We routinely try to deter squirrels on our pecan trees. The only way that seems to work is by encircling the trunk of the tree with a shield that prevents them from climbing. That's a sheet metal project. Of course, the trees can't be close enough to other unshielded trees to allow jumping across onto them. I'd be very surprised if a fake owl would do much. We have barred owls sitting in our trees, and squirrels just scamper around them. That being said, these are street-wise urban squirrels, and not much scares them.

As Dan says it's of minimal help. If you do place an owl in the tree it may work a bit better if it's hung by a string so that it moves around in a breeze. Our blueberries are close to picking now and I do place a swinging owl in the bushes as well as rubber snakes and stuffed animals like cats, dogs, and even 1 Tasmanian Devil (found cheap at thrift stores). I have to move them around in the bushes every once in a while to keep the critters (including birds) guessing. Hav-a-heart traps can help reduce the squirrel population too.

+1 on the hav-a-hart traps. My squirrels are not fooled by any fake owls, snakes etc. Or even my two real-live cats. What is interesting is that I've had good success with intermittent trapping. Once the buggers start showing up in the spring, I trap out 4-5 squirrels over the course of a long weekend, and then we get a respite for 4-6 weeks. I think squirrels are territorial and thus someone new has to move in after the first group is removed.

Argh...Well, it was an idea.

Dan - The slippery trunk is a good idea, but sadly, the low hanging peach branches are an easy jump for squirrels.

I am familiar with trapping and relocating squirrels. Maybe it's time to get the trap out. I have mistakenly trapped a skunk before, so in order to avoid making that mistake again, I thought I'd look for other options.

I have several Hav-a-Hart traps, and with regard to squirrels, it's a MAJOR battle, because there are just SO MANY of them. If you have ripe peaches, territory isn't going to mean much to them. Years ago, when I was convinced that squirrels were my vegetable problem, I ended up hauling off a dozen or so of them in the course of each season. Those traps do work well! That was hours of effort, because you have to drop each one off a few miles away. I later realized that my main problem was possums and raccoons, and there are many fewer of them. I don't bother with squirrels anymore.

Low hanging peach branches might be worth removing.

Before my peach tree died from the drought, those little suckers would run along the neighbors' fence, take one bite and the peach would fall off the tree onto the horribly sharp gravel the previous owners installed!

I counted 45 beautiful, ripe peaches ruined on the ground in ONE DAY!

I did have some success trimming the branches way back from the fence and roof and spraying squirrel repellant along the roof and fence line. But you have to be On it every other day or so!

The squirrels just sat there and laughed at the dog crazy barking at the base of the tree!

I wonder if putting a mesh bag over each fruit would help? I had the kind that has a tie at the open end that I could chinch-up to the branch. I had to do this for my lemons just to get any... I saved them all. I'm thinking about doing this to my figs.... IF I can find where I put the mesh Bags! I've heard about small brown-paper bags being good too. I may have to go this route with the figs.

I rarely saw squirrels in my yard until I grew peaches. Now when my peaches are nearly ripe, I can sit on my front porch and watch all of the neighborhood squirrels run by on the telephone/cable lines with a peach in their mouth. They can navigate across the lines, trees, and fences here to access everything. The stinkers stole every single pear last year!

Kate, I tried to bag one fruit once and decided it would be very time-consuming to continue, it looked stupid, and it was really impractical for my setup. I gave up that idea for my situation, but I can imagine pretty little ribbon-tied mesh cozies for your figs. :)

I have no suggestions, but I can tell you the fake owl doesn't work. The squirrels here just laughed at them.

I had some success against the deer by tying disposable metal pans to the trees in pairs, so a breeze made them clatter.

The varmints seem to leave the peaches alone, but the strawberries were a complete failure last year, I couldn't find any way to keep the squirrels and chipmunks from taking them the instant they were ready, and about a day before I thought they were ready. Two cats and a dog don't deter them at all, nor does a deer/bird net.

I can't figure out a way to keep the bears from eating the cherries either, but they only eat the bottom ones and they do scare the birds, so I get the cherries on the tops of the trees where the bears can't reach.

Annie

Again, if the tree is sufficiently isolated that squirrels can't jump over from other unprotected trees, and if the branches are trimmed so the squirrels can't jump on the trees from the ground, the solution is common and well-tested. You can wrap the trunk with a 2-foot piece of sheet metal, wherin the squirrels can't sink their claws to allow climbing. Maybe some kind of plastic sheet? Here's a clever idea with a 5 gallon plastic bucket.

https://www.welcomewildlife.com/tree-baffles-to-baffle-squirrels/

You could also engineer a ring of sheet metal that sticks out from the trunk and blocks climbing.

But if you keep low branches on the tree, you're just inviting squirrels.

annie I had the same problem with strawberries! Literally hours before they are ripe GONE. I gave up on strawberries.