Natural squirrel repellent: 10+ DIY Ways to Keep Squirrels Away
Do squirrels keep digging up bulbs, stealing from bird feeders, or wreaking havoc in your vegetable garden? The good news is that you don’t need harsh chemicals to solve these problems. There are several natural squirrel repellent options featuring simple, everyday ingredients that keep squirrels away.
In this guide, you’ll discover smells squirrels hate, the plants that repel squirrels, and easy DIY solutions to protect your garden.
You’ll also learn which scents work best, and how to make homemade sprays that deter squirrels naturally.
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What repels squirrels naturally? (quick answer)
If you want to keep squirrels out of gardens without harsh chemicals, start by using smells and tastes they hate. Strong scents such as peppermint oil, garlic, and cayenne pepper work well. Planting daffodils, alliums, and hyacinths can also discourage squirrels from digging and nibbling.
For a quick, DIY solution, homemade sprays combining these ingredients can give your yard immediate protection from squirrels while remaining safe for pets and children.
What smells do squirrels hate the most?
Squirrels dislike spicy, pungent, and sharp scents since these irritate their sensitive noses. Using these scents in your garden, either as sprays or by planting them, can deter squirrels from digging or chewing on nearby plants.
Some of the most effective smells and ingredients include:
- Cayenne pepper: Contains capsaicin, which irritates sensory nerves.
- Peppermint oil: Its sharp menthol scent overwhelms their noses.
- Garlic: Strong and pungent, it acts as a natural nasal irritant.
- White vinegar: Its acidic odor masks food smells and deters squirrels.
- Coffee grounds: The strong aroma makes the area unpleasant for squirrels.
While these scents are effective on their own, you can make them even more powerful by turning them into simple DIY sprays or strategically planting them in your garden. We’ll cover these methods in the next section.
Homemade squirrel repellent sprays that work
Now that you know which smells squirrels hate, you can turn them into simple homemade sprays. These DIY squirrel repellent sprays are easy to make, safe for your garden, and are effective tools to keep squirrels away from plants.
Cayenne pepper squirrel repellent spray
Squirrels hate the smell of cayenne pepper because it contains capsaicin, which creates a burning sensation. This DIY squirrel repellent spray will help to keep them away.
- Add one small bottle of hot sauce to one gallon of water.
- Mix well and place the mixture in a spray bottle.
- Spray the solution directly on the leaves of plants where squirrels have been chewing.
- You can also spray it directly on birdseed, since birds don’t have the receptors that register capsaicin as hot.
- Reapply every 2-4 weeks and after rain or heavy dew.
Vinegar squirrel repellent spray
Both apple cider vinegar and white vinegar have a strong, sharp aroma that squirrels dislike. The scent can interfere with their ability to forage and encourage them to move elsewhere.
- Fill a spray bottle with apple cider or white vinegar.
- Apply it to hard surfaces and fixtures where squirrels are active.
- For a stronger squirrel deterrent, mix in 2-3 tablespoons of cayenne pepper.
- Apply every 2-7 days as the scent fades over time.
- Reapply the vinegar squirrel repellent spray after rain for best results.
Note: Vinegar is non-selective and can damage plant leaves on contact. It can also affect soil microbes if overused. For this reason, it’s best to use vinegar sprays only on hard surfaces or around the edges of garden areas. Avoid spraying it directly on plants or soil.
Peppermint oil squirrel repellent spray
Squirrels dislike the strong scent of peppermint. It’s easy to make a spray to keep them away from your garden.
- Place 1-2 teaspoons of peppermint essential oil in 1 cup of water and a few drops of dishwashing soap.
- Mix well and place in a spray bottle.
- Spray around the borders of your garden, on fences, or directly on plants.
- The aroma of peppermint oil evaporates over time.
- Apply every 2-3 days for best results.
- Reapply after rain.
Garlic squirrel repellent spray
The sulfur-based compounds in garlic naturally repel squirrels. It is repulsive to their sense of smell, and they find it unpleasant to eat, too. This spray uses both fresh garlic (for the pungent odor) and freeze-dried garlic (for concentrated strength).
- Place 3 cloves of fresh, sliced garlic, 2 tablespoons of freeze-dried garlic, and 2 cups of water in a saucepan.
- Boil, then let the mixture steep for 1 to 2 hours.
- Strain to remove the solid pieces of garlic.
- Add a pinch of cayenne pepper for extra heat.
- Pour into a spray bottle.
- Spray around plants and on fences or plant pots.
- Reapply every 3-7 days and after it rains, since the odor fades over time.
Plants that repel squirrels naturally
Some plants naturally deter squirrels due to their strong scent or taste. While they won’t eliminate squirrels for good, they can help reduce digging and damage when planted around vulnerable areas.
These are some effective plants squirrels hate:
- Mint (particularly peppermint): Strong scent squirrels avoid (best grown in containers)
- Garlic: Pungent smell acts as a natural squirrel deterrent for gardens
- Chili peppers: Contain capsaicin, which irritates squirrels’ nasal passages
- Onions: Sulfuric odor and taste repel squirrels naturally
- Marigolds: Often used as companion plants for pest control
- Daffodils: Toxic bulbs that squirrels tend to avoid
- Alliums: Strong-smelling ornamental relatives of onions
Pro tip: While many gardeners report success at repelling squirrels with these plants, determined squirrels can still be a nuisance. A combination of methods, such as mixing squirrel repellent for plants, sprays and physical barriers give the best success.
How to keep squirrels away from your garden naturally
In addition to the squirrel sprays and plants listed above, there are a few other squirrel repellent methods that you can use to keep squirrels away.
- Mix dried peppermint leaves with a few drops of peppermint essential oil.
- Put the peppermint-scented leaves in mesh bags.
- Place in areas that squirrels frequent.
Cotton ball method (best for confined areas like attics and potted plants)
- Soak cotton balls in peppermint oil and place them on empty jar lids around plants that squirrels like.
- Resoak the balls every 3-7 days, since the scent can evaporate.
- Replace the balls if they become dirty and dry out.
Coffee grounds natural squirrel repellent for plants
Squirrels dislike coffee grounds because of their strong, bitter aroma. The coarse texture of coffee grounds is also uncomfortable to their paws, discouraging them from digging in it.
- Scatter used coffee grounds around the base of plants in flower beds or pots.
- Create rings around pots or plants to act as a barrier.
- Apply every 1-2 weeks since the scent fades over time.
- Reapply after a rainfall or watering.
Red pepper flakes is a natural squirrel repellent
The capsaicin in red pepper flakes causes a burning sensation to squirrels, teaching them to avoid the areas where you place the flakes.
- Sprinkle crushed red pepper flakes near plants that squirrels frequent.
- Mix red pepper into birdseed. This won’t affect the birds, but squirrels will avoid it.
- Reapply after rain or watering, as they will wash away.
- Do not apply to plants with delicate foliage to avoid leaf burn.
Additional ways to keep squirrels away
Even the best natural squirrel repellent won’t work as well if your yard is attracting squirrels in the first place. Reducing these attractants helps your sprays and scent-based deterrents work more effectively.
Remove items that attract squirrels
You may unwittingly be inviting squirrels into your yard with bird feeders, compost piles, and open garden bins.
- Bird feeders: Squirrels love birdseed! Place feeders away from garden beds and fences, and clean up spilled seed regularly to avoid attracting squirrels.
- Move garbage bins: Cover your garden bins securely to keep squirrels away.
- Garden maintenance: Remove fallen fruit and nuts from nut trees.
- Compost bins: Squirrels are attracted to food scraps in open compost piles. Use tumblers or secure lids with bungee cords to keep them out.
Keep squirrels out of flower pots
Squirrels often dig in pots to find food or a place to bury nuts or to dig up bulbs. A few simple barriers can stop this behavior.
- Cover the soil: Mesh, chicken wire, or decorative stones help prevent digging.
- Add mulch with sharp textures: Pinecones make the surface less appealing.
Scare squirrels to keep them away
Squirrels are easily startled, and occasional disturbances can encourage them to move on.
- Noise and movement: Use motion-activated devices such as sprinklers or noise makers.
- Objects: Hang reflective objects that move in the wind to create visual disruption.
- Scarecrows: These large objects appear to be humans to squirrels, and help to keep them away.
Use pets as a squirrel deterrent
The presence of a natural predator can make squirrels feel unsafe in your yard.
- Allow dogs or cats supervised access to the garden area.
- Their scent and activity alone can help discourage squirrels from settling nearby.
Note on trapping and relocating squirrels
Live traps are sometimes used to remove squirrels. However, relocation may be regulated in some areas and is not always effective long-term. In many cases, using natural repellents and removing attractants is a simpler and more reliable solution.
Natural squirrel repellent plants printable
You can print the squirrel repelling plants printable as high-resolution JPGs or PDFs by using the links below:
Printing instructions:
- Select portrait orientation and “fit to page” on your printer settings for a full-page printout.
- You can also print out the printable from the project card at the bottom of this page. Scroll down to the card to print.
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🐿️🌱 Squirrels tearing up your garden? You don’t need harsh chemicals to stop them! Discover natural squirrel repellent ideas that actually work - DIY sprays, smells squirrels hate, and simple tricks to keep them out for good.🌿 Safe,… Share on XPin these natural squirrel repellent ideas
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Admin note: This article on how to get rid of squirrels naturally first appeared on the blog in April 2018. This post has been updated with new photos, a printable of squirrel repellent plants, and a slideshow video about natural squirrel repellents.
Squirrel Repellent Plants Printable
If you have ever wondered, "What keeps squirrels away?", the answer is plants! There are several plants squirrels hate either because of their smell or taste. This printable is a good resource to save for later. Print it out in high-definition or PDF format with the links below.
Materials
- Computer paper
Tools
- Computer
- Printer
Instructions
- Load your paper into your printer.
- Using the print function on this card will give you a squirrel repellent plants printable that fills about ¾ of an 8.5 x 11-inch sheet of paper.
- Choose portrait layout and, if possible, "fit to page" (or 125%) in your settings.
- Prefer full-page printing? You can also print the guide as a high-resolution file using your browser’s print feature: (PDF) | (JPG).
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- This printable may not be used for any retail purpose or for mass distribution.
Notes
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Squirrels don’t like the smell of vinegar and ammonia. You can hang containers filled with soaked rags around your garden to keep squirrels at bay.
Another trick is to cover the soil of your potted plants with some predator fur or even clippings from your own hair. Again, the smell of a predator will scare off the squirrels. Remember that those solutions must be “Re-freshed” from time to time, especially after a rainy day. 🙂
Thanks for the tips Amber!
is there a way to keep the squirels from eating my pine cones from my pine trees.
Not that I know of. I have the same problem. Perhaps another reader can help.
I have an idea: lemon balm grows easily prettily nicely and profusely and smells great to me and is useful in cooking and in keeping mosquitos away and so, maybe if I cut it off and lay it on the bare earth under the prickly holly hedge there wouldn’t be any more walnut thees growing hidden there from nuts buried by the squirrels?
Be careful about trapping and know the laws in your area. For example, after live trapping 3 squirrels in my house, and relocating them, I found out it is illegal in Oregon.
Thank you good information!
Glad you enjoyed it Zeze.
I used the apple cider vinegar on my tomatoe plants and othet veges. I did not see where you should dilute the vinegar, not my plants have all browned and might not survive. If you did say to dilute the vinegar I did not see it. If you did not say to dilute it please let people know it must be diluted
Yes it says to dilute vinegar or it will kill plants.
Also says only on HARD SURFACES, NOT YOUR PLANTS.
Someone in my neighborhood feeds the squirrels whole peanuts, walnuts, almonds and I don’t mind squirrels but they eat them on top of my fence and drop all the shell in the corner of my yard. And also bury nuts all throughout my yard as I find them as I’m planting. Just tired of it. Need something natural to keep them away but not harm any animals. I do love the birds
Squirrels are a challenge for sure. My husband thinks that the reason we have more squirrels now, is that the owl population in our area has decreased. My biggest mistake was planting corn one year. It drew them like magnets. We have tried catching them to release them elsewhere, but they are clever and can figure out the traps.
I have a squirrel that licks vinegar off my screen. Spray through the screen to run raccoons off.
You should NEVER spray your vegetables with vinegar. It is an acid, a natural weed killer and i use it all the time for that. I mix it with salt for areas where I want to also kill the ground like between walkway stones.
Never spray it on plants you want to live.
How do you use vinegar in your yard to kill weeds?
This article talks about vinegar as a weed killer.
Our land is a Wildlife Habitat. Each month we buy 1400 pounds of deer feed (corn, nuggets, protein), 400 pounds bird seed (blackoil sunflower, niger thistle, suet), 25 pounds wildlife peanuts in the shell. Food for our five dogs. No hunting allowed. We enjoy watching and mingling with them. The only animal I shoot is a skunk out and about during the day. A skunk in daylight is probably sick, rabid. Rural Great State of Texas.
Apple cider vinegar is diluted and only for “hard surfaces”, not for plants
Hot pepper (flakes, oils, ect…) Peppermint plant and Peppermint oil, I’ve even gone as far as using ghost pepper hot sauce and it works for a day or two then even after I freshen it up the squirrels just come back… And the pepper mint plants have been destroyed…
I’ve already had to replace a number of plants because of those “adorable” but destructive pests…
I placed a couple of peanuts coated in Ghost pepper sauce in an open area to see the reaction.. A grey squirrel sniffed it then ate it…. If ghost pepper doesn’t discourage them, WHAT WILL?
Mark,
Here are a several of my own, exasperated thoughts:
1) Silly me! I, too, suspected that ghost-pepper sauce was so rich in capsaicin that it would surely de-welcome both squirrels and chipmunks. Up to a point it did or does: I also found, with time, that Rocky/Rockette the Squirrels got a little too used to vegetable hellfire (even as Alvin/Alvina have evidently relocated their Love Tunnel). What gave?! I suspect that not all ghost-pepper sauces are brewed equal. I had fair luck with a brand named, “Dave’s Gourmet” — opening the bottle too close to my face made my eyes sting and weep — yet rather less success with one named, “Small Axe,” altho a locally-rainy growing season may have partly aborted my little mission.
2) So, what to do? Online, I found dried, powdered “Carolina Reaper” peppers, supposedly even more hellish than the infernal ghost pepper, and sprinkled this instant warlock’s brew onto a favorite burial-spot, as well (ill?) as on the surface-soil of a few potted plants. This so-called spice, partnered with (fresh) garlic powder, has worked quite well in the latter case, and for a little longer in the besieged flower bed. (Just for the Hades of it, I misted the booby-trapped potting compost with water, and soon “wept as I had sown”. Literally! Aah, sweet hope?)
3) I myself have only a very small flower bed, plus a few pots, to protect against ravenous rodents. (I have learned the twin arts of decorating most of my potted charges with layers of crushed/polished stone, and then guessing at how often to water. Rodents are pretty chary of stones.) Had I a large plot to secure, and were I rather a bit more the Bad Boy, I would set out little saucers, filled with equal parts of sugar, corn meal, and baking soda. Multiple online sources indicate that such a blend tempts Hell’s critters to gorge, on which the bicarbonate reacts with their stomach acids, generating so much CO2, so quickly, that Rocky or Alvina or Pepé le Pew’s guts explode, blowing them to the Great Beyond. (Reportedly, this is because rodents can not . . . break wind.) This last resort I neither condemn nor condone — we might as well laugh, or learn to apply vegetable tear gas every few days, or learn how to garden with a mulch of landscaping cloth and decorative stone — which will surely not accommodate every plant on our wish list . . .
Good luck!
–Franco
Very informative blog. Thank you so much for sharing this amazing blog.
To all my fellow vegetable gardners who are in a constant battle with squirrels – I have found the solution. Squirrels were killing my garden – digging up seeds, eating the tops of plants and killing them and reeking havoc in my garden.
I have tried all of the following with little or no success:
1. firepit ashes (works for about a week)
2. dried pepper flakes (works for a few days or until it rains)
3. moth balls
4. Irish Spring Soap
5. dog patrol – works until the pups come back inside
Back in the day my parents would hang old CDs in thier garden (when every software or printer update came with a CD), but during a pandemic thrift stores were not open. I got to thinking, what would be shiney and reflective, fun, and weather resistent. Aluminium pie pans are shiney and reflective and weather risistent, but not fun or attractive.
Then it hit me- DISCO BALLS! Shiny – check, reflective- check, fun- check, weather resistant – I hoped so. Party City stores were not open, but they were accepting online orders. I found a 20% off online coupon and got free shipping. Three days later I had 3 Disco Balls on my front porch.
I pulled 3 shepherd hooks and spider wire (the balls have to spin) out of the basement and installed my new Disco Balls in the garden. I’ve been watching the garden and the squirrels for the past 2+ months. Squirrels will walk the fence behind the garden and play in the grass and trees around the garden, BUT NOT ONE squirrel has gone in the garden and my garden is THRIVING. We have also had a lot of wind and rain this spring and not one mirror tile has come off.
One of my neighbors has had her garden repeated destroyed by squirrels and put a disco ball in her last week.
Don’t waste your time with all those things I mentioned above – they don’t work. Hang a couple of Disco Balls and make your garden a Squirrel-Free and Fun Zone!!!!
Disco balls!! Fun! I have seen smaller ornaments like this in the past. Grand idea!
My grandma used the aluminum pie tin idea. Cut it into pcs and strung them on string or rope she saved. Then tied them to stakes and made a border. She said it was for the birds, never mentioned squirrels from what I remember.
I saw on another page to get fake snakes. I went to Walmart today and bought 5 plastic snakes for $1/ea. (Toy dept) Put them by my planter containers this evening. Didn’t find the owl decoy though. Hopefully the snakes work. Article said you should move them and the owl periodically.
I’d like to try the garlic and vinegar sprays. What is the ratio of water to garlic or vinegar?
I didn’t give an actual formula because vinegar can kill plants if not used correctly. The garlic and vinegar spray is meant to be used on fences and garden seats. If sprayed around plants, it can act like a weed killer, since vinegar is often used this 2ay.
For hard surfaces, I’d mix vinegar/water 50/50 and then add a head of minced garlic and let it sit for a while to combine. It’s the smell of garlic that squirrels don’t like.
Just got landscaping done squirrels are digging holes in the bark I am finding holes all over the place I just bought vinegar hoping to spray the boulder I hope the smell will keep them out is it 50 50
squirrels don’t eat green tomatoes. Pick them when they are juuuust starting to turn red, put them in a paper bag in a warm place in your home (top of fridge). They will ripen nicely and without blemishes!
@Robert
They do eat green tomatoes in my garden they wait until they are mature enough to be juicy but not to start turning. They are not eating them because they are thirsty either they drink from the bird bath which is away from the garden. I have tried all the smells but with plenty of rain this year it all washes away cant always run out after rain and reapply. Debating building a cage to put around tomatoes.
@Robert, they do eat green tomatoes sometimes, the usual infuriating one small bite out of each, never a whole tomato.
@Susan, So far I have had success with the green plastic fencing (light-weight,little squares and about 30-36″ tall) sold at Lowes, etc. I put bamboo stakes around each plant, then encircle the plant with the fencing, attach the fencing to the bamboo poles with zip ties, and use wooden clothespins to overlap and close the fencing. Then I can open the fencing as needed for watering or gathering the crop. You may need to place some palm size rocks around the base of the fencing to discourage digging under. You can easily re-use the bamboo poles and the fencing the next year. (Beware of pepper flakes, when I tried them I got tons of little pepper plants sprouting in my plant pots, thought I would never get rid of them.)
@Robert, They do here in West Virginia. Last year we couldn’t get to the green tomatoes fast enough to beat the squirrels.
A trap is the ONLY thing that works! I have tried everything from cayenne pepper to ammonia, garlic, mint sprays & owls/hawk fixtures with 0 results. Trap and move and release. Problem with that one solved!
Trapped. Sprayed their legs red and blue for ID. Took them 10 miles away and released in a park. One week — seven days — later they were back.
I was told you need to cross water so that they can’t find their way back.
Just read this and am crying with laughter! The thought of the wee furry muppets scampering back with their red and blue boots on is an image I won’t ever forget! Thanks so much for making me laugh today – you’ve no idea how much this has cheered me up after their last assault on my spring bulbs – now sitting inside in our bedroom!
Be careful about trapping and know the laws in your area. For example, after live trapping 3 squirrels in my house, and relocating them, I found out it is illegal in Oregon.
Thanks for the advice. I will add it to my post.
I have taken to planting bulbs with a covering of chicken wire right over the dirt, affixed with lawn pins. Then cover that in extra dirt or mulch. A solid metal barrier squirrels cannot get through. I also make circlets of chicken wire for any new plantings, especially young plants (otherwise the squirrels smell the fresh dirt and assume another squirrel has hidden a treat there, so have a dig to look for it sometimes destroying the roots in the process). Slight success with a solar ultrasonic motion sensor repeller (but it died after a few months). Repeller sprays only work a brief time (and who has the time or money to keep going round again and again like an idiot, spraying). Fake owls are just a joke. metallic shiny things (wind spinners, tassels, etc) do nothing. Shooting them with a hose on full blast only works for a short time, too. In my darkest moments I considered murder (poison peanuts for moles from Amazon), but I would never really do that (cathartic to imagine their demise, however). What I would like is peanuts with a coating of “the pill” so today’s squirrels will not be able to breed tomorrows squirrels, and will just die off naturally. Ahhhh, to dream…….
FYI, I literally just sat and watched a squirrel eat my recently planted geranium, so that one does not work.
I suspect that squirrels are digging up my jackfruit seeds and I will try these solutions.
I am sorry, we can agree to disagree, with the statements apple cider deters squirrels. Sorry, that is not our case as I used 1 litre of pure apple cider vinegar and sprayed it by a bird feeder on a cloth. The rascal squirrel raided the feeder and mocked my attempt. They are cute animals but need to hunt for food in the wild. Coffee grounds are useless too as I sprinkled fresh and perked coffee grounds near the bird feeder and the pesky rascal gorged himself on bird seeds to annoy. We have a few solar repellents on order and will try that too to repel these little brazen marauders that are an immutable nuisance.
This year I was looking for a good harvest of pears during the Spring. In JUne I notices ALL my pears and NO partial pears were even left on the tree. What can I use next year to get rid of the squirrels?
I don’t have any suggestions other than those in my post. Squirrels are the bane of my gardening existence. Sorry about your pears.
I just planted tulip bulbs (literally hours ago) and those rascal squirrels have already Started digging them up. Any suggestions? I have cayenne pepper, peppermint oil, vinegar, apple cider vinegar. Would diluted spray work over the area? Or cayenne pepper over the planted bulbs?
Tulips and squirrels are VERY hard to keep apart. The only thing I have found is to put something over them (like a BBQ grate) that will allow the tulips to grow up through the holes but will keep the squirrels away from the bulbs. I lost every single one of my tulips to squirrels one year, so I feel your pain.
Squirrels were eating wires on cars and gas lines. Chewing up the eves, crawling in an nesting. I blend, boil, strain and can in quart jar a habanero base for a spray that then i mix in sprayer includes peppermint, Irish Spring made liquid and a tea spoons oil all mixed as a concentration for my home made spray. I spray inside hood.
I keep water out in summer so they wont chew on gas line or garden plants.
I use hot red pepper on tomato plants.
I put a little insulated dog like house with straw and two small entry/exit. way in back. I bring treats all winter. As distractions and TOYS.collected walnuts, corn and the hard round squirrel chew sold.( i cover with a vitamin water with cut ends, so the plastic covers most the chew. Stick a wire through and hang in or out of house. They have to work to chew.
I use old vitamin water plastic jars. add a little corn, and a cut a hole so just a few corns fall out. So they have to work. Make Other Vit water bottles with TBS of cheep peanut butter. Slice the bottom so they can get their foot in and have to chew and work for the peanut butter. So Distractions, warm house so they have somewhere besides warm car engine in winter. and they need water.
I have to remove figs on tree before they get them. I cleared away many bushes. Removed all bird feeders to way back or not at all.
I used steel wool mixed in blobs of calk patching holes in eaves where they were chewing into edge under eaves of house.
No car repairs as often. and come spring i bet they attempt a new hole in eaves of house.
I set food out for the birds that has nested close to the house. I got Brat that wants to help himself.
The ideas that you listed. it won’t hurt the birds, will it?
Most of the remedies are fine around birds, although peppermint oil can cause respiratory illness to some birds.
First, your husband is correct on the housing. We are in the middle of a development boom, in our “used to be” small town. They are cutting down thousands of acres, by the day.
The owls have left us, we used to have a family here. The hawks have left us. We even had a eagle, and I don’t see it anymore. What we do have is 100 squirrels that are beating me.
They don’t like the smell of garlic- Fl squirrels do! They have dug up and ate all of mine. I had 30 tomatoes on one plant- gone. It’s not their fault the developers are destroying their homes. My heart is sad for them, and angry that they took out my corn- again.
Chicken wire is no match for them either. Hot peppers? Tasty morsels for these guys. They have learned, and fast how to get past the deterrents. Moth balls? HA! The cover them up. They have gone into survival mode and our gardens are their grocery store. When I say survival mode- I sat and watched a squirrel beat the tar out of a hawk, and the hawk fled! That is where we are.
I’m not going to shoot them, and was told that it would be useless anyway. You get rid of one batch, it leaves room for others that are searching for a home, to move in. Frankly, I have 2 options. Live with it and pray they leave something, of quit gardening. Neither seems like a good idea to me. All I know now, these money hungry people here in Fl are destroying this place!
Thanks for the extensive info. Unfortunately, I have tried 75% of these suggestions to no avail🤬Put apple cider vinegar all over my banana trees and they seemed to like it! I just marinated it for them🤣 These squirrels are eating EVERYRHING this year! Banana tree shoots, canas flower shoots, crepe myrtle flower buds, and don’t get me started on my garden! Have a few things you mentioned I’m going to try! Wish me luck🤞
Good luck Hope. Squirrels are a real problem in gardens for me too.
I must have had squirrels from South of the Border then because they ate my jalapeno plants…and the cayenne pepper spray didn’t work either.
Do any of these methods work for chipmunks?
I have not had a problem with chipmunks, so I can’t attest to how effective the methods would be.