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The Nut Show

THE BIG QUESTION:  Do Ground Squirrels Climb Trees?

Mike and I finally made it to the The Nut Show. Too many people told us that's just where we belong. Not sure what they meant by that...hopefully, it's because of our machine. The Burrow Blocker fills in ground squirrel holes; we don't deal with tree squirrels. So why are ground squirrels a problem for Nut Growers?

It turns out that ground squirrels love nuts like their cousins, the tree squirrel. The Burrow Blocker booth at the West Coast Nut Conference was a popular place. Our large banner with the ground squirrel was a scary reminder of the nut growers' gnawing and thieving nemesis, the ground squirrel. Growers don't see a ground squirrel, they see dollar signs being subtracted from the the value of their total yield. Besides stealing and burying nuts, the ground squirrels destroy new trees, gnaw on bark, chew holes in irrigation lines, and undermine the trees' root systems by burrowing beneath them.

ANSWER:  YES

The first time we used the Burrow Blocker to fill ground squirrel holes in a walnut orchard, we were surprised by the extent of the burrows. Typically, it takes the Burrow Blocker approximately 3 minutes to fill a ground squirrel hole in a field. At the base of  walnut trees we found that it could take more than 14 minutes to fill the hole.

 Their destructive capabilities make the ground squirrel quite scary. There is even a humorous website devoted to the scary critters: Scary Squirrel. Thanks to ScarySquirrel.org for the photographic proof of the burrowing rodents in the trees.

 Besides ground squirrels, Nut Growers face many other challenges. For helpful information, check out the West Coast Nut Grower Guide.

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