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've had to place a raccoon baffle around the pole on which multiple bird feeders are attached. This has worked. Prior to installing the raccoon baffle, they were constantly knocking the feeders off and carting them away. A good raccoon baffle can be purchased at Wild Birds Unllimited or some garden centers.
The raccoons this year, one in particular, has about wiped out all my ducks and chickens. I have never had this much trouble before. I moved all my birds to my side deck and covered them as one would do cage birds making my deck look like a refugee camp. Finally, I take the last pair into the house at night.
A sure fire bait for trapping is raisins ... they love them and will follow a trail anywhere. Also, when setting live traps, make sure the only way they can get the bait is from the front. Keep the sids and back covered with non moveable items. Wood propted with a heavy rock will do the trick.
The down side to all of this is the predator is a female she could have little ones stashed somewhere leaving them to starve if she is trapped. Talk about decisions.
I have a yard pole with 3 birdfeeders, 1 sugar water for hummers, 1 suet for woodpeckers, 1 sunflower for others. EVERY night, a raccoon comes and cleans out my feeders. One day, he actually came into my house (thru the doggy door, I think). County Animal Control removed him from my house, but let him go in the yard. Any ideas on how to get rid of him?
As per my comment above, if you will install a raccoon baffle around your bird feeding pole, that will keep them off. You have to put it up high enough so they can't climb up the pole over the top of the baffle. Wild Birds Unlimited is a good source for purchasing a raccoon baffle. For those with squirrel problems, squirrel baffles are also effective. They must be installed properly, however. Be sure to follow the instructions to the letter.
Try to put marine grease on pole about three (3) feet off the ground and upwards. When the squirrels and raccoons get their feet slippery, their attempts to reach the feeders are futile. Marine grease isn't washed away by rain. It can be bought at WalMart and most auto parts stores. Works here. Good luck!
Hi Elizabeth,
Raccoons are just looking for food, so the best way to stop them from coming around is to take away their food source. Also, bird feeders (not including hummingbird feeders) should be taken down around April to prevent wild animals from becoming domesticated to human food, particularly bears.
I live in the country and these raccoons are the worst, dirty, filthy animals ever. I feed the birds but I went to a hardware store and purchased the heavy pvc pipe, 8鈥, with a toilet flange. I mounted a square piece of 3/4 inch plywood to the toilet flange. I anchored the pipe into the ground and put the flange on top. I use heavy duty hooks and I am able to hang 4 bird feeders from it. BUT, I also have to grease the bottom of the pvc with petroleum jelly or something slippery because the raccoons can climb up the pipe. Do not put the pole near a fence or tree. You will have to grease the pole at least once a week. It works for me and they can鈥檛 get to my feeders. But they do like to dig up my freshly annual flowers I plant. I have to replant several times if I want flowers.
my mother raccoon is a sugar junkie and empties the hummingbird feeder too... I have to bring them in as well as suet cages at night... she has even carried one of them off. if I forget to bring them in or wait too long, she hits the nectar first...
I live in a rural area and care for a colony of feral cats. I've read horror stories about raccoons killing cats, including some of the previous comments, so I'm always frightened that the same may happen to one of mine. I've had cats just disappear and wondered if it's due to a raccoon getting it. One that has come around is huge and has to weigh at least 30 pounds or more.
Raccoons are very cute and I even had one as a pet growing up, but they scare the hell out of me now. My company gets calls frequently for raccoon removal because they've either gotten into the house, are destroying the garden, killing chickens, or being a nuisance in other ways. It's illegal in many areas for people to trap raccoons themselves and then release them somewhere else. I don't recommend shooting them unless you are a crack shot and won't leave them wounded.
About the last suggestion to plant squash. The trouble we are having is raccoons (or maybe something else?) eating our squash. We are currently trying dog hair and blood meal along with a simple fence and netting. We need to wait a few more days for more squash flowers to grow before we know if this works at all. I suspect we will end up needing to apply the garlic/spice mix every couple of days until we decide on something more permanent.
