Jacob Solt

Thanks to Renate and Miles. I also am under the presumption that the squirrel was cutting the saplings for nest-making but that's just a guess. My problem may have an unfortunate resolution... the department-of-making-you-sad in the local township is un happy with the weeds (my saplings) in my front yard... It looks like I might not be able to grow a fedge after all..... (Sadness)

Miles: maybe your squirrels are helping you pollard your aspens?

I've had success with perennial white-clover, as well as perennial lupine and perennial crown vetch; I haven't yet tried fenugreek, as a perennial nitrogen fixer but that might also be a nice ground-cover/companion plant for heavy nitrogen feeders. Siberian peashrub, as well as Russian olive, Autumn Olive and seabuckthorn, might also be worth looking at, if you thin you'd like nitrogen-fixing shrubs/small-trees that could provide some shade and maybe even eventually trellising support for vining plants like tomatoes. Also, if this does not exceed your personal "yuck" factor, if plants are in need of a quick shot of nitrogen, human-urine (of an omnivore), diluted 20:1 with water could provide the nitrogen your plants may be needing.
Best Regards!

I planted a half-dozen of Serviceberry and Chokecherry varieties of saplings, as well as some Autumn-Olive, Seabuckthorn, Silver Buffaloberry and Persimmon (I was trying to start a front-yard fedge) and I believe that squirrels have been killing my Serviceberries and Chokecherries. I'm kinda disappointed about that. I've got traps and I've tangled with squirrels before but has anyone ever had this experience? I suspect the squirrels because I did see one squirrel go up a mature tree with what I'm pretty sure, was one of my saplings (about 6-10 inches tall) in his mouth. Are the squirrels eating them? Are they using them for nests? Do I need to make bone-sauce to keep away the squirrels? Any thoughts/suggestions?

I would not think myself any kind of expert on the topic but I do have some experience with squirrels. I mostly use traps as hitting them even with a firearm wouldn't be efficient, when I have traps that are working for me 24/7 (well actually half that time, because the squirrels sleep at night). I have found that tube-style traps are the easiest trap to catch squirrels with [Picture of a tube style trap at commercial website]; a 110 conibear will get the job done too, but you have to know a little bit more about how to set it up and if your set the trap using bad safety techniques, you could break a finger or thumb, so I wouldn't recommend one of those to anyone who doesn't already know what they are doing. Nice thing about these traps though, is the squirrel is dispatched quick; I have a tendency to think that a broken neck that you never saw coming, would be a bit less traumatic than the stress of a drowning, but I wouldn't want to tangle with an ornery squirrel trapped in a cage with a club neither.

I just use peanut butter on the trap-pan and I will generally put four traps out at a time and the first day, I'll generally get about four to eight squirrels; that number drops a bit on the second day and still more as time wears on. As you start cleaning out the local population, the surplus squirrels from the surrounding areas start to fill in, so you'll get a lag after a week or two as the local population plummets but it'll pick back up after the third or fourth week.

If it's late-fall or winter, I will skin them out like I would any fur-bearing animal; while the carcass hangs upside-down suspended from a gambrel or a rope, I cut around each foot and cut down each hind-leg, cutting the anus away from the tail and cutting the genitals away from the belly-hide and then pull the skin down like taking off a sock, gently using the knife to cut away the connective tissue between the meat and the skin.

If the fur isn't prime and you don't want the leather, then the technique recommended by Ardilla Esch, is a good one; this sounds very similar: Skinning a Squirrel

If I have lots of fresh squirrel might use the legs as stew-meat in a slow-cooker or pressure-cooker; usually, I turn it into dog food, minus the GI tract which gets composted. You can also make a pretty convincing Buffalo-style squirrel wings with the legs; alternatively, you can do a grilled squirrel teriyaki. The trouble is, the meat to bones ratio is a bit towards the, "this is a lot of work to remove the meat from the bones, compared to how much meat I'm getting" kinda thing.

Given my druthers, I'd much prefer woodchuck or even beaver.

I realize that this is an old thread but I was reading the responses and I was moved to contribute.

Best Regards!

I live in a dense suburban area and I have a line of maple trees ( from 6" to 12" in diameter, 30'-40'? feet in height) on the southern property line that do a lot to shade the southern exposure of my garden. Ideally, I would like to have a tree trimmer come in and coppice these trees, as I would like to have some shade in the garden just not 75% shade, but I do not want to spend the money to hire the trimmer and I'm not comfortable with heights or chainsaws and certainly not in conjunction (and there is a powerline underneath them which complicates matters for me, as well as a shed and garage nearby).

So, instead of coppice/trim, I was thinking of girdling the trees but that would kill them altogether and that's not exactly what I'm looking for; I thought I might girdle them at 15' and maybe they would survive, but the wood above 15' feet might become a hazard in a few years, and it wouldn't likely affect the amount of leafing/shade this year.

My current thought would be to create a major pulse to the trees by digging a 3 foot trench around the trees, which might limit their ability to pull in water this year, and I'm thinking/hoping, might cause leaf drop early.

Does anyone think this will work? Are some of my other options perhaps preferable? Are there options I haven't considered?

Thank John!

I may be mistaken, but I am under the understanding that, what you call "cold-treatment" may also include a process of scarification (called "cold scarification" or "cold moist scarification") , which is combinations of microbial actions and the frost/thaw cycle which both work to breakdown the seed-wall and/or alerts the seed when to germinate.

I planted a sample of seed (about 10% of my stock) this past February in a nursery area to get an idea of germination rates; just this week I got good germination from the seeds planted in February!!! (About 40-50% germination rate; no luck with hawthorn, persimmon, or honey locust but more than half germination success rates, with autumn olive, russian olive, black locust, choke cherry, elderberry, huckleberry, mulberry, ground cherry, silver buffalo berry.)

I want to plant a lot more seed but I'm concerned that if the ones planted in February did not germinate till May, then those planted in May may not germinated till August and they might not make it over winter. I think late this fall, I'll plant all of my seed stock with the understanding that I will not get as good a germination because the seed will be older then.

Thanks to all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8LwbH2xHjE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGH3NHZOV-Y

I'm in the northern hemisphere (New York) in about hardiness zone 6b; if I put tree & shrub seeds in the ground now, will they have enough time to establish themselves before winter, or should I wait til fall for the seeds to go through natural scarification process? I'm planning on planting Russian olive, autumn olive, Siberian pea shrub, honey locust, black locust, choke cherry, ground cherry, barberry, buffalo silverberry, sea buckthorn, elderberry, huckleberry, mulberry, cornelian cherry, and hazelnut.