Homemade Squirrel Repellent To Save Your Fall Bulbs
You would think that with cooler temperatures and the holidays on the way you could put prep your garden for the winter and be done with it right? Wrong.
Unfortunately, the fall bulbs we plant in September and October are a tempting snack for Squirrels, and your bulbs are in danger of being eaten or relocated by these busy tree climbers. If you see the tell-tale signs of digging in your garden, or notice Squirrels running Hibernation Preparedness Drills around your yard, then it’s time for you to fight back with a simple green deterrent that can save you from constantly replanting your garden beds.
Cooking Up Something Special:
Break out a 2 quart sauce pan, fill it 3/4ths of the way full with water, and get it boiling. Add to the boiling water two chopped cooking onions, one chopped Jalapeno pepper, and one tablespoon of Cayenne Pepper, or Ground Red Pepper from your spice rack. Let the mixture boil for approximately 20 minutes, and let cool. Strain the chopped peppers and onion out of the pan, and add the left-over liquid to a spray bottle for easy application to the leaves, and ground around your bulbs. This recipe will provide up to five days of deterrent from squirrels after application.
For added Squirrel deterrence, sprinkle the bare soil around your bulbs with Paprika, and Ground Red Pepper. The smells of both of these spices irritate a squirrel’s nose, and send him elsewhere in his quest for a quick snack!
Your Thoughts: What “green” ways have you found to keep squirrels out of your garden?
Photo Courtesy of: Seeks2Dream
Tags: Chopped Onion, Digging Up Bulbs, Fall Bulbs, Green Pest Control, Ground Red Pepper, Homemade Squirrel Deterrent, Paprika, Peppers, Spices, Squirrels
October 20th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Great tips Amy! In my neighborhood the squirrels use the telephone wires as a squirrel highway of sorts, spying on the gardens they intend to snack in…
October 24th, 2008 at 4:51 am
Fern,
Squirrels are amazing little acrobats! Luckily for me, my neighborhood has few squirrels, so I don’t have to worry what they will be digging up on my yard, and I can just enjoy watching them out the window.
October 24th, 2008 at 5:14 am
[...] @ Green Gardenista has a great post about DIY squirrel repellent. I think that may be the step to keep these animals out of my [...]
November 13th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
[...] In a previous post, I implored my fellow gardeners to share their squirrel stories and suggest any useful remedies. Several, including fellow Seattelites the Shibaguyz, proposed chili pepper spray to keep the pesky varmints at bay. Lucky for me, a quick perusal of a few helpful gardening blogs produced several recipes for delightfully dastardly yet all-natural brews that I could make at home from stuff I already had lying around. I adapted this one from Green Gardenista. [...]
November 17th, 2008 at 6:01 am
[...] Homemade Squirrel Repellent to Save Your Bulbs: Amy shares her homemade recipe for deterring squirrels from eating your bulbs. [...]
November 20th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
[...] Homemade Squirrel Repellent to Save Your Bulbs: Amy shares her homemade recipe for deterring squirrels from eating your bulbs. [...]
March 19th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Does anyone have a natural way or something to add to black sunflower seeds in a bird feeder to keep squirrels out but will still encourage the birds to eat?
please reply to jbates20@wi.rr.com
March 23rd, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Jennifer,
Try sprinkling cayenne pepper on your seeds, and around your feeder.
April 28th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Another great, natural way to deter squirrels from making a quick meal. I love it. How long do these spices usually work?- Nate
April 30th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Nate,
These work for a week or two, depending on the weather. After rain, these mixes need to be applied again.
May 17th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
I don’t know where I read this but it was somewhere on the net. It was suggested not to put “name tags” marking your bulbs but to keep a map of your bulb placements. For some reason squirrels are drawn to the name markers as a place to bury their nuts, and in the process dig up your bulbs. Plus, if you draw a map, you will not use the plastic non biodegradable name markers.
Lastly, something doesn’t have to be homemade to be “green.” I have been studying store bought squirrel repellents and many of them are made from fox urine, the scent of which puts fear in the squirrels, which have a keen sense of smell. Just imho.
June 1st, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Sparky,
Good point, homemade repellents can be great for do-it-yourselfer’s, but there are many great products on the market that use natural based solutions in them to accomplish the same thing. Fox Urine can work well for many people, and I’m in full support of anything that gets the job done and is easily dissolvable after use.
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:06 am
RE: Squirrel destruction. Oh no, it’s the tags that are attracting those cute furry little monsters. Even after moving perennials to pots on my patio, they still seek & destroy. It’s salsa & chips for them & hiding the name tags.
June 20th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Nice post & Fine photo of the squirrel =)
June 21st, 2009 at 11:50 am
Paralax,
Thanks!
June 25th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Someone please tell me how they get the fox urine! I am picturing foxes wearing catheters!