How disheartening, I think this will keep happening so do what you have to do. Hoping you have a swift recovery and no more problems in the garden my friend.

Annette

Chris, I'd invest in a live trap (I assume your home is in a neighborhood where you can't use a 22 rifle.). Bait it with some peanut butter, catch him and then take him for a LONG ride before releasing him.

I have a small garden where I work. For years I've had to put up with a finch like bird which swoops in, snips off my seedlings and then leaves. It never eats them, just cuts them down. I just have to replant.

I just had another idea. How about picking up a bag of black eyed peas and planting them in the pathway? Perhaps the squirrels will work on them and miss the other beans.

There are cowpeas (actually yardlong beans) in both of my home plots, the squirrels showed no interest in them. Oops... probably shouldn't have said that (knocking on wood).

Macmex, I've tried using rat traps before. They will catch ground squirrels, but tree squirrels are apparently too strong... they just break free, leaving a tuft of fur behind. Tried live trapping too, but had about as much luck as when I tried to trap rabbits - nothing.

Funny thing I've observed about the Havahart traps. I can catch more with an empty, unbaited trap (properly placed) than with a baited trap. Animals explore the fence perimeter, looking for a way in... so if I place the open trap directly against the fence, animals think they've found a way through the fence, and walk right in. That is the only way I've ever caught either a squirrel, or a rabbit. The downside: you never know what you'll catch... and adult raccoons are scary things to release. Been there, done that, a little outside my comfort zone.

Poison would probably work, but I'm uncomfortable using that except as a last resort. The rural friends who let us garden on their property (where my main garden is located) gave us a powdered squirrel repellent that they use to protect their bird feeders. I don't have a lot of faith in products which "repel" animals, having experienced poor results in the past... but we sprinkled it around the beans, and so far it appears to be working. The squirrels are now venting their full fury on DW's flower pots. >:-( She has replanted a couple flowers twice, and has now applied the powder to the pots.

Saw a feral cat in the yard yesterday; if it sticks around, that could prove to be the solution. The semi-domesticated cats in my rural garden take care of everything there smaller than a ground hog - and the owner's dog takes care of those. Ironically, I have fewer rodent problems in the rural garden than I do at home.

Zeedman, something else you might try is covering the pot with wire (think chicken) and let the beans sprout and grow up through it. The squirrels can't get to the dirt to dig and usually move on.

Get well please.

rdback, there are several large pots in my front yard, where I grow beans if I only have a few seeds to work with - I've used chicken wire cages on them. The method is effective, but only if the cage is COMPLETELY enclosed. I found that out the hard way several years ago, when they got in & destroyed all but one plant of Bosnian Pole... and that plant survived being dug up & then replanted.

(Funny that I am thinking of Bosnian Pole, it is one of the two beans planted this year.)

There is just something about potted plants, squirrels seem almost magnetically drawn to them. They show great determination to immediately destroy anything planted there. If the plants survive the first few days, though, they will probably be unmolested for the rest of the season. I grew soybeans in those pots last year, expecting squirrels to take some of the pods as they matured... but for some reason, they were not interested.

So far, its only fresh transplants - or newly emerged seedlings - that get their (unwanted) attention. My theory is that when they see disturbed soil, they assume that another squirrel has buried something there, and dig up the soil (and incidentally the plant) looking for a buried nut. Come to think of it, the runner bean sprouts do resemble walnut sprouts as they emerge.

At present, the aforementioned pots are still empty, and squirrels have been digging in them so much that they look cultivated. I'll be putting some left-over pepper transplants into them today, and applying the repellent powder around them... if that works, I'll be a believer.

Here's neat trap. I need to learn to make these.

rat/squirrel trap

I've never had squirrels attack my veggies, they're always too busy with the fruit trees to bother. From spring plums & cherries thru the summer peaches, into the autumn pears & apples pears, my veggies are protected :)......:(

Maybe just putting out a feeder with fresh fruit would be easier? Maybe with some bird seed, they seem to like that too. ;-) I have an apple tree, and squirrels steal some every year... but not enough to be a nuisance. Birds do far more damage.

Macmex, that's a neat trap. I'll have to try one of those, after I've watched the video a few more times. Cheap to make, but fairly complicated assembly. Good thing there are step-by-step video instructions, a written guide would be really hard to follow.

Update... no sign of further damage. Either the repellent works, or the squirrels have moved on to other things. I tend to believe the repellent is effective, because the squirrels tend to dig in DW's flower pots all summer long, and since applying the powder, they have not been touched either.

All the replacement transplants are ready to go, as soon as the ground dries out. Had close to 3" of rain in the last two days. Can't complain though. Parts of northern Wisconsin have had 8"+ in the last week, with severe flooding damage.

Donna, do you have a cat? I love your technique, but I'd be afraid to try it for fear of killing my cat.

I do, but I keep him in the house while I have traps out. I don't use bait, so I don't see what could attract a cat, but I still worry.

I once accidentally killed my own cat, using a Conibear 110. I didn't have it set the way you describe, but was trying to kill a marauding opossum, getting into the chicken coop at night. It was heart breaking.

I now have another cat and I notice that he loves to climb our fruit trees by taking a running start and going up the trunks. I'm afraid he'd hit that 45 degree board like a ramp and get himself killed. Otherwise, I'd say your method is brilliant and I'd give it a go myself.

Can't you keep him in the house for a couple of days? I am sorry about your other cat, that's horrible.