Homemade Squirrel Repellent Recipe 🐿️ - House of Hawthornes (2024)

FAQs

Homemade Squirrel Repellent Recipe 🐿️ - House of Hawthornes? ›

Here are a few recipes you can try: Hot Pepper Spray: Create a homemade squirrel repellent by mixing water with cayenne pepper and a few drops of dish soap. Transfer the mixture into a spray bottle and apply it to areas where squirrels are active.

Here are a few recipes you can try: Hot Pepper Spray: Create a homemade squirrel repellent by mixing water with cayenne pepper and a few drops of dish soap. Transfer the mixture into a spray bottle and apply it to areas where squirrels are active.

White vinegar has a strong smell and is a powerful squirrel deterrent. The easiest way to treat a squirrel-infested area is to simply pour it on active squirrel hang-outs or spray it around your property with a mix of water.

Use apple cider vinegar.

You can make a DIY repellent concoction with apple cider vinegar. Pour some in a spray bottle with peppermint oil or cayenne pepper and spray it near your plants or wherever you want squirrels to detect the unpleasant scent. The more scent deterrents in the mix the better.

Scents like white pepper, black pepper, and garlic are naturally unpleasant to a squirrel. The same goes for sweet smells such as peppermint. Try spraying your plants and flowers with water and then sprinkling on pepper or peppermint oil to deter squirrels.

The taste and smell of coffee is pleasing for many, but squirrels disagree. Coffee grounds are a natural repellent for squirrels, and they're easy to mix in with your soil.

Squirrels hate both the feeling and sight of aluminum foil. The shiny glare from the foil is usually enough to scare off any squirrels, but if any brave squirrels do approach your plants, don't worry! When the squirrel steps on the aluminum foil, it feels slippery and makes some sound.

Mint and other aromatic plants

A lot of animals are repelled by the scent of mint and squirrels are one of them. You could try planting some mint under your fruit trees or make a spray similar to the hot pepper spray using peppermint or spearmint essential oils and water.

Adhesive Materials: Polybutenes. Polybutenes create a sticky lubricant that can deter squirrels from scaling railings and buildings. As they walk across the material, their feet may become stuck, which could cause so much irritation that they don't return.

Dryer sheets have a fantastic aroma, which is why we love them. However, for this exact reason, squirrels dislike them too. For decades, farmers of orchards have tied dryer sheets along their deer fences to keep deer and squirrels away. Hence they can be effective against squirrels.

How do I keep squirrels from coming back? ›

Deter them.

Put a two-foot-wide metal collar around trees, at least six to eight feet off the ground. You can also use squirrel baffles on poles that support your bird feeders. Put fences or netting around your plants.

Squirrels are offended by many of the same scents as deer, so repellents like Plantskydd Deer Repellent work well. You can also try a thin layer of coffee grounds or tucking a small amount of dog hair around and under plants.

Squirrels have a strong sense of smell, which they use to find food sources and shelter. You can repel squirrels using scents they hate such as, capsaicin, white vinegar, peppermint oil, coffee grounds, cinnamon, predator urine, garlic, dryer sheets, Irish Spring bar soap, and rosemary.

Irish Spring can be used as a squirrel deterrent

According to University of Missouri Extension (MU Extension), using soaps with strong fragrances (like Irish Spring) are only partially effective in keeping animals out of gardens.

Mothballs have long been recommended as a good remedy to keep squirrels away from properties. However, the natural pest repellent only works to temporarily keep squirrels at bay and can actually be dangerous to the health of your family and pets if used carelessly or improperly.

One additional method of defense I'm trying is to coat everything in cayenne pepper. This is something I used when the squirrels were first digging up seedlings and it worked pretty well. I've started sprinkling tomato plants and surrounding areas with cayenne pepper.

Cinnamon. Used in small amounts, cinnamon gives many dishes a delicious flavor. However, it is still a spice, and squirrels can't tolerate the smell. You can use cinnamon essential oil to deter squirrels by sprinkling a few drops onto a rag and tying the cloth to a tree at the edge of your property.