Do Squirrels Eat Garden Plants

A wondering question of a gardener "What do squirrels eat from garden?" is worth wondering. Sitting beneath your apple tree, you have noticed the nibbling of apples. Is that eaten by squirrels?

If yes, what more squirrels eat? Squirrels eat all they find.

They have a desire for Flower, buds, fruits, vegetables, bird seeds, and many more grown things from your garden.

Let us discover more about what squirrels eat from garden.

Key Learning Points

1 Squirrel Food: What Do Squirrels Like to Eat?
2 Squirrel Food List – Favorite Food
- 2.1 Plant Materials and Vegetables
- 2.2 Fruits – Squirrels Like to Eat
- 2.3 Squirrels Eat Nuts and Walnuts
- 2.4 Other Foods
3 Food Not Liked by Squirrels
4 Squirrel Exclusion – Need of Safe Gardening

Squirrel Food: What Do Squirrels Like to Eat?

Most of the time, you have seen squirrels, the springing creatures in your garden, and wonder what is attracting them to my garden and questioned yourself "What do squirrels eat that they are camping my yard?"

You are just asking right yourself because there is something, not something, most of the things in the garden that squirrels are fond of.

Squirrels have strong taste buds.

Generally, their diet consists of fruits, nuts, and vegetables but like humans, they try anything that is available. There is no limitation to their diet.

They like to eat flowers, plants, young stalks, nuts, and even insects.

They are also foodies!

Typically, they do not stick to one food but have the curiosity to taste new food. Once they try, they become fond of it and start dining.

Their eating habits are making them capable to live in urban areas.

Squirrels are forest ambassadors that are now inhabiting our backyard gardens and yards to dine fresh, ripped fruits and vegetables.

Have a check on their favorite food!

Squirrel Food List – Favorite Food

Here is the answer to your wondering thought "What do squirrels eat from your garden". Squirrels like

Plant materials and vegetables
Fruits
Squirrels eat nuts and walnuts

As squirrels are vegetarians and have to die heart craving to these things from the garden but they also have a natural appetite for

Cereals
Bird seeds
Cheese
Eggs
Insects

Plant Materials and Vegetables

Fresh vegetables and plant materials add flavors to squirrel's diet.

They love to eat them. Gardeners must be aware of it and have some precautionary measures to protect the garden's vegy asset.

Young plants with soft growth tips are most liked by squirrels.

In addition to vegetables, plant materials and green parts of young plants are delicious for squirrels. Passing squirrels from the garden are definitely attracted towards branches, new leaves, buds, young stalks of plants, and soft twigs.

Squirrels drool to see leafy greens such as lettuce, kale, chard, or spinach and attack to fulfill the desire.

They also find other vegetables delicious like

Root vegetables
Tomatoes
Beans
Asparagus
Carrots
Radishes
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Peas
Corn

what do squirrels eat — Squirrel enjoying corn in the garden

Fruits – Squirrels Like to Eat

Having sweet and delicious ripped fruits is drooling for everyone. So is the case with squirrels.

They eat fruits with keenness.

They can easily climb on fruit trees and snatch fruits with full devotion. You have noticed leaping squirrels several times in your yard that jump from mango tree to apple and all-around other trees.

Squirrels will also eat any berries they can get their hands on such as strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, mulberries, and more.

Squirrels need high energy for scrambling and to hunt food for winters.

These fruits are a supplement source of energy for squirrels and keep them energetic.

These foraging creatures also need fruits in their diet as a necessary element because sweet sugar-rich fruits add carbohydrates to their diet.

Pears
Avocados
Figs
Plums
Bananas
Peaches
Kiwi
Watermelons
Cherries
Melon

Squirrels Eat Nuts and Walnuts

Yes! Nuts and walnuts are prime interests of squirrels. Keeping the desire fulfilled with body need is important! Nuts are among their naturally desired foods.

Squirrels have an amazing sense of it!

Like other opportunistic rodents, bushy-tailed tree squirrels also have constantly grown four front teeth so, they don't wear down from the constant gnawing.

To prepare for winters, squirrels bury their food in fall as you have seen holes in your yard.

They are dig and filled by squirrels to have a safe time when food is no longer available for them.

Among nuts almonds and walnuts are the most preferred ones.

Yet others are

Acorns
Pecans
Hazelnuts
macadamia nuts
Pistachios
Cashews
Chestnuts
Hickory nuts
Pine nuts
Beechnuts

Some of the seeds are also attacked by squirrels like sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and safflower seeds. Now you must be aware of this naughty creature after sowing seeds to your garden.

Other Foods

In addition to above mentioned vegetarian food and nut diet, squirrels also consume cereals, insects, bird seeds, cheese, eggs.

In absence of fruits, protein deficiency is supplemented by insects like caterpillars, larvae, and bugs, etc.

Squirrels find cereals, cheese, and eggs as a tasty diet and add them to their menu.

Bird seeds are also stolen by squirrels to fulfill their seed craving.

If you are noticing that birds feed is all gone before birds eat, you must be sure that squirrels are making you fool and eating from bird's feed.

Food Not Liked by Squirrels

Foodie squirrels don't say no to most of the food. They try anything they see!

But few things that squirrels avoid includes

Raw onion and garlic
Flower bulbs of allium, daffodil, snowdrop, and hyacinth
Hot and spicy chili

Squirrel Exclusion – Need of Safe Gardening

All of your efforts to grow plants go fruitless when squirrels attack them.

In order to have a safe garden, you must follow a care guide to exclude squirrels from your garden.

There are some measures you can take to keep squirrels out of your garden.

You can use natural squirrel repellents or a new technique of using hot sauce on plants as repellents are working.
You can also spread mulch and cover plants or use physical barriers like nets or caging to grow plants. In this way, your fruiting plant will be saved.
You can also trim branches to discourage leaps from one tree to other and use traps if not any other strategy is working.

The eating habits of squirrels are emerging as their ecological habitat is changing. This wild forest creature is now compelled to adapt to urban habitats.

When we will have diversity in our garden, poor squirrels will be definitely curious to taste them.

From nuts and walnuts to tasty ripped tomatoes and sweet apples would be quite a mouth watering for them.

But we as gardeners can not allow to spoil our passionately grown food and must take humane steps to get rid of them.

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