How to Repel Squirrels From the Garden

Squirrels can cause serious damage to gardens over the course of time. They don't just eat the plants, but they eat the roots as well. They also dig holes to bury nuts. You can easily repel squirrels from your garden using items from around the house, as well as many different commercial products.

Things You'll Need

• Coyote urine
• Lawn sprayer
• Cayenne peppers
• Water sprayer
• Mothballs
• Blood meal

Instructions

1. Spray coyote urine over the entire garden with a lawn sprayer. Coyote urine can be purchased from retail home and garden stores, near the lawn and garden repellents. When the squirrels smell the urine, they will assume they are being hunted and leave the treated areas.

2. Chop several cayenne peppers and place them in a blender. Puree at medium speed until the peppers become a fine powder. Combine the pepper powder with water and pour it into a lawn sprayer. Spray a fine mist over all of the plants in the garden. When the squirrels begin to eat the plants, the hot, powerful flavor will repel them and keep them from eating more.

3. Install a motion-activated water sprayer. These devices use a sensor to detect heat and movement in the garden. When it picks up a lead, the device sprays a large amount of water up to 35 feet. The water not only scares squirrels away, but it also hydrates your garden and lawn.

4. Drop mothballs all around the garden. Squirrels are naturally repelled by the smell of mothballs, so they will avoid them at all costs. Place them around the perimeter and space them intermittently throughout the garden.

5. Use blood meal to fertilize the garden. Blood meal is a high source of nitrogen that can also activate compost. It is available for purchase at retail lawn and garden stores, usually near the fertilizers. Excess blood gathered from slaughterhouses is gathered and dried into a powder to create blood meal. The smell indicates to squirrels that other animals have recently died in the area, and thus it will repel them.

Tips & Warnings

• Always wear eye protection and rubber gloves when handling the cayenne powder and liquid mixture. It can cause extreme irritation if it makes direct contact with skin. Do not use blood meal near plants high in ammonia, as the excessive nitrogen will burn them.

References

• Book: Solving Squirrel Problems; Monte Burch; 2003