ALABAMA A&M and AUBURN UNIVERSITIES

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contact Donna Reynolds, Extension Assistant Editor

ARE SQUIRRELS EATING YOUR PECANS?

AUBURN, AUG. 28---Are squirrels eating or destroying your fall pecan crop?

Squirrels eat about 1 1/2 pounds of pecans a week and waste or bury another 2 pounds. They also eat immature green nuts and eat and carry off mature nuts.

If you're having a significant problem with squirrels in your yard, there are a few things you can do, says Dr. Bill Goff, Extension horticulturist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

Several control methods used simultaneously against squirrels are often more successful than a single control. However, squirrels can be kept out of isolated trees by encircling the trees with 2-foot wide sheet metal collars 6 feet above the ground. The metal collars are attached to the trees with wires held together with springs to keep the wires from girdling the trees as they grow.

A variety of traps will catch squirrels, including 0 or 1-leg hold traps, box traps and cage traps. Good baits for the traps are slices of orange and apple, walnuts or pecans removed from the shell and peanut butter. Once the squirrels are trapped, you can move them to a wooded area outside of town and release them.