Squirrels chow down on farmers' crops
Our organic peach farmer lost 34 of 35 trees worth of crops this spring when squirrels ate all the green peaches from the trees. So no peaches for us this year.
I have NEVER seen so many flat squirrels in the roads as I’ve seen on my tag sale routes this year. We span a 12 town area in our travels and they are flat everywhere.
We have no apples on the tree this year, but I’m not sure it’s due to squirrels.
This article came through my farming digest this morning.
The varmints are chomping their way through apple orchards and pumpkin patches, fattening themselves for winter while destroying the crops with bite marks. (andersbknudsen, Flickr/Creative Commons)
Squirrel population is linked to a bumper crop of acorns and other food last fall
PUBLISHED ON September 16, 2018
AUGUSTA — Farmers in New England are getting harassed by a bumper crop of squirrels.
The varmints are chomping their way through apple orchards and pumpkin patches, fattening themselves for winter while destroying the crops with bite marks.
Robert Randall, who has a 60-acre orchard in Maine, said he’s never seen anything like it. He said the onslaught is rendering apples and pumpkins unsellable.
Kendall Marden from the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said the explosion in the squirrel population is linked to a bumper crop of acorns and other food last fall.
But as hungry as the squirrels are, it’s unlikely they’ll inflict serious economic damage. Orchards operators said this year’s apple crop looks good.
https://www.morningagclips.com/squirrels-chow-down-on-farmers-crops/
Sounds like a bumper crop of varmint stew this winter!
Not around here! The next door neighbor raises GMO corn and those squirrels have several generations raised on it. I'm not eating that!
Wow, that sucks! Sure sounds like it's causing economic damage to me...
We tried spraying blended habanero on our winter squash to keep them off. One day my wife found a squirrel eating a pumpkin -- it would stop eating every few bites to let out this long, undulating screaming noise, and then take another few bites before repeating.
Yeah, that sounds about right! Darned squirrels!