How To Keep Squirrels From Pecan Trees

Squirrels' love for pecans can leave you with no nuts for yourself. In the spring, squirrels start eating pecan trees' fresh buds and later eat the immature nuts. Squirrels also will snatch ripe pecans and bury them to save for later meals. Before you know it, your pecan tree is completely stripped of nuts. There are different ways to keep squirrels from your pecan trees, including squirrel guards and repellents.

Step 1

Cut a piece of sheet metal to fit around the trunk of your pecans tree, about 2 to 3 feet wide, using sheet-metal cutting shears.

Step 2

Place the sheet-metal collar about 6 feet up from the base of your pecan tree's trunk.

Step 3

Secure the metal collar by wrapping it once on the top and once on the bottom with galvanized wire.

Step 4

Cut a slit lengthwise along a piece of 3-inch diameter, 2-foot long PVC pipe with a pipe saw.

Step 5

Place the pipe over an overhead wire. It will rotate, making it impossible for squirrels to walk across the wire and jump into your tree.

Step 1

Trim the branches on your pecan trees so that they are at least 4 or 5 feet away from surrounding tree limbs, structures or wires, so squirrels can't jump into your trees from those objects.

Step 2

Spray the ground around your pecan tree's trunk with a capsaicin pest deterrent. Also spray the ground around surrounding trees, fences or structures.

Step 3

Place moth balls containing naphthalene in mesh bags, and tie them in the branches of your pecan trees to keep squirrels away .