How to keep animal pests out of your garden (2024)

Timothy Malinich is one popular guy this time of year.

Malinich is an educator with Ohio State University's extension service in Lorain County, as well as one of the rotating authors of the "Ask OSU Extension" horticulture column for Inside & Out.

Right now, he's getting a lot of phone calls from homeowners eager to get back into their gardens. When they get there, though, they find that bulbs, budding plants and even lawns have been invaded by destructive deer, voles and rabbits.

Squirrels, moles and chipmunks might seem like the garden enemy, but they don't pose that big of a threat, said Malinich.

Raccoons also shouldn't cause a gardener much concern, he said. They are too busy overturning garbage cans.

"I get the most calls about deer," said Malinich. "One caller this week told me he thought he had a herd [munching away]."

While you don't usually win in a fight against Mother Nature, there are ways to control garden and lawn pests.

Here are some suggestions to salvage plants and lawns from marauders.

Don't underestimate an animal's intelligence, warned Malinich. "Do deterrents on a rotational basis," he said.

Deer, for example, will quickly figure out that you've added cayenne pepper to your hostas. They will soon overcome their reluctance and resume their munching.

After a week or two, switch to deterrent Plan B . . . and keep switching until you've reached the end of the alphabet, or the end of the summer, whichever comes first.

Deer: The most effective deer deterrents involve the sense of smell and taste, said Malinich.

• Hang bars of soap in mesh bags around your plants. The repellent factor seems to be tallow, the part from animal fatty acids. Malinich suggests using those small soaps from hotels you probably have stashed away in the medicine cabinets and drawers of your house.

• Place nylon or cheesecloth bags full of hair in trees near or in the plants you want to protect. Malinich suggests getting the hair from hairbrushes or groomers.

• Plant highly aromatic herbs in your garden. They are natural repellents. Suggested herbs are artemisia, tansy and yarrow. Culinary herbs such as mint, thyme, tarragon, oregano, dill and chives also can be planted throughout the garden.

• Predator urine is an effective (albeit stinky) "danger" scent to keep deer away. This can be purchased commercially or perhaps obtained from zoos.

• Spray-on odor repellents bought at nurseries and big-box stores may work but often need to be reapplied after rain and may actually keep humans from enjoying their own garden. They stink.

• Some not-so-awful smells that keep deer away include mint oils (often combined with pepper and garlic), cloves and cinnamon, and citrus.

Voles: Don't confuse moles and voles. Moles are mostly blind, have big front claws and eat grubs and earthworms in lawns. They never eat plants, but their tunnels make lawns dumpy and bumpy, and sometimes munching on the grubs destroys your lawn's roots.

Voles, which look like mice with long snouts, love munching on plants. They consider tulip bulbs and hosta roots to be a culinary highlight of the feast.

• Castor-oil repellent products from your local nursery may drive both moles and voles away.

• Malinich recommends spring-loaded traps or spear traps. The moles or voles spring the trap, are killed by the spear, and when you pull it out of the ground, it leaves the body, already buried.

• Wire mesh placed over the garden spot allows plants to grow but prevents voles from pushing up through holes to eat away.

• When you are planting bulbs in the fall, place mesh over the top or around the bulb. It allows the bulb to grow but keeps voles from eating the bulb itself.

Rabbits: Remember Peter Rabbit? Remember that he was actually a vegetable-garden goodies thief? 'Nuf said.

• Fencing is very effective in keeping rabbits out. One of the best ways is to construct a 2-foot-high fence of poultry wire around the vegetable garden. Bury it a few inches to make it even more effective.

• Placing bags of hair and spraying fox urine (found in nurseries) deter rabbit roaming.

• Sprinkling vinegar or hot pepper flakes, as well as liquid chile sprays, have had some reported success, but not all the reports are positive. One Internet gardener suggested soaking corn cobs in vinegar for five minutes (a procedure you repeat every two or three weeks) and then placing them throughout the plot.

Final words: Malinich said squirrels and chipmunks do not pose that big of a threat to gardens, except perhaps the chipmunks destroying roots with their digging.

Squirrels go after fruit on fruit trees, but fighting them, from my own experience, is a losing battle. It is outdoors, after all, and short of putting electrified wiring around the trunk and on nearby trees, the squirrels are going to find a way to get to the fruit.

On the positive side, however, there is usually more than enough fruit on the trees for both humans and animals.

Malinich also suggested being mindful of animals' habitats. If you don't want mice invading your garden, make sure you don't have tall grasses, high weeds or brush piles nearby.

"Do a general cleanup," he said.

When in doubt, don't be shy about talking to experts at your local nursery, or send questions to mgdiagnostics_cuya@ag.osu.edu.

Most important, enjoy your garden. Spring has finally arrived.