If you’ve ever tried to grow a home garden, you know that pests can sometimes ruin it for everyone.
Squirrels, in particular, seem to be especially attracted to certain garden staples, and even attracted to certain seasonal decor you might be putting on your front porch come fall. Squirrels love snacking on pumpkins, but unfortunately that means a mess of unharvested goodies for you, or simply an even bigger mess left where your fall decor used to reside. Luckily, there are ways to deter pesky squirrels and keep them from coming around.
Some home improvement stores and nurseries sell commercial squirrel repellents.
You’ll want to be sure to reapply the spray after it rains, or if the pumpkins are out in sunlight. The downside, of course, is that sprays like this may deter humans too. Oftentimes, manufacturers use the scent of predator urine or rotten eggs, which probably isn’t what you want hanging in the air above your entryway, or even in your backyard too close to your house. While you may have heard of trying soap or pet hair, it turns out they don’t really work very well. You could always use some woven wire mesh and place it over the pumpkins in your garden or put out a few bowls of strong scented vinegar nearby. Sometimes desperate homeowners have been known to add a statue of a hawk or owl to their garden to scare off squirrels, or even lather on some petroleum jelly to the outside of pumpkins.
Perhaps a more effective option is to grab something from your kitchen you love, but squirrels hate.
Straight from the hot pepper scale, spicy capsaicin seems to deter squirrels from bothering pumpkins. Try sprinkling some ground cayenne pepper on your pumpkins, or taking some water, some blended crushed red pepper, and a small amount of dish soap, then spraying it directly on the pumpkins. If all else fails, consider planting peppers instead of pumpkins the next time around!
