How do I keep raccoons out of my potted plants?
Surround gardens and potted plants with metal mesh fences and secure food sources like trash cans and compost piles with locking lids. Placing mesh screens over openings to crawl spaces, attics, garages and covered spaces under porches and decks prevents raccoons from entering these areas and setting up dens.
Here's how to stop skunks & raccoons from digging up your lawn: Make it hard for them to dig, apply nematodes, use aeration, keep the soil wet, use cayenne pepper & unroll chicken wire over the area along with these other 12 tips to help with animals digging up your lawn.
To keep raccoons at a distance, try scattering blood meal around corn plants. Also try sprinkling wood ashes around your plants. Grind up garlic, mix it with an equal portion of chili powder, and spread it around the garden. Frequent applications are needed.
Cats, chipmunks, squirrels and other pests like to dig in the dirt, eat bulbs, and store food for the winter. But this not only makes a mess but can damage or kill your plants as well. Luckily, there are some easy and natural ways to keep animals out of your flower pots.
Since raccoons have a strong sense of smell, which they use to find convenient food sources, one can take advantage of this feature by using scents they hate. Hot pepper, garlic, peppermint oil, onion, and Epsom salt are a few scents used to repel raccoons.
Rodents, squirrels, raccoons, foxes, and household pets can be digging up your potted plants at night. They might be attracted to the plants or the bugs crawling around in the potting soil. You can add a physical barrier, repellent herbs, bonemeal, or cayenne pepper to keep them away.
As a general rule, the best raccoon repellents irritate the senses of a raccoon to keep them away. Peppermint essential oil, bright lights, coffee grounds, chili pepper, cayenne pepper, epsom salt, predator urine, ammonia, vinegar, loud noises and fragrant soaps all can repel raccoons.
Opossums and raccoons have several factors in common: They're awake when most people are asleep, they're rarely scared of people and civilization, they're omnivorous, feasting on both plant and animal matter, and they can cause significant damage to flowering plants while they scavenge for food.
Fence your garden or mulched flowerbeds as a barrier to stop animals from digging in mulch and flowers. Use chicken or mesh wire with openings no larger than 1 inch to prevent the animal pests from entering.
Peppermint Oil
Raccoons seem to stay away from geraniums because they dislike their scent.
Does Irish Spring soap keep raccoons away?
Many of the same smells that deter deer, such as capsaicin and mint, also repel raccoons. In general, Irish Spring soap can be an effective raccoon repellent. For the most part, you'll never see a raccoon munching in your garden.
Here are some tips on raccoon control to prevent them from identifying your home as a place to nest or frequently visit. Raccoons hate the smell of apple cider vinegar (and so do some humans!). Soak a cloth in apple cider vinegar and place it in an aerated container near the den. The smell will deter them!
Ground Squirrels, Gophers and Rabbits
Ground squirrels and gophers will dig holes as outlets and entrances to their underground colonies. Rabbits will usually make a single hole for themselves and their young. The roots and vegetables found on the surface will be eaten by these ground-living critters.
Cover potted plants with a cage made from chicken wire, plastic bird netting, or hardware cloth – especially during the offseason when squirrels are more prone to “planting” their stash, which they normally come back for later, digging up precious bulbs in the process.
Wildlife that feed at night include rabbits, deer, squirrels, chipmunks, voles, woodchucks, groundhogs, and skunks. They do a lot of damage. But so do insects. Nighttime feeding insects include caterpillars, Mexican bean beetles, flea beetles, Japanese beetles, the tarnished plant bug, and slugs.
Raccoons enjoy the dark, so a strategically placed flashlight can be a deterrent. Because they're also put off by strange noises, playing a small radio may help keep them at bay. Finally, raccoons hate the smell of ammonia, so leave a saucer full of the stuff (or an ammonia-dipped rag) near the creatures' entry point.
Raccoons aren't fond of spicy smells, so a cayenne pepper spray can be an easy and effective raccoon repellent. Mix a small bottle of cayenne pepper with a bottle of hot sauce, then add both to a gallon of water and shake well. Spray this pepper solution around your plants, bushes, and other garden greenery.
Wind chimes are a passive noise deterrent to keep raccoons as well as other unwelcome critters away.
Sprinkle cayenne pepper on your flower bed or on top of bulb plantings. Repeat this process on a weekly basis and immediately after rain to replenish the supply. Pepper acts as an irritant to many intruding animals, which keeps them from digging up the soil.
A few plants to add to your garden area known to keep animals out include rhubarb, garlic, hot peppers, basil, and mint. Just like above when we talked about garlic and pepper spray, planting these around your garden will also deter animals. Lavender is a great choice to add to flower beds or gardens.
Will cayenne pepper hurt plants?
Cayenne Pepper: Cayenne pepper won't hurt your plants but it will keep many small animals away. Every few days, sprinkle about ¼ cup of cayenne pepper throughout your garden.
But, will porch lights keep raccoons away? Yes, in most cases, porch lights keep raccoons away. Raccoons are nocturnal animals, which means they can be very sensitive to light.
Baby raccoons are called kits, and they are typically born in early spring between March and April, but if a mother's first litter does not survive she may give birth to a second litter as late as June. There's nothing better than the care of a mother!
They love corn, berries, grapes, tree fruits, nuts, beans and peas, melons, squash, and potatoes.
- Scatter or spray pepper. Spices like cinnamon, black pepper or cayenne pepper bother a raccoon's sense of smell, forcing it to relocate to a more livable area. ...
- Soak rags in ammonia. ...
- Place mothballs around your house. ...
- Call Apple Pest Control.
Raccoons (along with foxes, skunks, and bats) are “rabies vector species” (meaning they have a higher risk of contracting and spreading rabies) and therefore you should never attempt to handle them. If you need assistance with a raccoon, don't take matters into your own hands: Call Animal Services!
During the day, raccoons find shelter in all environments. In urban areas, raccoons sleep in abandoned cars, dumpsters, and sewer drains, but hide in attics, garages, and underneath decks in suburban areas. In the wilderness, they live sleep in tree hollows, under rocks, and vacant animal dens.
Homeowners with an infestation may wonder, “Will raccoons leave on their own?” Generally speaking, these pests won't leave without intervention because they have found food and shelter in the home, allowing them to avoid their natural predators during scavenging.
You can prevent them from coming around by planting herbs with a strong fragrance, such as lavender and mint. In addition, you can also keep mice, voles, and gophers away by planting daffodils.
Raccoons don't like the smell of ammonia – a key component in human urine. Therefore, if you don't mind using it around your yard – it can keep raccoons away.
Why should you scatter soap in your yard?
Sprinkling soap shavings in garden spaces is also said to help keep a number of insect pests from feeding on your plants. Making your own insecticidal soap from those old discarded soap slivers is easy too, and saves money.
Spices like cinnamon, black pepper or cayenne pepper bother a raccoon's sense of smell, forcing it to relocate to a more livable area. By mixing cayenne pepper and onion in boiling water, you can create a natural raccoon repellant. You can add hot sauce to the mixture, as well.
Many of the same smells that deter deer, such as capsaicin and mint, also repel raccoons. In general, Irish Spring soap can be an effective raccoon repellent. For the most part, you'll never see a raccoon munching in your garden.
Here are some tips on raccoon control to prevent them from identifying your home as a place to nest or frequently visit. Raccoons hate the smell of apple cider vinegar (and so do some humans!). Soak a cloth in apple cider vinegar and place it in an aerated container near the den. The smell will deter them!
Cover potted plants with a cage made from chicken wire, plastic bird netting, or hardware cloth – especially during the offseason when squirrels are more prone to “planting” their stash, which they normally come back for later, digging up precious bulbs in the process.
