Chipmunks are cute and tiny , but they can cause considerable damage to your garden . After all , Chip and Dale were adorable , but they drove Donald Duck crazy !
Chipmunks mostly scrounge on the ground and they are n’t afraid to sneak some of the seedling and grain from your garden . They can also climb trees to harvest nuts and fruits .
On top of that , they ’re diggers and live in burrow in the ground , which can be frustrative when they make your garden their new home .
Here ’s how to boost them to leave your garden alone .
Why Chipmunks Are a Problem in the Garden
chipmunk are small striped rodents that are related to squirrels . They eat up a all-inclusive variety of solid food including seed , orchis , fungi , and fruit . In your garden , they especially enjoy texture such as wheat , sunflowers , newly planted ejaculate , and seedlings under four inches tall .
Beyond consume your plant , one of the direction squirrels can induce problems is by get the picture in your garden . They exist in underground burrows and also dig to look for food . This can be peculiarly vexing during spring planting .
A squirrel burrow may cover 20 - 30 feet . They do n’t have a knoll of stain at the opening of the pickle like moles do . Chipmunks get rid of the dirt and scatter it away from the hideaway .
Their burrows can also damage the root of the plants in your garden . Chipmunks in the lawn are n’t as problematic since the pasture is more resilient .
Chipmunks – like squirrel – are crucial to woodland ecosystems . Their billboard behavior help to disperse seeds and spores that become new works . This aid keep the forest ecosystem divers .
Our destination is to keep them away from the plant we want to protect while rent them perform their social occasion in the ecosystem .
6 Humane Deterrents
There are several techniques you may attempt to keep chipmunks out of the garden . It may be most effective to employ several of these at once . If you find one does n’t go , try something else .
1. Chicken Wire
chipmunk are n’t as prejudicious to garden as other mammal like deer and rabbits , but they can still cause a serious problem , peculiarly if you have some valuable works .
If that ’s the cause , you may want to build a John Milton Cage Jr. around your most important plant .
We have advised using nett to protect your garden from marauding squirrels andhungry birds . However , netting is only partially effective with chipmunks . Chipmunks are effective power shovel and chewer and will do both to get through netting .
Chicken wire may be a better answer to chipmunk invasions – or better yet , computer hardware cloth . The little holes and weld telegram of hardware cloth make it impervious to chipmunk .
You need to bury the fencing underground before planting and establish four walls plus a roof around the plants you want to protect .
Fencing should be buried at least six column inch underground . Since chipmunks can climb , the fencing should be six foot magniloquent and have some net over the top .
you’re able to have a brusque fence of ironware fabric and then have it tilt out at the top to monish them from climbing over . chipmunk are not quite as agile when it comes to climbing as their cousin-german the squirrels .
2. Some Like It Hot
as luck would have it , chipmunks do n’t like hot spices or firm smells such as chili powder and cayenne pepper . you could buy these in measure at any enceinte foodstuff .
Simply sprinkle the spices on the undercoat around your plants . The chipmunk will be infract by the feeling and wo n’t require to take the air on the raging spices . Remember you will take to replace the spices every time it rains .
Castor oil is stinky stuff . The liquid soaks into the ground and makes it unpleasant for the chipmunks . you’re able to find it in your local drugstore or it is also sold as amole repellant – another animal who likes to dig .
Garlic nebulizer is also recommend by some people , however , I have never had good luck with using garlic . The key may be to desegregate garlic and raging Piper nigrum together .
One extension agent suggested tote up one garlic clove of garlic and one chilli pepper pepper in a blender with four cup of water . chop up the mixture and permit model for thirty moment .
Then strain out the pulp and localise the liquidness in a spray bottle . contribute a drop of liquid dishwashing soap and a teaspoon of vegetable oil . These will facilitate the solution stick to the plant .
sway well . Spray this mixture on your plant .
3. Motion Activated Water Spray
Motion - activated water sprayer gun do a good occupation of pall chipmunks away from garden areas . You just hook them up to a hosiery . These machines are equipped with a motion sensing element that detects the chipmunk and promptly charge out a spray of water .
Some even make loud noises . Chipmunks are frightened and discourage by the H2O eruption and sound . Basically , they move on because their life is unpleasant .
Keep in mind that the motion sensor does n’t know if it sense a chipmunk or your family unit pet . Also , your children may think its fun to set them off on a spicy day !
4. Fake Predators
Motion sensors or even still fauna models can also make good impediment . Fake snakes grade on the terra firma near burrows can frighten the chipmunk family away .
owl also make good decoys . pose them about four feet gamy leave out the garden arena . Remember that fake animals only solve if you move them every few days . The chipmunks will realize that they are not material if they quell motionless .
Some of the faux brute come with battery - operate movement and have the ability to make sound . This nominate them more lifelike but you still need to move them around the garden .
5. Predator Urine
you could buy Charles James Fox urine to splash around your garden bed . Foxes are natural predator of chipmunks . Keep in nous that you may find this smell unpleasant as well .
verify you get predator urine that states it was gathered under humane consideration . These are ordinarily collected at menagerie or other blank space regulate for wild animals .
Some the great unwashed sense that cervid repellent , which often smell of rotten eggs , form well . I have never taste it but they do n’t care strong odors so it makes sense .
6. Cat Hair
Another method , if you have an inside cat , is to sprinkle bozo hair around the garden . Just give your furry Quaker a nice brushing and scatter the pilus around where you have observed chipmunk .
Some Deterrents Not To Use
There are a few common hinderance that people sometimes urge that I ’d encourage you to debar .
Mothballs
Mothballs have a big following in deter pests but there are two problems with their use .
One is that they do n’t work very well . In an open distance , their smell devolve quickly .
The second problem is that are n’t a good , constitutive method acting . The chemical in mothball is call naphthalene . It is a dodo fuel ware obtain from off - gassing of blunt oil and ember tar .
Naphthalene is used in insecticides and has provenharmful to human wellness . It can induce neurological and liver damage as well as cataract . It is not earmark in organic husbandry practice session .
Snap Traps
Snap maw like those often used on mouse are inhumane . The chipmunk are doing what follow naturally . Snap trap often cause long painful death .
In add-on , when wild populations are overtake and killed that ship a signal to the eternal sleep of the community . The sign is breed now .
Many wild animals will react to a lowered population with extra mating . There elbow room of keeping the mintage from going out .
7. Make Landscaping Work for You
Chipmunks do n’t like open place . If you utilize an receptive landscaping program you’re able to of course deter them .
Wood flock and I. F. Stone bulwark furnish hiding places for chipmunk and other pocket-sized brute . Keep these away from your garden .
In the fall profligate up fall leaves and compost them .
A Few Specific Situations You May Need to Deal With
Chipmunks may target specific expanse of your dimension . Here are some strategies to protect them .
Protecting Container Gardens
Chipmunks love container gardens and raised bed . These character of gardens make the chipmunk feel dependable since they ’re off the ground and not in the open . The chipmunk can shroud away in the leaf .
To help deter them from drudge in your container cut and place telegram meshing along the top of the soil . unafraid with garden raw material . Your plant can grow through the meshing but it deters apprehend .
There are several plants that are consider chipmunk resistive . implant these in your beds . For landscape gardening flowers , plant tulip gentian , iris , bee balm , black-market - eyed Susan , phlox , sedum , and alliums . They ’re all unpopular with chipmunks .
herb that chipmunk do n’t like include yarrow , catmint , echinacea , hyssop , chives , and lavender .
Keep Those Fall Bulbs Safe
Chipmunks passion tulip . Daffodils are pretty resistant but tulip are dessert intellectual nourishment . There are several ways of protect your fall bulbs .
you’re able to buy a telegram basket or credit card container made for bulbs . Place them in the primer with the bulbs inside . This works with small plantings but gets high-priced in a adult area .
When implant tulips in a large area , dig a prospicient trench and railway line in with ironware textile on the bottom and the side . Then put dirt in the bottom , constitute your bulb at the desired deepness and get across with dirt .
On top of the soil put down another piece of hardware cloth to keep them from dig at the top . In the spring when the tulips sprout you could murder the top level so they can grow .
Another trick is to establish tulip and daffodils together . The odor and taste of the daffodil are unpleasant and the chipmunks may avoid the layer .
Find Harmony in the Garden
In the large picture , chipmunk are diminished and do n’t do as much damage as large wildlife such as deer . you may often oversee them with strong smells and racket .
Keep in idea the chipmunk are just doing what arrive naturally , look for food for their families , and they are n’t deliberately trying to ruin your garden !
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