Squirrels. The nemesis of bird-feeder owners for generations. They’re often the Peter Rabbit to our Mr. McGregor. As anti-squirrel technology gets smarter, so it seems, do the squirrels themselves. Tools such as Squirrel Baffles may deter a few weak-minded specimens, but those squirrels truly bent on stealing a snack will find a way. We’ve watched them do it. The hack that can repel invading squirrels is using cinnamon.
Squirrels have sharp sense of smell
Squirrels have an extremely keen sense of smell, which helps them locate small nuts, acorns, and of course, birdseed. But this also means they have an aversion to strong smells such as cinnamon. Many pest control companies agree that cinnamon can work as an easy and humane way to keep squirrels away from bird feeders or gardens. As a bonus, the spice also acts as a natural pest control remedy, potentially repelling annoying insects like ants, wasps, and cockroaches. To use cinnamon as a squirrel repellent, apply cinnamon oil or ground cinnamon mixed with water to the area around your bird feeder. If you use dry ground cinnamon, it could easily blow away. For best results, reapply weekly, or after it rains.
Is cinnamon safe for squirrels and birds?
Cinnamon is nontoxic to small mammals such as squirrels and cats unless it is consumed in large quantities. However, certain types of cinnamon are toxic to birds so it is important to use the correct cinnamon in your homemade squirrel repellent. Ceylon (also known as true cinnamon) is safe for birds, while cassia (or Chinese) cinnamon is not. Cassia cinnamon contains a blood thinner that can lead to liver failure.
Although (ceylon) cinnamon is safe for birds, most avian species detest the smell as much as squirrels. So how can you attract more birds to your feeder while also repelling pests? Avoid placing your cinnamon mixture directly on your bird feeder. Instead, opt for spots that squirrels use to get onto the feeder, such as the pole or nearby tree branches.
Other repellents
Other smells that squirrels hate are garlic, rosemary, coffee grounds, peppermint … and predator urine (you can actually purchase fox urine at hunting stores). Try these in tandem with cinnamon for even more squirrel-repelling power.
While garden pests nibbling at your crops can be frustrating, it’s worth remembering that we’re sharing the space with them and, in many ways, it’s more their territory than ours. That’s why cayenne pepper stands out as a helpful solution: It acts as a nonlethal deterrent.
Sign of pests to watch for.
When pests have been snacking on the flowers and vegetables in your garden, there are usually a few telltale signs to look out for. Larger ones, such as rabbits, often leave behind visibly chewed leaves or partially eaten produce. Smaller pests, including insects and slugs, tend to cause more subtle damage, like tiny holes in leaves or discoloration that slowly spreads across the plant. Spotting these clues early can help you figure out what you’re dealing with and take action before the damage gets worse.
The pest’s cayenne pepper controls
Biotech Termite and Pest Control says the burning and itching that some of us can experience when we handle large amounts of cayenne pepper happens to other mammals, too, making the spice an effective deterrent against rodents like mice, squirrels, rabbits, and deer. But no matter how uncomfortable cayenne pepper might make animals, Biotech says the spice is not lethal and won’t kill them.
Insects also
Cayenne pepper doesn’t just cause problems for mammals, the capsaicin makes the spice a problem for insects as well. The National Pesticide Information Center says the natural chemical is toxic to insects, including spider mites, lace bugs, bees, and yellow jackets, because it can disrupt a number of the insects’ neurological functions. Scientific Reports says common fruit flies are even discouraged from laying eggs where capsaicin has been laid out. Cayenne pepper really does protect your garden.
How to use cayenne pepper as a deterrent.
“The most effective and simple way to use it is to simply sprinkle cayenne pepper around the areas that have been affected by the animals you are trying to deter,” gardening expert Angelika Zaber told us. “Make sure not to apply it directly onto plants, especially edible ones, as it can affect their taste later on.” While cayenne generally won’t have much impact on hardy, established crops, you should avoid applying it in sunny weather, as heat and direct sunlight can potentially cause leaf scorch. The best way to use it is to dilute it with water and apply it using a spray bottle.
Zaber also noted that the effectiveness of cayenne pepper can last for up to a week, so it requires regular reapplication to keep pests at bay. “In case of heavy rain, this may be reduced to just a few days,” she added.
Another way to apply cayenne pepper
Create a Cayenne Pepper Spray: Mix 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper with a few drops of dish soap in 1 gallon of water. Shake well and spray directly on the plants to deter pests. Let the mixture stand overnight and then decant it into a spray bottle the following day before using.
(You may want to test this spray first with a plant that you would be ok with losing, but it is watered down so it could be alright.)
And remember to use cayenne pepper with care if you have pets and children and to avoid touching your eyes after handling the spice. Even if you’ve washed your hands, water doesn’t really do much to break up cayenne pepper.
Challenges and Limitations
While cayenne pepper has numerous benefits in gardening, there are some challenges and limitations to consider:
1. Overuse: Using too much cayenne pepper can be detrimental to plant growth and may cause burning of the leaves or roots.
2. Sensitivity: Some plants may be sensitive to cayenne pepper, so it’s essential to test a small area before applying it to the entire plant.
3. Weather: Cayenne pepper may lose its effectiveness in extreme weather conditions, such as heavy rain or high temperatures.
4. Combination with other products: Cayenne pepper may not be compatible with other gardening products, such as fertilizers or pesticides, so it’s crucial to check the labels and instructions before use.
By following these guidelines and best practices, you can effectively use cayenne pepper in your garden to control pests.
It can be fun to watch squirrels dig in the dirt with their fluffy tails in the air. But when they get their paws in your garden soil, it’s not so cute anymore. The small holes that squirrels create, can be troublesome, destroying your potted plants.
Squirrels can displace enough soil to cause damage, not to mention make a mess. Of all the tricks that people resort to keep squirrels out of garden pots, one is both effective and attractive: swap in a layer of rocks on top of the soil.
Many squirrel prevention tactics involve physical barriers of some kind. Chicken wire, bird netting, or a cage are popular deterrents. It takes Fort Knox-level protection to prevent them from finding their way into your containers.
The Swap
But while these solutions might be effective, they’re almost as unsightly as squirrel holes, and they can make it harder to enjoy your container garden. By contrast, swapping in rocks as a barrier has aesthetic appeal and leaves the rest of the plants visible and accessible. Instead of mulch, just add a few inches of river rocks, poultry grit, or fine pea gravel to the top of the soil. You might think squirrels would dig through the rocks as well, but luckily, they much prefer dirt.
Why It Works
Squirrels are hole-digging aficionados. They rely on their caches to survive through the winter. Their ability to find spots to bury food is hard-wired into their instincts. They can smell exposed dirt and are attracted to it. That means freshly dug soil is likely to attract squirrels to your yard — just like the dirt in your newly potted plants. It’s why the secret to a squirrel-free garden is to cover up the dirt with rocks: it makes squirrels less likely to gravitate toward your plants in the first place.
Squirrels may occasionally dig in your plants for other reasons, such as to look for grubs or roots to eat. A layer of rocks is also a deterrent in that case, because squirrels enjoy digging through dirt way more than they do rocks or gravel. If they do happen to stop by, they’re more likely to give up and try another spot than if the soil was bare. However, this method is not as foolproof as a wire barrier or a cage for squirrels in search of a snack. The same applies to squirrels who are munching on other parts of your potted plants, such as fruits, so you may want to use a combination of pebbles and wire covering until the fruiting season is over.
Great advice for squirrel protection, but what if your arch summer enemy is a cute little rabbit or 3. Fear not, click the link to discover how to dissuade these critters from destroying your potted plants., or just about anything else.
Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, it’s help for harried gardeners who dread the upcoming swarm of rabbits, squirrels, deer, etc. So, have you tried Irish Spring soap in your garden?
Irish Spring soap acts as an effective, low-cost, and eco-friendly repellent for garden pests like deer, rabbits, mice, and moles due to its strong, perfume-like odor.
How to Use Irish Spring Soap in the Garden:
Grate/Shave: Use a cheese grater to make shavings and spread them around the base of vulnerable plants, such as hostas and tulips.
Hang: Cut the bar into smaller chunks, place them in cheesecloth or mesh bags, and hang them 1–2 feet above the ground near deer-prone plants or on tree branches.
Create Barriers: Create a protective, aromatic circle around the perimeter of your garden to deter, mice, rabbits, and voles.
Maintenance: Reapply the shavings or replace the soap bars every few weeks, especially after heavy rain, as the scent will fade.
A scent-based deterrent
When you scatter soap in your yard during summer, you’re not just freshening up your garden’s air; you’re also setting up a natural barrier against these unwanted visitors.
The effectiveness of Irish Spring soap in the garden is not just anecdotal. After implementing this method, many gardeners have observed a noticeable reduction in the presence of pests.
The soap’s scent lingers in the air and on the plants, making the treated area less appealing to pests who rely on their sense of smell to locate food sources.
By strategically placing soap cubes around your vegetation, you’re essentially creating a scent-based shield that protects your flowers, fruits, and vegetables from being devoured or damaged.
Preparing the Irish Spring Soap
To start using Irish Spring soap as a pest deterrent in your garden, you must first prepare the soap bars properly.
Begin by taking a bar of Irish Spring soap and unwrapping it from its packaging. Using a pair of scissors, carefully cut the soap bar into approximately 1-inch cubes.
The goal is to create pieces that are large enough to effectively emit the soap’s scent yet small enough to be easily wrapped and attached to stakes.
If you have a larger garden, you might need several bars of soap to cover the area satisfactorily.
Uniform cube size
The size of your soap cubes doesn’t have to be precise, but aiming for uniformity can help ensure each part of your garden receives equal protection. Remember, the soap’s strong scent is what keeps the pests away, so while smaller pieces will work, they might require more frequent replacement as the scent fades quicker than it would with larger cubes.
Once all of your soap is cut into cubes, you’re ready to move on to the next step of wrapping and securing them for placement in your garden.
Wrap and secure.
After cutting the Irish Spring soap into cubes, the next step is to wrap them for outdoor placement. Cut cloth scraps into squares large enough to cover each soap cube completely. Place a soap cube in the center of a cloth square and gather the fabric around it, ensuring the soap is fully covered.
Use a stapler to secure the fabric, making a small pouch. Be sure the staples go through all layers of the cloth but avoid stapling too close to the soap cube to prevent it from cracking or breaking.
This method of wrapping protects the soap from direct exposure, which can prolong its effectiveness and make it easy to attach the cubes to the wooden stakes in the following step.
Once all your soap cubes are wrapped and secured in their fabric pouches, they’re ready to be attached to stakes and placed around your garden as a natural deterrent against pests.
Once you’ve attached the Irish Spring soap cubes to the stakes, the next step is to determine the most effective places in your garden for these pest deterrents.
Placement
A strategic placement is key to maximizing their effectiveness. The stakes should be placed at varying heights to deter different types of pests, with some closer to the ground for rabbits and others at a higher level for deer.
It’s also beneficial to place stakes near any entry paths or gaps in fencing where pests might gain access. Regularly check the stakes to ensure they remain securely in the ground and the soap cubes are still emitting a scent.
Replace the soap cubes to maintain the garden’s protective barrier throughout the growing season, if necessary, especially after a rain.
Pros and Considerations:
Safe for Plants: It does not harm vegetation or grass.
Effective Against: Deer, rabbits, mice, squirrels, and small rodents.
Drawbacks: Some users report it may attract raccoons, and it requires regular reapplication.
In their natural habitat, rabbits are cute and enjoyable creatures. Gardeners, however, often have less favorable viewpoints. Rabbits can cause considerable damage to flowers and vegetables in home gardens. Rabbits can also cause damage to woody trees and shrubs over winter. When damage becomes unacceptable, control measures are in order.
Here are 6 ways to get rid of rabbits
Experiment With Unpleasant Rabbit Odors
The easiest solution is to experiment with scattering scents around your yard that rabbits reportedly hate. Either dust some of these items on plants (rabbits are sensitive to dusty items) or sprinkle them around plants. Otherwise, dilute liquids with water and spray to deter rabbits. Consider trying the following:
Talcum powder
Vinegar
Ammonia
Mothballs
Chili pepper
Garlic
Ginger
Citrus peels
Dried sulfur
Irish Spring soap shavings
Plant Rabbit-Deterrent Herbs
Just like deer, rabbits are not a fan of many of the same plants so by incorporating these herbs into your yard, you will deter both animals. There are many rabbit–deterrent plants and flowers but consider growing these herbs for starters:
Rosemary
Mint/catmint
Lavender
Bee balm
Thyme
Yarrow
Sage
Alliums/chives
Install Garden Fencing
For immediate protection against wildlife, use fencing around the garden. Chicken wire with 1/2- to 1-inch mesh effectively deters rabbits. Make fences at least 2 feet high to prevent rabbits from jumping over. Extend the fencing 6 inches below ground or secure it tightly to stop burrowing. Electric net fencing is suitable for temporary control.
Protect Individual Plants
Use 1/4- to 1/2-inch mesh chicken wire or hardware cloth to form cylinders around new trees, shrubs, or vines. Bury the fencing 6 inches deep to prevent burrowing. Provide several inches of clearance around the plant and, if the fencing is flimsy, add bracing to prevent the rabbits from pushing the netting and reaching through to nibble.
Modify the Habitat
If you have found evidence of rabbit nesting, remove it, and modify or block off the area to keep them from coming back in. Proactively reduce nesting options by removing low shrubbery branches that provide harborage for rabbits. Eliminate tall, dense vegetation and wood and debris piles. Control vegetation along fence rows. Seal spaces beneath buildings.
Apply Repellents
Chemical repellents can be applied to some trees, vines, or other plants that are in danger from rabbits. But these can create an unpleasant odor, taste, or stickiness. Because of this, most repellents are not suited for use on vegetables or other food plants, as they can make the plant inedible for humans. In addition, repellents often work only for a short time and need to be reapplied frequently. If you choose to use a repellent, carefully read and follow all label directions before use.
Trap as a Last Effort
Live trapping of rabbits is an option, but it is usually not recommended that you do this yourself because it can be challenging to deal with the trapped animal. Because rabbits are considered agricultural pests in many states, and because they can carry disease, there are often laws that regulate where and how you can release wild rabbits.
What Attracts Rabbits to Gardens?
Rabbits can, and will, eat just about any tender plant, so they are naturally drawn in by home gardens. In the spring, they will feed on newly sprouted grass and clover; in the fall and winter when food is less available, they will survive on whatever bark and seedlings they can find. But all too often, the rabbits’ favorite food is the same food loved by the homeowners: the delicious produce found in vegetable gardens and on fruit bushes. Favorites include vegetables such as beans, beet, broccoli, carrot, lettuce, and peas; herbs such as cilantro and parsley; and nuts and fruits such as almonds, apples, berries, plums, etc. For good measure, many rabbits are also quite fond of ornamental flowers, shrubs, and trees.
There are of course other wild animals that also feed on tender plants and gnaw on trees and shrubs; deer, squirrels, chipmunks, woodchucks, and raccoons are all familiar villains in this drama. But when you see plants chomped off and bark gnawed, with the presence of rabbit fecal pellets in the area, it is almost certain that rabbits are to blame. And you may well get verification by spotting the unmistakable tracks of the rabbit’s long back feet impressed in the soil.
How to Get Rid of Rabbits Permanently
Defense against rabbits is an ongoing battle. No matter how you choose to prevent, discourage, or get rid of rabbits—or how successful those methods are for the moment—you will need to be constantly vigilant. Rabbits reproduce like—well, rabbits—and there will always be more coming to investigate your garden and landscape, so it may not be possible to find a truly permanent solution. Ongoing rabbit defense requires:
Regularly inspecting fencing to ensure rabbits are not getting through, under, or around the barrier
Inspecting plants weekly for damage
Watching for rabbit’s signs: fecal pellets, chewed-off plants, gnawed bark, etc.
Acting as soon as you see the first sign of rabbits
This article from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture has identified 12 invasive plant pests and diseases that all gardeners should be aware of. Early detection is key to protecting your plants. This article lists how to identify each of the 12 pests.
Sometimes the solution to an ant problem is getting rid of their nest. If you’re dealing with carpenter ants, which can do structural damage to your house, it’s vital that you wipe them out ASAP. Finding the nest may not be easy and takes some detective work. Ants generally prefer damp areas, such as framing or flooring that’s soft and spongy from a plumbing or roof leak. How to get rid of ants begins by looking for areas with water damage. Attics, bathrooms and exterior walls are obvious candidates. Cut small holes in water-damaged walls to track down the ant nest. (You’re going to have to repair the walls anyway.) When you find the nest, spray it with an insecticide that contains bifenthrin, permethrin or deltamethrin (look on the label). Ortho’s Home Defense Max is one brand. Be sure to fix the water leak and replace damaged wood. If you can’t track down the nest, hire a pest control service. Pros spend about 80 percent of their time hunting down nests. Their fees start at about $150, but tough cases with multiple treatments can cost $400 or more.
Ant Removal: Determine the Best Ant Bait
When you see an ant, your first impulse is probably to step on it. But don’t. You’ll kill it, but for every ant you see, there may be hundreds more hiding in the house. The ones you see are scout ants, foraging for food to take back to the colony. Use these scouts to wipe out the entire colony.
Prebait ants in areas you’ve previously seen them. Ants’ tastes change during the year. They usually prefer protein in the spring and sweets or fatty/oily foods in the summer. Set out sugar or honey, fried food and peanut butter, then see which food attracts ants. Use whichever food they prefer for bait and a DIY way to get rid of ants. Once you know what the ants like, buy and set out toxic ant bait that’s geared to their taste. Look on the bait package for words like “controls both sweet and grease eating ants.”
Ant Removal: Erase Ant Trails
Where you see one ant, you’re bound to see others. That’s because ants leave a scented trail that other ants follow. Sweeping or mopping isn’t enough to eliminate the scent. Instead, mix 1 part vinegar with 3 parts water in a spray bottle for a safe way to get rid of ants in the home, then spray wherever you’ve seen ants in the past. This will stop outdoor nesting ants that entered the house to forage for food (ants that come inside are not necessarily trying to establish a nest).
Vinegar and water won’t stop ants that are already nesting indoors. You’ll need to kill them with ant bait.
Ant Removal: Wipe Out Ant Colonies
Once you’ve set out toxic ant bait, expect to see lots of ants (initially). That’s a good thing. It means more ants are taking the bait (which is toxic) back to the colony where they’ll share it with the rest of the ants, including the queen, and kill them. There might be thousands of ants back at the nest. Liquid bait is the best way to kill ants for many sweet-loving ants. Other ants prefer solid bait. If you still have ants in house after two weeks, replace the bait containers. If that doesn’t work, how to get rid of ants next means finding the nest.
How to Kill Ants in Your Yard
Anthills are eyesores in yards, and the ants can ruin outside dining. If you only have ants in a certain area, like along your sidewalk, spot-treat the area with an outdoor insecticide. Liquid or granules work fine as a way to get rid of ants.
For large-scale ant problems on how to get rid of ants, use a lawn and garden insect killer that contains bifenthrin as the active ingredient. The spray will also kill other insects (read the label for a list).
First, mow the grass.
Then spray the insecticide on the entire lawn—you can also spray shrubs and trees.
Spray in the early morning or late afternoon when the ants are most active. And it’s best to spray on a calm day to prevent drift. If ants are still building mounds after six weeks, treat the lawn again (the insecticide works for up to six weeks). You won’t kill every ant in your yard (nor would you want to!), but spraying will eliminate most of them and stop the annoying mounds.
How to Kill Ants in Your Yard: Destroy Exterior Nests
If you frequently see ants in the same area on the siding, there’s probably an ant nest in there. How to get rid of ants begin with looking for holes in the siding where ants are crawling in and out. The holes are often located between bricks where mortar has fallen out, under lap siding or in cracks in stucco. Once you locate the nest, or the vicinity of the nest, spray the area with an insecticide containing bifenthrin.
How to Kill Ants in Your Yard: Fire Ants
Fire ants are found in the Southeastern United States and Southern California. Standard insecticides are much less effective at killing fire ants.
You need a special product that’s designed to wipe out and the best wall to kill ants and these biting critters. Apply the granules with a broadcast spreader. Fire ants carry the granules, which they think are food (it’s actually toxic bait) back to their mounds. The ants share the bait and die. Some of these insecticides keep killing fire ants for up to a year. As with other baits, it may take a few weeks for you to see full results.
Ant Prevention: Keep It Clean
A clean house is your first defense against ants. Sweep up food crumbs, wipe up spills, take out the garbage and don’t leave dirty dishes sitting around the house. This takes away the ants’ food source. For a safe way to get rid of ants, spray vinegar mixed with water around bowls of pet food to keep ants from feasting there.
Ant Prevention: Spray Ant Entry Points
After ridding the house of ants, take steps to ensure they don’t come back. Caulk and seal holes, and then spray insecticide around doors and windows. An insecticide that contains bifenthrin, permethrin or deltamethrin is one way how to get rid of ants. Spray a 4-in.-wide band along entry points, just enough to wet the surface. Once dry, the spray leaves an invisible film that repels ants so they won’t enter the house. Each spring, spray the insecticide to guard against ants. But keep in mind that this only works to keep ants out—it won’t kill ants that are already inside, and it can actually interfere with the use of ant baits. Kill more than just ants with this multipurpose insect bait (Amazon), which is one of the best ant sprays.
Ant Prevention: Spray on an Ant Barrier
If you’re still getting ants in your house after spraying interior entry points, spray a 12-in.-wide band of ant insecticide on the foundation and on and under the first course of lap siding to keep ants from entering the house. An outdoor insecticide that says “barrier treatment” on the label is one tool for how to get rid of ants.
Ant Prevention: Eliminate Safe Havens for Ants
Once you kill the ants in your house and yard, take steps to ensure they don’t come back.
Trim back bushes, shrubs and trees that brush against your siding or roof that provide a bridge for ants to reach your house.
Keep a 3-in. to 6-in. clearance space between the soil around the foundation and the bottom row of siding to prevent ants from nesting in the siding (and make sure the soil slopes away from the house).
Avoid stacking firewood next to the house. Firewood makes a perfect retreat for ants.
Ants like bare spots in the yard and ants like to build nests under layers of thatch. Maintaining a healthy lawn is one way to get rid of ants.
If anthills pop up in bare areas, spray the mound with insecticide and plant grass in the bare spots in order to get rid of ants.
Rake the lawn or bag the grass when you mow to eliminate thatch.
In yards, squirrels dig up flower beds, and lawns, and even gnaw on hose pipes and bird feeders. To combat this issue, many gardeners have turned to natural methods to deter squirrels, with one particularly effective solution that can be found in your kitchen cupboard.
Three methods to get rid of squirrels
1. Chilli
Chilli powder is the key to keeping squirrels out of the yard. Balvinder Lally shared her experience, stating that while she enjoys watching the squirrels in her yard, they often cause damage by digging up plants and eating bulbs and rose buds. She found that cayenne or chilli pepper helps keep them away from pots and beds, although it needs to be reapplied after rain.
Other gardeners echoed these sentiments. Sian Watson expressed frustration at the destructive nature of squirrels and endorsed the use of cayenne pepper or hot chilli powder to protect plants. Tracey Davies confirmed that using chilli powder successfully kept squirrels out of her yard. Jacquie Brown shared a useful tip, mentioning that sprinkling extra hot chilli powder not only deters squirrels but also keeps foxes, rats, snails, and slugs away.
Marie Richardson commented: “If an animal is digging in your pots then it’s likely to be squirrels. Chilli powder is very effective. Also, mix it with your bird food to keep them away.”
2. Soap
Another suggestion from gardeners is to add soap around the plants that need protection. Trudy Greenwood mentioned a tip she saw on TV, which involves grating hard soap onto the plants. The smell of the soap is said to deter squirrels from approaching.
Carol Redfern added that grating soap over the soil where bulbs are planted, as well as placing some under the soil, can prevent digging as squirrels dislike the taste of soap.
3. Vaseline
In addition to chilli powder, some suggested using Vaseline to make bird feeders inaccessible to squirrels.
Sylvia Grace shared her success with applying Vaseline to the pole supporting her bird feeder, preventing squirrels from climbing up it. Vicki Simmonds also endorsed this method, noting that the squirrels eventually give up and move on when faced with the greased pole.
The RSPB also recommends using a downward-opening cone or a biscuit tin fixed below a bird table to prevent squirrels from climbing up. Greasing a smooth pole with Vaseline or another type of grease can also be effective in deterring them.
Whether through the use of chilli powder, vaseline, or soap, these solutions provide a safe and affordable way to deter squirrels and maintain the beauty of your yard.
They may be cute, but rabbits can quickly decimate a vegetable garden. Try our safe and low-cost ways to keep these critters out!
Sometimes it’s better to see a pest problem as the normal way nature enters and adapts to a particular niche in the environment created by things like availability of food, cover, and absence of predators. Animals don’t appear magically on the scene for no reason, they simply exploit available food resources and habitat. Once we understand this, we can learn about them and adapt ourselves to their habits. That way, we not only enjoy wildlife but can minimize its impact on our homes and gardens.
Protecting Plants
There is no better or more economical way to keep rabbits out of the garden than good chicken wire, or wire mesh perimeter fence, bottom bent outward and sunk to a depth of at least 6″ under the soil, and at a height of about 3 feet. You can also protect individual plants or rows with cages, or mesh. Physical barriers are the most effective solution to keeping cottontails from destroying your crops.
You can also remove brush piles and other escape cover, which rabbits find attractive. Anyone who has done spring yard cleaning often has stories of coming upon a nest of baby rabbits while moving brush.
One strategy which is highly effective is fake snakes placed in the garden. They work like a charm!
Another strategy is to create meals for rabbits which they will find irresistible, or at least more enticing than the plants in your garden. It takes nothing more than some disposable chopsticks, a few lengths of kitchen string, and green cabbage. Try this inexpensive trick: Tightly roll a tender inner leaf of green cabbage around a chopstick (or bamboo skewer), like a cigar, leaving about half of the stick exposed at the bottom. Secure the cabbage with a piece of kitchen string. Take a few of these and “plant” them in a grassy area away from your garden. They will concentrate on the easy meal and hopefully leave your plantings alone because trying to defeat your fence would require too much effort.
If you’re the squeamish type, take a deep breath and think of the things that creep, crawl, slither, slide and flit among the plants in your garden as your friends.
“I have read that most insects are helpful or benign, as much as 90 percent of them,” Colleen Golden, senior horticulturist at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, said recently. “It may seem that many more than 10 percent of the insects out there are pests, but I think that is because we’re looking for them and also attracting them by growing plants they enjoy eating. Also, many of them are small and inconspicuous, so an untrained eye would have a hard time noticing them.”
As a result, she suspects that most people who see any bug in the garden automatically assume that it is “bad” or harming their plants.
To help you tell the difference between the good guys and bad guys, here’s a selection of eight pairs of good bug-bad bug look-a-likes.
In the garden, the good bugs don’t wear white hats, the bad bugs black hats. This infographic from homesteadbackyard.com may help you decide who stays in Dodge City and who ends up on Boot Hill.
When you find insects in your garden, your first instinct might be to destroy them, but that’s not always the best course of action. Some insects are destructive and should be controlled, but of the more than 1.5 million known insect species in the world, more than 97 percent are beneficial to gardens, or simply benign. That leaves less than three percent that are agricultural and nuisance pests.
What good bugs do
Beneficial insects perform vital functions in the environment. More than 75 percent of crops and an equal amount of flowering plants rely on animals to distribute pollen, and most that perform this task are insects. Bees, butterflies, moths and even beetles and flies pollinate plants. Every year in the U.S., honeybees alone pollinate about $15 billion in crops.
Insects also perform the important tasks of aerating soil, breaking down dead materials and returning them to the earth, and serving as food for wildlife. Some insects, such as ladybird beetles and green lacewings, also eat harmful pests, which helps to keep the environment in balance.
So, say hello to the good bugs and goodbye to the bad bugs!
