6 Easy Steps How to Keep Raccoons Out of Garden | Simple DIY Tutorial

As an open area, some unwanted nuisance may come to your outdoor living space like animals for instance. Especially if you live close to their habitats and your garden has some food sources that they love.

how to keep raccoons out of garden
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One of the common intruders that some homeowners may have to deal with is raccoon. This kinda-cute mammal has a quite bad reputation in destroying some garden and eat anything they like. Yes, raccoon is an omnivore which means that they can eat meat, veggies, and fruits.

Since they are great jumpers and climbers, invading your garden is a piece-of-cake especially if you don’t have a well-secured outdoor space. Moreover, as a nocturnal animal, they hunt in the night while you are sleeping which makes it even harder to cast them away.

Of course, it can be so frustrating since your backyard has a lot of attractions that invite them to invade. You have to take some steps to keep them away so your backyard won’t get destroyed. Luckily, there are some ways to protect your outdoor space from raccoon that you can do all by yourself without any helps from pros.

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You can try this simple tutorial on how to keep raccoons out of garden below without costing you a lot.

How to Keep Raccoons Out of Garden

It’s not actually that hard to keep raccoons away from your backyard. By just following these simple steps, your garden will be free from such nuisance in no time.

Identify the Raccoons

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chimneyandwildlife.com

Typically, raccoon is a small animal which weighs about 10 to 30 pounds with 2 to 3 feet length. Firstly, you can identify their invasion by following these steps:

  • If you spot the footprint which looks like cat’s paws only with slightly longer fingers, that can be a sign that some raccoons visit your garden a night before.
  • Raccoon is a good digger so if you spot a lot of unusual holes around your garden alongside the footprints, you have to take some prevention steps right away.

Protect the Garden

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ablandworks.com

The easiest way to prevent the raccoons to enter your garden is by installing the electric fence.

  • Install a low electric fence around the perimeter of your garden.
  • You can install a fence with 5 – 6 inches wire from the ground and add 4 – 6 inches above.
  • Since raccoons feed in the night, you can run the fence just from dusk till dawn

Protect the Garden Beds

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garlicgreengarden.com

As an addition to an electrical fence or you don’t want to install one, you can just protect the beds. The garden beds can be the most favorite spot for raccoons since you grow the vegetation on them. We’re gonna use hot-pepper granule that will disrupt the strong smell of the raccoons.

Prepare this material:

  • Hot-pepper granules (enough to surround the beds)

Follow these steps:

  • Pour the hot-pepper granules around the garden beds.
  • You can also spread the granules on the raccoons’ footprints that you spot.

Remove Other Sources of Foods

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amazon.com

The garden bed may not be the only site that provides food source for the raccoons. There are other sources that you have to keep in mind like trash can and pet food.

  • Make sure that your trash can is completely closed. Check out the lock lid of the can and if it doesn’t come with lock, you can use bungee cords.
  • When the trash can is empty, regularly clean it with the mixture of bleach and water to remove the smell of food that may attract the raccoons.
  • Save all the pet foods that you place outside in the house before the sunset.

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Add Other Prevention Methods

motion sensor light
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Besides those efforts, you can add some other stuff to prevent the invasion of raccoons that you can do all by yourself. This step will make your garden unappealing for those raccoons.

Prepare these materials:

  • Rags or ropes
  • Ammonia
  • Motion-sensor light
  • Small radio

Follow these steps:

  • As mentioned above, you can try to irritate the smell of raccoons. Another effort that you can try is soaking rags or ropes in the ammonia. Place the rags or ropes around the garden for maximum protection.
  • Besides the smell, raccoons also hate lights and noises, so you can place the motion-sensor light and small radio close to your garden that will cast them away.

Use Live Trap

live trap
animalatticpest.com

Remember, this is the very last effort that you can do to keep the raccoons away. It’s doesn’t only threaten the raccoons but it can be dangerous for you. Raccoons can be very aggressive that you may not be able to handle.

Here’s what you need to prepare:

  • Double-door trap
  • Baits (sweet corn, cat food, peach, watermelon are their favorites)

Follow these steps:

  • Place the traps under the shady spots and avoid direct light.
  • You may need to mix the bait to make the trap works more effectively.
  • Relocate the trapped raccoons about 5 miles away from your house or contact the local animal helper.
  • Make sure to not let them caged inside the cage for a long time because it can torture the raccoons.

Remember, even killing raccoons is legal in most states, of course, it’s a very cruel way just to get rid of them. Just relocate them to the remote area that you’re sure enough they will find it hard to find their way back.

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So that is the simple tutorial about how to keep raccoons out of the garden that you can try all by yourself. Those efforts are considered effective to prevent the raccoons to invade your garden.

By using the easily-available materials and tools, now you can have a garden which is free of raccoons. Remember to stay safe during the project like wearing work gloves since you may deal with sharp and harmful stuff.

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