Skunks are charming garden guests, with their button-like noses, striped bodies, and fluffy tails. Skunks are known for their foul-smelling spray, which they produce when they feel threatened by people or dogs in the neighborhood, despite their endearing appearance. They may also cause damage to lawns and gardens. Here are some suggestions for getting rid of skunks in your garden along with some justifications for keeping them around.
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Are Garden Skunks Your Enemy?
A pet owner’s worst nightmare may be skunks. Skunks are more active in the spring, searching for food and mating. Unfortunately, this means that unfortunate canines frequently get sprayed when they go out at night and encounter one of the neighborhood skunks.
Sulfur compounds give skunk spray its well-known pungent and enduring aroma, which is difficult to remove from pet fur. In their hunt for food, skunks also frequently dig holes in lawns, consume garden vegetables, tip over garbage cans, and enter compost piles.
Signs of Skunk Presence
Skunks can occasionally be spotted sniffing around your garden or you may detect their distinct spray scent. However, here are some crucial indicators to watch out for if you’re unsure if you’re dealing with skunks or another type of garden visitor:
- rummaged through trash cans and heaps of compost
- missing vegetables from the garden. Sweet corn is especially popular with skunks, however they usually go for the lower ears of the plant. Raccoons or deer are more likely to have been involved if cornstalks are overturned and all of the cobs have been devoured.
- Small, 3- to 4-inch-deep trenches excavated throughout garden beds and lawns. These happen when skunks burrow to find insects.
How To Get Rid Of Skunks In Your Yard Without Getting Sprayed
Eliminate Food Sources
Since skunks follow their food, getting rid of the food sources they scavenge is the first step in getting rid of skunks. This entails locking garbage cans, transferring compost to durable bins, storing bird feeders, and, if you have backyard hens, enclosing chicken feed in feeders that are impervious to pests. Skunks can be deterred from prowling around your garden by installing a low fence around vegetable beds; however, fences must be buried to prevent digging.
Pesticides can damage other animals by moving up the food chain and harming them if skunks have been consuming them along with lawn grubs and other insects. Instead, employ natural pest management methods like companion planting to lessen insect activity in your garden and treat grubs with organic milky spore.
Use Deterrent Sprays
Skunks may find gardens less alluring when deterrent sprays are used, but they need to be sprayed frequently, particularly after significant rains. Although powerfully smelling products like citrus peels and bar soaps can help drive skunks away, humanely collected predator urine, castor oil, and sprays with capsaicin are especially effective against them.
Skunk-Proof Your Buildings
Sheds and porches can attract skunks, so cover them with hardware cloth to keep them out. Before erecting these barriers, confirm that there are no adult skunks or kits within.
Install Motion-Activated Lights and Sprinklers
Skunks can also be deterred with motion-activated watering systems and spotlights in the garden. Since skunks are nocturnal creatures and have light-sensitive eyes, spotlights are very helpful.
Clean Up the Garden
In addition to providing a place for insects and rodents to forage, tall grass, rock piles, and wood piles give skunks a sense of security. Skunks and other wildlife find gardens far less inviting when they are cleaned up and lawns are kept mowed.
Trap and Relocate the Skunk
Skunks usually move on on their own and don’t always survive transfer, so physically removing them should only be done as a last resort. Furthermore, moving skunks raises the possibility of getting sprayed.
If a skunk needs to be relocated, use a live trap, release the animal following local rules, and avoid trapping it in the spring when it may have kits.
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