What to do with chipmunks eating flower bulbs and other plants?

LINDA
by LINDA
  4 answers
  • Jesse Jesse on Apr 09, 2018

    You can try sprinkling chili powder in the hole before you plant and on the bulb. Thinking chipmunks are like squirrels in that they have tastebuds. Works as a deterrent for keeping the squirrels at bay from eating all the sunflower seeds we feed in winter months.

  • Nancy Turner Nancy Turner on Apr 09, 2018

    I use cayenne pepper powder surrounding the whole area and also shredded Irish spring to deter squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits from chewing and digging in the garden. If they are persistent, place a few mousetraps baited with peanut butter in the worst areas, they go for the peanut butter and the snap scares the bejesus out of them. I have yet to catch any critters, but it does keep them away from that area. You do need to renew the cayenne pepper, as it looses its potency and washes away if it rains, not so much the soap shreds. I also feed my chipmunks stale bread, cookies, cake, cereal, anything that will keep them happy and away from the plants, I also leave the bird seed on the ground for them to eat since the bird feeders are away from the plants they attack. Good luck! P.S. I have one resident chipmunk that stares or chatters at me if I forget to leave his treats in his spot under the hostas!

  • DesertRose DesertRose on Apr 09, 2018

    Perhaps you could distract the chipmunks by feeding them something they would prefer to the flower bulbs. Perhaps you could put a tin pan with seeds or something they prefer that they won't have to dig to find. Chipmunks love seeds of all kinds and especially non salted sunflower seeds. Also, you might try adding a box of moth balls to the areas where they are digging the bulbs. Moth balls tend to discourage other small mammals, perhaps it will help with the chipmunks. I love chipmunks but I would not want them digging my flower bulbs either. That is what I would do to distract and discourage their activities.