Dear Roger: I have tried every squirrel-resistance effort on my bird feeders I can find, including your contraption using plastic bottles.
The bottles, which spin on a wire, break down after a few years. Some squirrels can jump over them without falling. So they are not worth much.
Have you come across any better suggestions?
Would it help to put hot crushed cayenne red pepper in the bird seed? I’ve heard that this works. Let me know. My bird food bill is getting too big, and my birds are hungry. — Lloyd Carter, White Oak
Dear Lloyd: Thanks for the question. I have not tried hot peppers. My wife feeds the birds. She uses bluebird feeders with meal worms. For other birds, she uses vertical, hanging feeders, which don’t exclude squirrels very well. Her suet, I think, includes some hot peppers. The squirrels don’t seem to eat the suet. So I think hot peppers might work. She doesn’t like my spinning bottles, either. Though both of us laugh a lot when we first put them up and the squirrels tumble off time after time. Unfortunately, a few squirrels figure out how to jump over them eventually. They are the only ones that come back.
Birds have no saliva and cannot sense the heat of the peppers. Squirrels do have saliva and don’t like hot peppers.
I would use powdered or crushed ghost peppers or the Carolina reaper. They are both reputed to be among the hottest peppers in the world. I like the reaper better. It has much better flavor. Any of the really hot habañeros, the Caribbean types, would probably work as well. I consider cayennes to be very flavorful but not much for heat.
To me, ghost peppers have little flavor. They are just hot. But I grow them. A friend gave me a plant several years ago, and I save seeds. Last year I dried about 150 of them and ground them to a fine powder. I use the powder when making a dish that just needs a touch of heat. A tiny pinch does the job.
The baggie of ghost pepper powder could last me the rest of my life, if I don’t use it on bird seed. I keep the baggie in a sealed jar.
Here is another excellent comment on hot peppers in bird seed that I received a few years ago:
Dear Roger: Your reader's comment about cayenne pepper in bird seed caught my eye as I am one of many birdwatchers who has fought the good fight with squirrels at bird feeders.
Several years ago my neighbor introduced me to Hot Pepper Delight suet — it is certainly a drawing card for many different birds and a wide variety of woodpeckers who frequent the suet feeder.
Surprisingly, I have also noticed that my baffled furry friends who often sit on top of my "squirrel-proof" feeder never climb the easy-to-reach Hot Pepper Delight suet feeder, hung 5 feet away!
God has truly blessed us with such beauty.
Thank you for giving your readers information on how to enjoy it more. — Becky Jones
Dear Becky: Thank you for your keen observations. Here is another letter seeking information on pepper in bird seeds:
Dear Roger: I cannot tell you how much I enjoy your columns. I was reading about putting red pepper in the bird seed. How much is too much? Thanks. — Karen Walton, Olivia
Dear Karen: I don’t think you can use too much. Birds cannot taste the heat of peppers. Pepper and seeds do no harm to birds. I have seen robins eat very hot red peppers off the plants in my garden. Peppers have lots of nutrients. Robins will eat the whole fruit if it is small.
Most online recipes for pepper in bird seed suggest about 3 tablespoons of cayenne pepper per pound of seed. You can use more, if you like. I grow tenpins and other tiny hot peppers.
If you grow your own peppers, this won’t cost you much. Dry the peppers about five hours in a 170-degree oven, then grind them to powder in a Ninja. That’s how I do it. Works for me.
I will teach a course on growing your own peppers from seed on Jan.12. The 3-hour class starts at 9 a.m.. You can register for the class online by going to faytechcc.edu, then "corporate and continuing education," then "class schedule.”
You may also register in person at the Records and Registration office, Neill A. Currie Center for Continuing Education, 2201 Hull Road.
You can register by mail using the registration form in the Spring 2019 Class Schedule booklet. I will teach the course in classroom 109 of the Horticulture Educational Center at 670 N. Eastern Boulevard, next to the Cape Fear Botanical Garden
Send your questions and comments to Roger at orders@mercergarden.com or call (910) 424-4756. You may write to Roger at 6215 Maude St., Fayetteville, N.C. 28306
