How to Keep Squirrels Away From Your Pumpkins
You set out a nice row of pumpkins, and two days later one of them has a hole chewed in the side. If you live anywhere with big trees, and most neighborhoods around Dayton and Cincinnati do, squirrels are almost always the culprit. The good news is that there are a few simple things that help.
Why squirrels go after pumpkins
Fall is when squirrels are busy eating and storing food for winter, and a pumpkin is an easy meal sitting right on your porch. What they are usually after is the seeds. University of Illinois Extension notes that squirrels will dig into a pumpkin to get to the seeds inside. A carved jack-o'-lantern is even easier, since the opening is already made for them and the cut edges are soft.
Hot pepper is the best-known deterrent
Capsaicin, the compound that makes hot peppers hot, is the method experts mention most. David Hillock, a consumer horticulturist with Oklahoma State University, has called capsaicin probably the most effective deterrent for pumpkins.
Research backs this up. In a Cornell University study on bird feeders, gray squirrels avoided seed treated with capsaicin when other food was available, and high levels of capsaicin kept even very hungry squirrels from eating much. The same study found it worked best when the squirrels had something else to eat, which is worth remembering for your porch too.
You can buy a pepper-based animal repellent at most garden centers and follow the label. A simple homemade version is hot sauce or cayenne pepper mixed with water and a few drops of dish soap to help it stick. Spray the pumpkins and let them dry. Plan to reapply after rain, since water washes it off. Wear gloves, keep it away from your eyes, and wash your hands after handling treated pumpkins.
Other things that help
Scrape a carved pumpkin clean. Leftover seeds and pulp are what draw squirrels in, so the cleaner the inside, the less there is to find.
Cover pumpkins with a wire mesh cage or a loose wrap of hardware cloth if they sit in a garden bed or on a low wall. Hillock has suggested woven wire mesh cages for this.
Bring smaller pumpkins into the garage overnight, or during the day while you are away, if one particular squirrel will not give up.
Give the squirrels something else to eat away from the house, such as an old pumpkin at the back of the yard. The Cornell study showed squirrels skip treated food when easier food is nearby.
What we would skip
You will see plenty of other ideas online, from hairspray to coffee grounds. Most of them have no real testing behind them, so we would not count on them. We also would not use anything that could hurt the animals. The goal is to make your pumpkins less interesting, not to harm a squirrel that is just doing what squirrels do.
Check your display each week
Walk your pumpkins once a week and look for small holes or scratch marks. A pumpkin with a chewed opening will rot faster, because the damaged spot lets moisture and mold in. If you find one, pull it from the group so it does not spread rot to the pumpkins around it. If it is still firm, you can move it to the back of the yard and let the squirrels have that one.
Squirrels are part of life in an Ohio fall. A little pepper, a clean jack-o'-lantern and a weekly check will keep most porch displays looking good through the season.
Questions about your pumpkins?
If you have a pumpkin question we did not cover here, we would be glad to help. Call or text us at (513) 409-0005, or send a message through our contact page. We are a family-run business right here in the Springboro, Dayton and Cincinnati area, and we are always happy to talk pumpkins.