I have used the plastic forks, it did help here. No deep digging in the pots with the forks.

Sherry

I have a lot of small pieces of lannon stone. We have dug them out over the years. The house is brick and lannon stone and the retaining walls are built with the the lannon stones too. So I use small pieces of stone to surround the newly planted plants to prevent digging. Not sure if this would work in a pot…..maybe they would lay on the stone pieces instead because they may feel cool……🤷🏼‍♀️

debra

Can you leave a decoy pot? Just something with loose dirt stuck in their favorite places.

We don't mean you no harm we just like your plants. See how cute we are?

I know, and I put water out for them and have started putting out sunflower seeds. The pecans shed their fruit already, since we've had no rain. Usually, when the pecan crop doesn't make it, the oaks make lots of acorns. I'm not too sure that's going to happen this year. The oaks are shedding some acorns already.

The birds and squirrels are going to need help over the winter.

bkay

Around here the squirrels bury the peanuts and seeds IN the flower pots. You might be giving them ammo!!! And they will tell all their friends to come enjoy the free food.

Using larger river rock around the inside edge of the pot sometimes helps, but in TX it might keep your plants too hot once they heat up. Hope the forks work.

-Babka

I have plenty of pots but haven't tried the fork method. This year the squirrels have been good about not digging in my pots and planting their acorns and seeds. I have seen plenty of little trees growing out of my pots!

I find if you feed the birds or squirrels, you invite them into your garden. I stopped feeding the birds from about May to October. But I also have year round water for them, so they come to drink.

The thing I found that works the best, is not having pots that are too big for the plant. The squirrels don't often dig in full pots and maybe they wouldn't try to lay in them because there wouldn't be any room. They prefer to dig in my pots with lots of room!

I like the idea of a decoy pot or two. Wonder if that would work.

I might try that.

The weatherman said we have another 10 days of 100 degree heat and no rain in sight.

(whine, whine)

bkay

Well, it worked. No squirrel digging!

And it RAINED Sunday. Apparently it wasn't widely spread, but I got a nice shower. It's been 48 days since we had rain. The temps are still high. We're not through this yet. We normally put out pre-emergent September 1, but not this year. Our gardening radio guru said tp wait until it starts to cool.

bkay

I agree.

bk