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Key Points
- Cover soil with rocks or gravel to block chipmunks from digging in planters.
- Use cages, stakes, or repellents to protect plants from chipmunk damage.
- Chipmunks dig in planters to bury food or nibble on bulbs and foliage.
Chipmunks are really darn cute. Who doesn’t love to watch them darting around the garden? That is, until they start digging holes everywhere and uprooting your favorite plants. Container plants are especially vulnerable to damage from chipmunks. They can’t resist digging in the soft, bare soil, popping your plants out of the pots in the process. Often, they just want to bury nuts, but chipmunks also nibble on bulbs and foliage.
If chipmunks are digging in every planter on your deck, we have solutions that can save your flowers. Try these five methods to stop chipmunks from digging in your containers.
Cage Your Plants
Young seedlings and freshly planted flowers dry out quickly when a chipmunk digs them up. Cage your plants with chicken wire or use wire garden cloches to keep them out. Once the plants grow too large for the cage, you can remove it and use other methods to protect your flowers.
Cover the Soil
Add a 1-inch layer of rock on top of the soil to prevent chipmunks from digging. You can use sharp, heavy gravel, river rock, lava rock, or stones you find around your garden. As a bonus, the gravel acts as a mulch and conserves moisture in your pots.
Surprise Them With Stakes
Stick sharp, pointy objects in the soil to deter chipmunks from digging. You can use bamboo stakes, plastic forks, or bird spikes for this purpose. Place the stakes close together and push them deep into the soil so the chipmunks can’t easily knock them over.
Spray Repellent
Some gardeners have success using repellents made with hot pepper or predator urine. You can also try sprinkling cayenne pepper or cinnamon in your pots. Repellents fade quickly and must be reapplied after every rain. Rodents can get used to unpleasant odors, so you may need to combine this approach with other methods.
Clean Up Your Yard
Sometimes prevention is the best method. Remove wood piles, brush, and weeds to discourage chipmunks from living on your property. Don’t feed pets outdoors or hang bird feeders near your planters. The fewer chipmunks you have in your yard, the less time they’ll spend digging in your planters.
Read the original article on Southern Living
