When nut growers think about squirrel damage, they usually imagine their crop eaten by the fuzzy-tailed bandits. However, the other day I spotted a different kind of squirrel damage that can be equally as damaging, especially to young trees. When their normal food supply runs low, Squirrels will strip the bark from smooth-barked pecan trunks and/or limbs to feed on the tree's nutrient rich cambial layer (photo at left).
Squirrel bark stripping is an especially troublesome problem on young grafted trees. If the bark is removed around the entire diameter of the tree, the upper portion of the tree will eventually die. Hopefully a bud above the graft union but below the girdled area will break next spring and grow into a new trunk.
After seeing squirrel damage on several young trees, I decided it was time I did my part to help feed the squirrels. I set out some conibear traps baited with one of last season's pecans (photo at right). Directions for trapping squirrels can be found
HERE.
It turns out my local squirrel population was still hungry and couldn't resist a nice large pecan. That's one down and dozens more to go.
