear a garbage bag as a raincoat.
THIS time around I got 90% of the apples, and the squirrels only got 10%.
How to protect apples from squirrels
Method 1
This is what I did last year and it worked GREAT. I did lose a few apples but I saved the majority of them from being ripped off the tree by squirrels.
- Slice a plastic cloche up the side and wrap the entire thing around a single apple or a cluster of them.
- Staple the cloche closed again at the sides.
- Now just leave it there.
I didn't think to do this until the apples were already fairly large and it worked perfectly. The cloches are cheap cloches from Dollarama that I've used for years outside in my garden. They were starting to dry out and crack, nearing the end of their life, so this was a great way to get another year of use out of them.
There are a couple of reasons this hysterically simple solution works:
- It prevents the squirrels tiny little weird squirrel hands from being able to reach up to where the apple stem is. If they can't get at the stem, they can't pull the apple away from the tree.
- Because the cloches are clear the apples still get plenty of sun to turn colour in the fall.
This year I thought I'd improve my technique and ordered a case of deli containers to place over each apple.
Because it's my first year doing this I can't guarantee it'll work for you the way I can with the above method.
Now that I've done Method 2 (below) I've already found a lot of areas I could improve it. Any changes that should be made to this first attempt are in italics.
Method 2
- Cut an "X" on the bottom of a deli container then clip off one of the corners as you can see in the above photo. This helps you push the apple through. I now know I should have cut all the sharp corners off because the sharp points of the other 3 scratched/cut into the apples a bit.
- Hold an apple firmly by the base and then push the deli container over it until the apple pops through the bottom.
And that's all there is to that. You're done. Now you just wait for the apples to grow.
HOWEVER ...
DO NOT DO THIS ON A HOT SUNNY DAY.
Cause that's what I did. And this is what happened ...
The perfectly clear deli containers acted like a magnifying glass and burned the apples. I mean, it's exactly like when you were a kid and tried to kill ants with a magnifying glass. Just kidding. I obviously never did that. I was more of an ant farm kind of kid.
So. Through this experiment I have managed to kill more apples than the squirrels would have got. Yay me.
How to fix this problem?
- Do exactly like I did last year and use old dollar store cloches that are slightly tinted green and less likely to cause this burn.
- Only do this on a cloudy day - but they may just burn on later sunny days. I'd have to experiment with this to see if the apples will tolerate the clear cloches as long as their transition to sun is gradual.
- Try doing this later in the season when the skins have toughened up a bit.
The OTHER thing I can see maybe being a problem - but I won't know until the end of the season - is that these deli containers don't cover up the stem of the apple.
That means squirrels can still get to the stem and could still manage to rip the apples off of the tree.
Part of what makes Method 1 work so well was that the squirrels had no way to get to the stem of the apples, because the cloche was wrapped around the entire branch, not just the stems.
I could play around with this second method to improve it, but that seems dumb. Method #1 is just a better method.
They both look ridiculously hillbilly so it's not as though aesthetics are going to play a part in my decision.
In my head, and this is the funny part, I thought the deli containers would kind of disappear because they're clear. Like clear means invisible, right?
Judging by the amount of people walking past who stare at them for 3 to 4 hours at a time - I'm don't have a lot of confidence that these deli containers are as invisible as I thought.
But at least they don't look like gift wrapping.
One of my first apple harvests started with around 70 apples on the tree and ended with me getting 9 apples. You can see the apple harvest from that year here.
I mainly eat the apples fresh but some of them are so big, I eat half fresh and use the other half in any recipes I have that use a bit of apple like - and this is my favourite - Curry Chicken Salad.
Cores and icky bruised bits go to the chickens.
Never under any circumstances do any ever get tossed in the yard for the squirrels.
Hi Karen,
I have not seen those cloches here in Texas, USA. We do not have a Dollarama here. Do any of you others on this side of the pond know where in the US I could find some? Thanks.
Any well stocked dollar store may have them. Garden centres too - but they'll be more expensive at the garden centres. I took a quick look at Amazon but didn't see anything there. ~ karen!
Any ideas for keeping those cute little critters out of bird feeders??? They also eat through the new leaves on my banana trees....
If you mean the kind of banana tree that bananas grow from then you're not allowed to complain about anything, lol. As for the bird feeders I haven't found anything that can keep a squirrel away from them. Not even the ones that are specifically made to be squirrel proof. :( Although there could be a magical one somewhere that I don't know of yet! ~ karen!
Get a dog. She keeps the squirrels and bunnies away. Even when she's not outside, they still stay away.
Any ideas for keeping those cute little critters out of bird feeders???
I live on the coast of Georgia, so yes we have banana trees in several areas of the yard. I harvested bananas last year for the first time. This year when the new leaves started unfurling, the squirrels attacked and haven't stopped yet!
I love the idea, and did not know that squirrels would mess with the apples. I have one large apple tree and 2 smaller ones to pollinate but it didn't work. This year I have only one apple on my tree--if I'm attacked by squirrels I could lose my entire crop! ; )
Oh no! How old are the trees? It can take a few years for them to really get the hang of producing them. Apples that is. Not squirrels. ~ karen!
The biggest tree is about 4 years old, and the other 2 are maybe 2 years old. Guess I should just be patient and keep my eyes open for them. Squirrels that is. Not apples.
Of course this is East Texas and there's a good chance those critters will wake up in a bowl of rice. --Tonya!
my sweetheart has an apple tree in his back yard. It is HUGE. We have a party to pick the apples and make gallons and gallons of cider. And everyone has to take a bag of apples home. Then we make a lot of applesauce too...We don't begrudge the squirrels the few they take.
Hi Karen, you are so creative and hilarious. You definitely need to string lights through those cups!
You have my sympathy here in the UK I have abandoned hope of ever getting apples off our trees, we have squirrels and deer wander out of the woods next to our property.
To protect tulips etc I grow in containers and cover the top with a shallow dome of chicken wire well secured under the rim. Deer can only be stopped by fencing 2 metres or 7ft high which we have done around the veggie patch. The alternative deer protection is a ring of chicken wire about 1 metre or 3ft tall around roses etc. Deer can still nibble over the wire but don't usually manage to completely destroy plants.
Now has anyone got a suggestion for controlling voles? Do you have them in the USA? A single vole can destroy a row of peas or beans. They cut the stem, eat about 2" and move to the next stem. First thing you see is a row of wilted plants. They are not easily caught in mouse traps as they don't seem to be interested in anything I've offered as bait.
Yes we have voles in the USA, in Utah anyway. I used to see them while out camping on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. They are so incredibly cute, like something Beatrix Potter would illustrate, and they make the most darling little squeaks. They scared a big city girly tourist from New Jersey because she thought they were rats but I educated her. I got her to tolerate them, at least.
I live in Texas now and have not heard that they are a garden problem, not where I'm living anyhow. Nor were they in Utah.
Hi Karen do you have any suggestions to stop deer from eating hostas?? Thank you!
Hi Karen. I love your posts. What do you do for deer eating hostas?? I would appreciate your suggestions. Thank you. Wendy
Actually, Karen, I quite like the look of the containers on the apple tree, kinda like Christmas decorations. 😀 We have 2 full-size apple trees (and next door also has a full-size apple tree), so the squirrels can have as many apples as they want. One year long ago, a young deer even wandered into our backyard and ate the apples on the ground. And we live in the city, close to downtown! Just that the house is near a ravine. Our problem is the full-size pear tree. It came with the house and is very old, but the pears are really good. What with the squirrels and the birds, we're lucky if they leave us half a dozen pears.
Pears are the one fruit that you want to pick unripe and ripen in the house, which is great for keeping them away from squirrels, and precisely the reason I planted two trees!
So get them when they're a little unripe.
Squirrels are, as my wee Scottish friend says, a pain in the hole!
Before we became condo dwellers 15+ years ago, we had a property on the lake with a huge yard that I partially filled with flower beds and veggies. I had a ton of tomato plants and zucchini plants (big mistake on the last one! HUGE mistake!). One morning I woke up, looked out the bedroom window, and on the top rail of our fence all the way down to the beach at the end of the yard were a couple dozen tomatoes. Each one had one bite taken out of it. They destroyed my entire crop. They also dug up and relocated hundreds of dollars worth of tulip bulbs the day after I planted them all.
We set out on a trap and relocate mission. We moved over 30 of those bastards into a wooded area alarmingly close to where we now live. So I'm pretty sure that we're now being taunted and tormented by the progeny of those rodents we re-located generations ago, as they dig up all of our planters in an effort to hide the peanuts our idiot neighbours keep feeding them and the resident chipmunks.
I was admiring your apple hats when I walked by a few days ago. I promise I didn’t stare, just did a quick look in case you were watching. Hope it works. Now I need help to stop them from eating up my spring bulbs.
I don't have an apple tree, but I do have tomato plants. In past seasons, the squirrels would take one bite and leave the rest. Ick. I have heavily sprinkled red pepper around the base of the plants, but I might want to try something like the cloche. Do you think it would work? What about those prickly "Cat Scat" mats?
The problem with tomatoes is they're not as sturdy as a tree so squirrels can pull and bend things. But try the cloche on the tomato plants. I'd be curious to know if it works! ~ karen
So, my stunning South Carolina Peach tree finally had fruit! About 5 million peaches. Those furry suckers hauled them off whilst still green by the truckload! Next year: chicken wire alllllll over tree-hooked to electric fencing charger. Gonna zap those buggers! Photos to come
Ok, I HATE, loath, abhor, & despise squirrels. A demented neighbour feeds them peanuts in the shell, they scamper over to my house to bury the nuts in my flower pots. Ya, just toss those begonias, ivies, lantanas, whatever, right out onto the ground fellas! The deterrents I've tried - cayenne pepper, hot pepper flakes (they've acquired a taste for these!) black pepper, blood meal, moth balls (except now they're not even balls - sachets?!), Critter Ridder, Hen Poo, plastic forks embedded in the soil..... I give! Anyone????
I actually have something that might work! It worked for me one year when they were digging up all my bulbs. I cut branches off of my rose bushes and laid them on the soil. The squirrels left everything alone. I can't say it if was luck or coincidence or if it actually worked, but I'd try it if I were you. ~ karen!
I'm the unscented dryer sheet type, so not sure it will have the same result, but worth a try! Thanks
I cover the exposed soil in flower pots with used dryer sheets and weigh them down with pebbles and that seems to deter squirrels from digging.
Alrighty then - death by puncture wounds it is! :) Thanks!
Now, please do tomatoes. Those varmints are driving me to drink, haha
I've never had an issue with squirrels on tomatoes. Raccoons?? YEP! And the only thing I've found to stop them is floppy fencing. Hmm. I'll give the squirrel conundrum some thought. ~ karen!
The raccoons and skunks in our yard respond respond remarkably well to electric fence wire. We have a 5' tall wire fence surrounding the garden, and put an electric wire on offsets about 2" from the ground and 2" from the top. The bottom one is to discourage people who like to burrow, and the top one usually gets everybody else who is climbing the fence.
I have a fix for keeping squirrels from eating tomatoes,
Paint roundish rocks to look like tomatoes, place those rocks near your green tomatoes.
Squirrels will check them out, notice if they flip them over—
It prevents any squirrels eating my tomatoes.
I used little organdy gift bags last year. Some unnamed creature would pull the whole thing off the tree, rip open the bag, trample said bag in the grass and dirt, take one bite of apple and leave the mess for me to clean up. GRRR
PS. I thought there was cyanide in apple seeds so I core any apples for our chickens…
Hi Joyce! I've been feeding my chickens apple cores (as have the neighbours) for years. And the two chickens I have now are perhaps the longest living chickens in history, lol. So I wouldn't worry about coring your apples for them. And those organza gift bags are another thing I used and yes indeed - just a gift wrapped apple, lol. ~ karen!
OMG!
I just discovered yesterday that squirrels took half of my first crop of espalier apples, 5. I scrambled, dumping onions out of their plastic netting and tied that around the survivors. I haven't checked them yet this morning. So, thank you for your perfect timing with this post.
I didn't read many of the comments, but down here in the states, we have 2 to 3 foot tall sections of sheet metal on a lot of the utility poles along the street to keep squirrels off. If an apple tree is a stand alone tree where another tree or structure o is not to close, you could keep the squirrels out of the tree(s) completely by wrapping the trunks in thin slippery sheet metal. Just an additional thought from an Ohioan who likes to do stuff.
Interesting! You'd have to figure out a way to allow the trunk of the tree to still grow and expand but otherwise that could work. Not for my trees of course, lol. But a stand alone tree, as you say. ~ karen!
Geez. You continue to be hilarious and brilliant. I had a pet squirrel for 6 years. He was also brilliant. I always love the ongoing challenges and may the sharpest tool in the box win. What kind of apples are those? Have you trained it across your front porch?
Hi Meredith! Yep. They're trained across the porch. If you click on one of the links about apple espaliers in the post you can see more about it. I have a post about how to do it but I don't think I linked to it in the post so here's that ... https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/espalier/. Thanks for the reminder because that post is desperately in need of an update! ~ karen!
And this old man now FULLY understands your 'relationship' with Mother Nature's rats in a fur coat. I should never have let doubt enter what's left of my brain. Plus you have taught me a new word = cloche. I also have now learned by looking that one can grow apples on something other than a large tree. So thanks.
It's a complicated relationship between the squirrel and I. ~ karen!
You are truly a treat to warm the soul.
What if you spray painted the containers??May silver to reflect the sun??
Hi Cathy! The containers need to be clear so that the apples turn red. :) I think I'll probably just go back to the original cloches. It worked perfectly and there really was no need for me to experiment anymore. I don't even know why I did really, lol. ~ karen!