A lot of people find chipmunks to be adorable because of how tiny and fuzzy they are. You might sort of enjoy spotting chipmunks in your yard, but eventually, you realize that they’re a nuisance.
Of course, they aren’t always easy to spot because they’re so fast and they run away at the first sign of humans getting near. Even if you don’t see one up close, you’re likely going to notice what they’ve been doing in your yard.
If you’re someone who likes to garden, then chipmunks are quickly going to become one of your worst foes. These little animals can absolutely tear your garden up in a shorter amount of time than you would expect.
They’re also well-known for ruining flower beds and causing many problems. Whether you’re concerned about your flowers staying pretty or if you’re worried about your tomato plants, it’s going to be necessary to solve this chipmunk conundrum.
How can you keep chipmunks out of your flower bed, though? Read on to get all of the details about how you can keep chipmunks away from your yard reliably.
1 – Tidy up Your Yard
Tidying up your yard is going to be an excellent idea when you’re trying to deter chipmunks from coming around. There might be many things in your yard that are keeping chipmunks coming back to get food.
For example, many people have trees and bushes in their yards that drop certain berries, nuts, and seeds that chipmunks will feast on. Under normal circumstances, these food items are going to drop onto the ground and stay there until small animals such as chipmunks come around to eat everything.
You don’t need to leave seeds, berries, and other stuff like that on the ground, though. Picking it up and keeping your yard tidy is going to make your yard a lot less appealing to the local chipmunk population.
It’s going to be wise to try to clean your yard on a regular basis when you’re worried about chipmunk issues. Clean up the yard whenever wind knocks berries and other things like that down.
You also might want to try to keep your grass short and trim your tree branches. Doing things like this will give the shy chipmunks fewer places that they can hide on your property.
Essentially, if you stay up on your yard chores, it’s going to be less likely that you’ll have significant chipmunk problems. Sadly, this isn’t going to solve your chipmunk woes completely, but it will make a big difference.
2 – Use Fences
Fencing certain things in can make it a lot tougher for chipmunks to mess up your gardens and flower beds. Just understand that chipmunks are very good climbers and you’ll need to install fences in specific ways to deter them.
You want the fences to be fairly tall so that it will be impractical or annoying for chipmunks to have to climb them. It’s said that fences that use small holes and are buried at least six inches underground are ideal when being used to deter chipmunks.
It’s also wise to provide additional obstacles at the top of the fences to make it tough for chipmunks to get by. Many people will put netting at the top of the fences so that chipmunks might get stuck or find it to be too much of an annoyance to want to continue.
Just understand that fences aren’t likely your number one solution to the chipmunk issue. They can help a bit, though, and it might be worth trying in conjunction with other options.
3 – Sprinkle Your Flower Beds with Chili Powder
Do you have some extra chili powder just sitting around that you don’t need for anything? Well, it could wind up being used as an effective deterrent that will make chipmunks want to stay away.
Many people have had good luck with sprinkling chili powder near flower beds and garden areas to deter chipmunks. You can also use other hot spices such as cayenne pepper if you don’t happen to have chili powder right now.
The chipmunks don’t like this at all and they aren’t going to want to stick around an area that has spices like this. If you sprinkle the spice generously enough, then it could be a good way to keep your flower beds from getting ruined again.
Of course, this won’t be a permanent solution since the chili powder is going to wash away in the rain at some point in time. Even so, it’s good to remember how useful chili powder and cayenne pepper can be when you’re just trying to deter chipmunks from messing up your garden.
4 – Plant Certain Plants That Can Repel Chipmunks
There are some things that you can plant in your gardens that will make chipmunks want to stay away. One of the best things that you can plant will be garlic plants.
Chipmunks seem to find the scent of garlic to be repulsive and they will want to stay away from it. This means that you can plant garlic plants near your flower beds to keep them from messing with things.
Many people who are trying to protect their flowers and plants from chipmunks will use garlic plants as a barrier. This idea works nicely, but there are other plants that can get good results as well.
For instance, you could choose to plant some daffodils because they will also keep chipmunks at bay. If you can use solid advice like this to your advantage, then it’ll be easier to control chipmunks and keep them from messing your flower beds up.
5 – Eliminate Bird Feeders
Chipmunks are also drawn to the seed in your bird feeders. You might like the idea of feeding the birds and getting to see birds in your garden, but it can make chipmunk issues worse.
You’ll often find that chipmunks and squirrels eat more of the birdseed than the birds do. This can be prevented if you take certain steps, but it might be easiest to just eliminate the bird feeders.
If you’re going to keep the bird feeders on your property, then it’s recommended to keep them high off of the ground. When the bird feeders aren’t easily accessible, it’ll make it far less likely that chipmunks will be able to get to the seed inside.
Some people hang the bird feeders in the air using a type of pulley suspension system. At the very least, you should be keeping the bird feeders high off of the ground and far away from fences that the chipmunks can use to gain access to the feeders.
6 – Decoys
Decoys can actually help to keep the chipmunks scared and it’ll make them not want to get too close to certain things. For example, you could buy a decoy owl and place it near your flower bed.
Chipmunks understand that owls are predators and they will understandably be afraid of owl silhouettes. You can buy some pretty realistic owl decoys that will work wonders to keep many types of animals from getting too close.
Another idea is to go ahead and spray predator urine in the garden area. You can buy products that contain owl urine and the urine from other predators so that chipmunks will be scared off.
A combination of decoys and predator urine might be enough to make chipmunks a nonissue for you. It’s well worth looking into, but you will have to spend a bit of money when going this route.
7 – Human Hair
Chipmunks are afraid of humans as well, and this means that they will not like things that smell like humans. You can use this information to your advantage by taking human hair clippings and spreading them around the yard.
If you give yourself haircuts at home, then this will be pretty easy to do. You can also use beard trimmings and things like that to help deter chipmunks from coming into your yard.
It’s a cost-effective and simple way to try to control chipmunk issues. It works better than you might expect, but some people have problems getting enough human hair to make this idea practical.
Also, not everyone cuts their own hair. You might feel somewhat silly asking your barber or hairstylist to bag up your hair clippings, after all.
8 – Electronic Chipmunk Repellent Options
There are products on the market that are capable of repelling chipmunks. Electronic repellents are able to keep animals from wanting to come near certain areas by using ultrasonic sounds.
These are sounds that only animals can hear and many of these products play noises such as predator sounds. It can help to keep many annoying animals away from your yard, and it’s easy to use products like this.
Many of these ultrasonic repellents are solar in nature and can simply be placed in the ground with a stake. The sun keeps the device working and you don’t really have to worry about it.
Some say that these devices can be a bit hit or miss in terms of effectiveness. They aren’t overly pricey, but it isn’t necessarily better than the methods that have been mentioned so far that you can utilize without having to spend much money at all.
9 – Other Repellents
Other repellents exist on the market if you don’t like the electronic options. There are dry repellents that are nontoxic and will work to keep chipmunks out of your yard.
This is basically a type of powder that contains ingredients that chipmunks don’t like. You sprinkle the powder in your garden area and flower beds to keep chipmunks from coming around.
Liquid repellents will also be available, but they might not last as long as dry repellents. These can be easier to use since they come in standard spray bottles, though.
You’ll have to keep reapplying these products if you choose to go this route. Even dry repellent won’t last forever, and you’ll just have to be patient with things.
10 – Trapping Chipmunks Might Be a Possibility
If the deterrent options just aren’t working out for you as well as you’d hoped, then you might want to get rid of the chipmunks. Killing the chipmunks might seem excessive and unusually cruel, but trapping them might be an option.
You can certainly buy humane traps that can capture chipmunks if you want to go that route. You can buy simple one-door or two-door traps and set them in places that the chipmunks might go in your yard.
To get this to work, it’s going to be necessary to wear gloves when setting the traps. Chipmunks will be too wary of the traps if they can smell human scents, and this means that you must approach things carefully.
For bait, it’s going to be a wise idea to use things that attract chipmunks such as sunflower seeds or peanuts. Peanut butter actually does a great job when used as bait and it’ll stick to the trigger plate nicely.
You’ll need to check the humane traps every so often to see if you’ve caught a chipmunk. Once you’ve caught one, you’re going to need to take the trap and drive it to a different location so that you can release the chipmunk.
Ideally, you should release the chipmunk in a woodland area that is a fair distance from your home. This should ensure that the chipmunk won’t just simply come back.
It’s important to note that it isn’t legal to do this in certain places. Some places in North America have laws against trapping and relocating animals, and that means that you’ll need to do your homework about your local laws before considering this option.
Final Thoughts
There are many options that you can utilize to help keep chipmunks out of your flower beds. Now that you know what you can do to solve this problem it won’t seem like such a big deal.
Yes, chipmunks can be quite annoying, but you’re going to be able to keep them at bay. Just choose whichever options work best for your situation and your flower beds and garden areas will be safe from harm.
Let your friends know about what they can do if they happen to have chipmunk issues on their properties. You don’t have to get frustrated by chipmunks when taking care of things is so simple.
Growing up with a mom who filled her home (inside and out) with all sorts of plants, Lisa got her start in gardening at a young age. Living now on her own with a home and yard full of plants (including an indoor greenhouse), she shares all the gardening tips she’s gained over the years.