Nurturing a vegetable garden can be a rewarding experience. But it can quickly become challenging if pests such as raccoons are threatening your rewarding labor. These animals wreak serious havoc around your garden and in your home.
Being nocturnal and omnivorous animals, they eat all the plants and vegetables present in your garden and smaller animals like crayfishes as well. Also, they eat fruits like pears, apples, and peaches. Because gardens are an easy source of food for these animals, they raid gardens.
Some indicators of the activities of raccoons in your garden include:
- Droppings left behind after feeding. You can look at photos of raccoon feces to help you identify them.
- Raccoons have distinctive tracks. These tracks look like very small handprints. If you see what looks like tiny handprints, it’s a sign of raccoon activity in your garden.
- Raccoons dig holes in your lawn in their search for insects, they also empty bird feeders and steal eggs after raiding a chicken coop and even kill the birds.
CONTROL
How to keep raccoons away from your garden
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- Fencing: Your best bet at protecting your garden from raccoons is appropriate fencing. Raccoons are adept and agile climbers, therefore, beware that ordinary fencing will not do. You may need to install an electric fence. A two-wire fence at least 7 inches (18cm) from the ground should work. The fence could also be buried about 5 to 6 inches deep and a foot (about 30cm) out to tackle digging.
- Removal of Food Sources: Apart from the crops and vegetation that you’ve planted, removing all other sources of food near and around your home is a good way of keeping these pests away. Regularly clean and disinfect your trash cans with water and detergents that contain hypochlorite. That will help mask the smells from food and prevent unwanted attention. Make sure to take in your pet’s food before dark. Hang bird feeders in places that are beyond the reach of raccoons and other pests that consume bird feed.
- Use Deterrents: Deterrents such as bright flashing lights, scent-based deterrents, and sounds can serve to keep raccoons away from your garden and home. The smell you use can be something that a raccoon finds unpleasant. Examples are mustard seeds that can be ground up and spread around. You can also use spices like cayenne pepper. That will not only keep the raccoons away but will also mask the pleasant odors that they find appealing.
- Use Bins With Lids: Most times, raccoons come to search for food in your trash, and when they find this, they keep coming for more. To prevent them from accessing your trash, dispose of your trash properly and in trash bins with lids that are secure and lock.
If you want to keep raccoons out, never intentionally leave food out for them in a bid to be nice. You will only invite unwanted housemates. If you are dealing with a raccoon problem, visit howtogetridofraccoon.com for more information and helpful tips.
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