Raccoons might be cute, but they’re no good for your garden: here are tips on how to remove them from your yard.
Keep Raccoons Away from Your Crops
How to Identify Raccoons
Raccoons are small mammals 2 to 3 feet in length and weighing about 10 to 30 pounds. Raccoons have distinct black 鈥渕asks鈥 on their faces, which often characterizes them as bandits. They have fluffy, ringed tails, and their bodies are varying shades of gray, with hints of light brown. The forepaws of raccoons resemble tiny human hands with five toes, which makes raccoons very dexterous.
Raccoons are nocturnal creatures, meaning that they feed at night. This might make it hard for you to identify them, as you might only see the damage they cause. Looking for raccoon tracks near the damage might also help you to identify them. Learn more about identifying animal tracks.
Photo Credit: M. Sorrentino, University of Vermont. After a rainy night, five-toed tracks might appear in the mud around your garden. These raccoon tracks are easily distinguished from most other four-toed mammals.
Raccoon Damage
If your lawn has a lot of holes in it, or your mulch pile has a lot of holes, you probably have a nightly visitor. Raccoons will dig up lawns and mulch piles looking for insects to eat. They will also empty bird feeders, so keep an eye on your feeders to see if you have a raccoon problem. Additionally, raccoons are known to raid chicken coops, stealing eggs and even killing chickens.
Of course, if you have corn, there鈥檚 nothing more infuriating than finding stalks toppled and ears ripped open and half eaten. (Even more frustrating is the idea, offered by animal researchers, that raccoons are wasteful because they don鈥檛 really like sweet corn all that much; in fact, they seem to prefer sunflower seeds, dog food, and sardines.)
How to Get Rid of Raccoons
The persistence and proliferation of raccoons have inspired many solutions; one of them is bound to work for you. Here are tips from all our readers and staff! See what works for you.
- If your raccoon problem is persistent, you can set live raccoon traps in your garden and release the animal at least three miles away (check local and state laws first). Raccoons will eat virtually anything; try fish-flavored dry cat food, chicken necks, ears of corn, or whole peanuts for bait.
- To keep raccoons at a distance, try scattering blood meal around corn plants. Also, try sprinkling wood ashes around your plants.
- Grind up garlic, mix it with an equal portion of chili powder, and spread it around the garden. Frequent applications are needed.
- One reader says, 鈥淗ang shoes and clothes that smell of human perspiration around your garden or corn patch.鈥 Similarly, 鈥淵ou can try to repel raccoons by putting dog hair or human hair around the garden.鈥
- Tune a radio to a rock station and set it in the middle of your garden and/or corn patch. Leave it on all night. The noise will scare away the raccoons.
- Put lights in the garden. A bright lantern will sometimes keep Sun-shy raccoons away.
- Plant enough corn for man and beast alike.
- Add some pinwheels and streamers to your garden to scare the creatures.
- Folk wisdom suggests that you spread newspapers around the perimeter of the garden.
How to Prevent Raccoons
- Build a good fence around your garden. Beware though, raccoons are agile and intelligent; make sure your fence will keep them out. You may need to install an electric fence. This is a good measure. A two-wire fence, with one wire four to six inches above the ground and the other at 12 inches, should be effective.
- If your home is near your garden, remove any possible food sources from the area, including pet food and bird seed. Buy garbage cans with locking lids and keep garbage inside if possible. Keep pet doors sealed shut between dusk and dawn. Cap your chimneys. Seal any holes or gaps in attics and roofs.
- Grow tall varieties of corn such as 鈥楽ilver Queen鈥, 鈥楰andy Korn鈥, and 鈥楲ancelot鈥. Taller plants bear their ears higher, causing raccoons trouble getting leverage to topple stalks and ravage them. They prefer shorter plants.
- You can also plant squash around your corn or other plants to deter raccoons; they don鈥檛 like walking on the prickly squash vines.
Do you have any more tips for getting rid of a raccoon? Let us know below!
Catherine Boeckmann
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I fear this is what may have happened to my feral cats that I trapped ,fixed and released a coon family has moved in and one by one the cats are disappearing. I know they are eating the food I put out for the cats I did not know until today they will kill a cat. I am so upset about this.
I am so sorry to hear about your cats. I worry about one I am feeding. They scale my 4ft fence around my garden. I did鈥檛 plant corn last year. I know they are God鈥檚 creatures, but whew, infuriating.,
Are the racoons eating the Cats or killing them only? Have you solved them killing them yet?
No, raccoons are not classified as rare or endangered. That said, you’ll see need to check with your local laws which may have other legal restrictions.
My poor little fish pond has been hit twice now. I really just wanted it for the sound of running water and a couple of water plants. But I started getting mosquito larvae so I got some feeder gold fish from the pet store and no more larvae. Well, I guess the racoon likes fish even tho they are very small. He has torn up my plants and the pond and has eaten all the fish, twice now. I really don't know what to do about this. Animal Control seems to not care even tho I live in town. I do have an outside cat and a small inside dog, after reading some of the other comments I am now worried for their safety. I have set a trap but have not caught it, I also have several wind chimes in the area, he seems to not be afraid of anything. If anyone has better suggestions, I am willing to try anything at this point.
We had the same problem only we lost the expensive plants and pond filter. Bizarre, they would rip up the filter and plants. We called the pond our 'raccoon spa'. We ended up turning it into a pondless waterfall feature. That's another story.
Raccoons like shallow water to wade in, etc. so if possible, make the pond deeper 1'+ and sharp drop edges into the pond; they're not into swimming if possible and if they can't walk directly in, they will likely look elsewhere.
For the disappearing fish problem, you may want to look into pond netting. It could prove to be just enough of an obstacle to deter the raccoon(s). Also try placing strong-scented substances in dishes around your pond, such as garlic and chili powder or Irish Spring soap. Make sure that any run-off produced by these substances doesn’t enter your pond and that a curious dog doesn’t sniff the wrong thing!
suggest a dish of cat food mixed with broken razor blades bits.
I can only shoot them with a high powered pellet gun. I shot one three times and it was back in a week. I have fed them boxes of rat poison and it wont kill them.. i will try cat food and ground glass and see if that works. I am at my wits end. They have eaten everything in my garden. Grapes, peaches tomatoes. I have put so much work into it only to have coons eat it all. I am beyond peeded off.
disagree on all levels...just cruel
