Raccoon Repellent Plants?

13 years ago

Hey there,

I had always wanted a pond in my backyard, so I built one this summer. It's been wonderful, relaxing, and everything I hoped. HOWEVER, it is has also attracted raccoons.

The raccoons come every night and fiddle with the pond, try to catch the fish, drink the water, and leave it in some way maladjusted after every visit. It's quite a drag to have to rearrange and fix certain things every morning, though the fish have been unscathed so far.

I'm going to raise the height of the pond's border this weekend I've decided, but I was also wondering if any of you out there have any knowledge of plants that repel or otherwise deter Raccoons. Are there any? My pond is amidst a kitchen garden, so the dropped fruit and herbs may also attract the raccoons to the vicinity. I have heard Lavender repels cats, I'm hoping raccoons have a similar analog. Im sure I could put any number of nasty/thorny plants around it, but that would unfortunately be a human deterrent as well. Thanks for any help!

Jay

Featured Answer

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

13 years ago

There was a PBS Nature feature on urban raccoons - fascinating. These creatures need no woody or natural situation. They are very easily and happily adapted to even very heavily populated urban environments, living in attics, garages, storage sheds or nesting in hollow parts of trees. As far as moving on when there is "nothing to attract them" - that is just wishful thinking. These guys are scavengers - garbage cans, dumpsters, vegetable gardens, pet food bowls left outside - these form a never ending, all-you-can-eat banquet.

Normal fences will not even slow them down - they can travel vertically just as easily as they travel laterally. And there are no real repellants I have ever heard of that work. Electrifying a fence or wire or completely covering the pond is really your only viable solution. Even predators are not entirely effective. Raccoons will avoid dogs if not cornered but if cornered, they are vicious fighters and spread serious diseases if not inflicting fatal wounds. As for cats......it is not usual to see 'coons and cast sharing the same food dish :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: PBS - 'Raccoon Nation'

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Comments (10)

jean001a
13 years ago
Lots of luck with that.

My neighbors were successful with a battery-run electric fence 8 or so inches above their pond's edge. (Likely there's an online source for that.)

I laid hog wire fencing over my rather small pond, supporting it on the edging rocks. That worked too. (Also kept the blue heron out.)

Washington State has this great resource -- Living with Wildlife at http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/

Here is a link that might be useful: Living with wildlife
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
13 years ago
I'm going to raise the height of the pond's border this weekend

==>> i find them 35 feet in the oak tree harvesting acorns in fall..

i doubt if raising the border will do any more than give you some exercise

is your yard fenced??? that is where you might want to start ...

ken
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ArbutusOmnedo 10/24
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks for the responses Jean and Ken!

Ken- I'd been thinking about building up the border anyway -I have the raw materials- and if I can make shifting the marginals even a bit tougher for those darn raccoons I will! But I do see the futility in expecting a total change from just that.

The yard is fenced in. I put wire over the areas I have seen Racoons coming/leaving from small slits/rotted areas. I'll probably get some new panels for the fence soon, but I'm at a loss for anything to keep them away besides the fencing/wire. I've read, since posting, that Garlic and Mint may repel raccoons, and this became a much bigger problem when I cut back my mint nearly entirely, so perhaps I'll just let the mint go a bit and the coons will be kept more at bay. I have a bench near the pond and I'll probably plant some mint under it as well.

I'd certainly prefer to avoid electrical fencing, but I'll keep it in mind.

Jay
gregbradley
13 years ago
They will hop onto a 6' block wall if they need to. My 6.5' west block wall seems to stop them but if they really wanted to get to the other side, they might go over that. One part of my back fence is 4.5' chain link and they go over that with virtually no effort, like it wasn't even there. I'm sure that an electric wire will stop them but they seem very smart so you would have to make sure they have no way around it.

I'm having a tough time thinking about Santa Monica and that much large wildlife. Are they living in the neighborhood or coming from a wild area?

My experience is that they come into an area and then leave when there isn't much to attract them anymore. I've had a 10" wide racoon come through a 6" wide cat door to get at the cat food but they don't come back when I hit one in the rear end with a BB gun a couple times when they wash snails on the first step of my pool.

DON'T get in the way of one or get it mad. I had two of them kill a coyote in my backyard.
jean001a
13 years ago
In SoCal, racoons are well adapted to living in the city. They forage freely on the abundance of "outdoor markets" -- tree fruits and pet foods.

Jean,
formerly of Long Beach, CA
mulchmama
13 years ago
You remove the food sources, you remove the pests, period. No plants repel them. Most widgets don't do a thing to repel them. And as long as they're not living in our garage or under our porch, I am content to just let them be.
mulchmama
13 years ago
You remove the food sources, you remove the pests, period. No plants repel them. Most widgets don't do a thing to repel them. And as long as they're not living in our garage or under our porch, I am content to just let them be.
mulchmama
13 years ago
You remove the food sources, you remove the pests, period. No plants repel them. Most widgets don't do a thing to repel them. And as long as they're not living in our garage or under our porch, I am content to just let them be.
on_fire_for_fire
10 years ago
I live in a city. Surely shotguns & rifles are illegal here. However, perhaps a BB gun would pass muster and would deter the pests? They loiter outside my lanai. Lights don't phase them. My hollering doesn't make them run. Even repeated slamming of my screen door doesn't deter them. One time I exited the front door, grabbed a huge palm leaf, and ran to the back of the house where the coons were, screaming and waving the huge palm leaf back and forth. The 3 raccoons didn't care. I threw a rock (missed), and I retreated in fear. Electrical fencing isn't an option because of all the neighbors. Does anyone have a better solution? With the amount of destruction caused by the raccoons, and the amount of $$ damage they've caused, I'm willing to shoot them with a BB to teach a lesson. (I'm also willing to kill them, just dunno how to do it in a city, don't want to place poison.)