Are squirrels smart enough to… – Reddit Post

Destroy purposefully bulbs they cannot eat?

I thought i had this figured out for my next year spring garden. I had the tulips aand daffodils secured in chicken wire tubes.

I knew from the past to include the daffodils because one by one the squirrels would dig them up and shred them, leaving the uneaten pieces on my front stoop as a token of thir ungrattitude.

What I did not consider was to do this to the allium bulbs. I asked mmyself do they need to be protected? The answer is came up with was nah, they don’t. This was backed up by the “deer resistant” indicator on the package as well as many garden sites saying the same, “squirrels do not eat these bulbs”.

Well apparently the question is now answered with “yes they do.” With 7 out of 12 left (only because I dug them up and brought them inside)

My next question was if the squirrels purposefully destroyed the bulbs or if it was a case of try the next one and see if it tastes just as bad? I wonder if they deliberately kill inedible bulbs because like the dadaffodils of the past, the areas attacked were where the roots grow and the growing tip. Both areas were chewed off on the bulbs dug up.

I read an interesting article about the relationship between oak trees and squirrels and they found that yes squirrels do notice some years there will be an abundance of acorns followed by a dearth. They would purposefully chew off branches to keep the tree from doing this cycle. My question is if such studies have been done on squirrels and bulbs they don’t like to eat.

My next task will be to cage the remaining bulbs and hope they stay protected all winter.