They’re cute. They chirp and flirt around, scurrying from one food source to another. But don’t deceive yourself. If you love your garden, you don’t want to be overrun by chipmunks. One chipmunk means many chipmunks.
They’re rodents, and like mice and rats, they multiply quickly and they love to dig. They dig holes in your yard and garden, making tunnels from one end of their domain to another. They dig up bulbs and devour them, leaving half-eaten bulbs scattered as evidence of their destruction.
Cute? Messy and destructive is more like it. So how do you repel chipmunks and discourage them from destroying your garden? And how do you do this naturally, without poisons and chemicals? There really is no great remedy because unfortunately, chipmunks are rather clever. But, there are ways to slow down their progress of mass destruction.
Chemical Repellents
There are chemical repellents available on the market, and some work while others don’t. The one that really makes me chuckle is called“coyote pee”—though I don’t recall the brand name. But, really? How was this collected?
我确实尝试过,但几乎没有什么积极的好处。它是液体,所以被土壤吸收,在第一场雨中,它就被冲走了。你会认为我的狗每天在这片土地上做他的生意会有帮助。甚至它的叫声也只是暂时把它们吓跑了。
Barricading Potential Entryways
关键是在解决问题的方法上要有创新,但不要太残忍。你可以做的第一件事是移除所有的喂养源,比如喂鸟者。作为一个鸟类爱好者,这是不可能的。所以,我们妥协了,把喂食器移到了离房子和花园更远的地方,这样就阻止了花栗鼠在我们不想要的地方活动。
我让花栗鼠在房子的地基和联锁瓷砖之间挖了个洞。和老鼠一样,花栗鼠也能挤在非常狭小的空间里。花栗鼠显然为自己感到非常自豪,它溜进溜出,储存食物,大概是在为冬天做准备。我不想冒进一步损坏的风险,也不想让它在地基上发现裂缝,裂缝的大小刚好能让它挤进房子里。
I found some plastic garden edging and stuck it firmly into the crevice that it had created. The chipmunk was not amused. As it started pouring rain, the critter chewed and pulled on the plastic edging, but to no avail, wailing in protest at the loss of its stash of goodies. It must have spent over an hour, in the pouring rain, trying to remove the edging that blocked its access.
花栗鼠最终放弃了,继续前进。值得庆幸的是。其他人搬进来,尝试他们自己狡猾的策略。我继续站岗,鼓励它们到别处去安家。我的家就是我的花园,我全力保护它。当然,自然。
The Problem With Chipmunk Holes
When we first moved into our country home, the backyard was full of holes. Chipmunk holes. These critters burrow tunnels from one end of their domain to another. Our fenced-in backyard is the dog’s sanctuary as well as a training space.
Duke, a Border Collie/Australian Shepherd mix, is, as you can imagine, full of energy and needs a safe place to run. He’s also an agility dog, so the backyard required a hole-free surface on which to run without breaking his leg. Chipmunk holes, often well hidden, are large enough for a dog’s paw to sink into and, at Duke’s breakneck running speed, this could be quite catastrophic.
Filling The Hole With Sand And Gravel
I didn’t want to use poisons. Not only would that be cruel to the chipmunk, but it was dangerous for Duke as well. Fortunately, a lot of the land around the backyard was very sandy.
On a daily basis, before Duke was allowed to run in the backyard, I would pace the yard and fill all the chipmunk holes with sand and sometimes fine gravel. There’s nothing more difficult for anyone, let alone a chipmunk, than trying to dig a hole and tunnel through sifting sand and gravel.
Filling The Hole With Water
Another tactic I used was to put the hose in the hole and fill it and the tunnel with water before adding sand. It was not a danger to the chipmunk whose instinctive dislike of being wet would have it scurrying out the other end of his tunnel at the first sign of a flood.
当我在后院继续战斗时,我的花园里出现了洞和破坏。我设置了人性化的陷阱,设法抓住这些动物,一次抓一只,然后把它们运到很远的地方,确保穿过一片水域。
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bbdc51ul0IS/?tagged=chipmunkproblems
However, on reflection, I decided this was unfair to other homesteaders trying to deal with their own chipmunk problems.
When Chipmunks Attack
The defining moment was when our brand-new car started leaking gas. We took it to the service department, hoping that the fix would be under warranty since the car was less than a year old. No such luck. A chipmunk family had built a nest along the gas line, chewing through the line itself. There was one baby still in the nest, which the service technician showed us as proof of the cause of the destruction. On hindsight, the situation could have been quite serious had someone thrown a lit cigarette our way as we drove to have the car serviced. Ka-boom. No thanks.
The new gas line was installed, at considerable expense to us. I did more research and learned that farmers frequently had difficulties with mice and chipmunks nesting in their tractors and other farm equipment, making the large, costly machines inoperable. My research provided some suggestions.
Deterring With Scent
我在车里的不同地方放了一些干衣纸,包括置物箱。那气味是一种威慑。我还买了一些味道很难闻的爱尔兰春季香皂,并把一些放在车里。挂在后视镜上的除臭装置也很管用,但我过敏,这就不太管用了。
I also purchased in bulk strong smelling spices, and anything that might encourage sneezing, like chili powder, to sprinkle around the car. This I repeated after each heavy rain, which, obviously, washed away the spice.
Plant Garlic
至于我的花园,我种了很多大蒜。花栗鼠不喜欢大蒜。我还种了很多绿薄荷,它确实占了主导地位,但却阻止了花栗鼠和其他啮齿类动物,比如红松鼠,它们和花栗鼠一样,都是破坏性的麻烦。
Recycling Soapy Water
An age-old remedy of my grandmother’s also works well: recycling used dishwater or used soapy laundry water by dumping it on the gardens. This may not be as easy to facilitate in the age of dishwashers and washing machines that drain everything directly into the septic system.
然而,通过重新引导使用过的肥皂水的排水,并将其收集在桶中,这些水可以有效地回收到花园中。它不仅能很好地阻止花栗鼠和其他啮齿类动物,还能阻止蚜虫和尺蠖等各种害虫对你的植物造成破坏。
Making A Homemade Spray Repellent
I mentioned that chipmunks didn’t like garlic. A solution of pureed garlic and hot peppers steeped in soapy water can be sprayed on plants you want to protect from the chipmunks. Castor oil also works well, as does ammonium soap. But remember, like the hot spices and the coyote urine, these solutions need to be repeated frequently, especially after a heavy rain washes it away.
Other Deterrent Methods
Something that doesn’t wash away is plastic forks. I mentioned this in another story awhile back. I have a garden full of plastic forks prongs standing tall to poke any chipmunk or squirrel offender wanting to dig up my bulbs. I also place some fork prongs into the ground, in case the wily chipmunk decides to tunnel underneath the barricade of forks.
我还减少了花栗鼠的藏身之处,比如岩壁,现在我只把岩壁建在离地界很远的地方,还有灌木,我不喜欢灌木,因为它们会吸引蚊子和其他虫子。
最后,但并非最不重要的是,今年的项目是建造一个猫头鹰盒子。我知道附近有猫头鹰,因为我偶尔在我们家附近的树林里看到过它们。猫头鹰吃啮齿动物,比如花栗鼠。A healthy owl family will help lesson the chipmunk problem.
可爱的小动物吗?我不再这么认为了。在远处,很好。但不是在我的院子里。我与花栗鼠的战斗,似乎变成了我与花栗鼠斗智斗智的日常练习。有时我赢了,人口就减少了;其他时候,他们赢了,我不得不提高赌注,可以这么说。
Ali Rose Savittsays
explain more about the castor oil and do you have pics of the plastic forks in the dirt?