Squirrels eating my posh tulip bulbs

[billybunter4]

Bastards. They're digging them up every day from the planters by my front door. This happened some years ago too & I had nothing left, not one fecking bulb. I have absolutely no spare funds for chicken wire. Short of me sitting on guard next to the boxes until March, any ideas?

Been driving my husband mad for years. Now he shoots the buggers whenever he can.

Dipping the bulbs in turps before planting helps a bit.

I have string with tin foil circles on it cris crossed across the planters - so far it seems to scare off the cheeky buggers. It's not that attractive but last year I just kept it on until they were established and then they seemed to leave it alone.
Now just need suggestions to stop them chewing the plastic on my car aerial!

You can get chicken wire in b&m for about 3 quid

Do u mean b&q?

The squirrels in my Dad's garden did this - but reburied them all over the place, which led to daffs and tulips coming up at random in their lawn.

For this we used wire shelves from old fridges.

No doubt they are hard to come by now. Antiques, even.

I have a drey at the end of my garden. I provide fat balls for them - they seem to like those way more than the bulbs, so it's a kind of distraction tactic! I get to see the baby squirrels when they come out in spring, too, which is just lovely (though worrying - they are idiots who lack any common sense). Because squirrels disperse (i.e. pack a rucksack and spread out once they are grown), we haven't had an increase in population - there are always just two.

No B&M

billybunter if you're in London I could pop over with some mesh ,I'm such a hoarder !

I've heard it suggested that a hot spice - chilli,cayenne etc - can deter .Tho whether best to sprinkle neat or dissolve and water I'm not sure .

Bury some spiky rose stems (from prunings) just under the soil

For tulipe I've head of two tip that work wonders.

In my area people plant tulips 30 cm deep: benefit one: too deep for squirrels and benet two it's too deep for the tulips to make babies so the bulb blooms for a few extra years.

At the white house in the US they buy their peace: peanuts on offer for the squirrels. I guess they prefer free peanuts to tulip bulbs they need to dig out.