How To Keep Critters From Eating Your Precious Pumpkins

While pumpkins add a great pop of color to the front of the house, they're also like a giant calling card to rodents, especially squirrels. Put some pumpkins out and you're yard becomes an all-you-can-eat buffet for the great outdoors.

Last year we got some cool pumpkins from a local patch just outside of town. One of them was white. It lasted so long past Halloween that it froze to the front steps during the winter and we had to kick it off into the side of the yard so the dog could get out the front door.

This year, we have a pumpkin patch that grew up from where the old one landed. Naturally, we were excited to see the pumpkins pop up.

We weren't the only ones psyched, though. The wildlife in town has taken notice of our little patch and has started to nibble at our growing gourds!

Squirrels. They are both very entertaining to watch and the absolute worst when it comes to destroying things outside. And we have a TON of them where I live. It's like a mini squirrel Olympic Village in the backyard.

That being said, it's clear we need to figure out how to deter these buggers from crunching on our crops.

After scouring the internet, here are some ideas if you're having the same issue.

4 Ways To Keep Critters From Eating Your Precious Pumpkins:

1.) Hot Sauce, Dish Soap, Dog Hair and Worm Guts

One website homeguides.com I came across said that to squirrels "pumpkins are an irresistible treat that they'll do almost anything to eat."

They suggested a few things, including a mixture of water, dish soap, and hot sauce.

The article also said scattering bloodmeal and dog hair around your pumpkins might help deter critters from gorging on your gourds.

2.) Vasoline and A Sprinkler

Familyhandyman.com suggested coating your pumpkins in a thick layer of petroleum jelly! I can only imagine what fun that would be at the end of the season, to pick the pumpkin up. They also said to use a motion detector or sprinkler to scare the squirrels away.

3.) Aquanet

Some sites I saw suggested spraying the pumpkins down with hairspray, but when I looked at the comments, many people said that way only works if you reapply often.

4.) Squirrel Repellent and again, Hot Sauce

Thekitchn.com gave some good insight: "It turns out, squirrels have an aversion to capsaicin, the oil that makes hot peppers taste hot. Squirrels won’t eat foods that have capsaicin in them and will avoid eating foods that have been treated with capsaicin. While you can buy squirrel repellent sprays at retail, there are a few ways to get capsaicin onto your pumpkins that are right in your kitchen."

Since I'm not a fan of hot sauce either, I may have finally found a way to kill two birds with one stone. I have a ton of left-over hot sauce in my cupboard...this would be a great way to get rid of that.

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Hopefully a mix of one or more of these methods turns out to be helpful. I'll have to try them and report back with my findings.

Do you have any tried or true ways to keep the squirrels at bay?

Message us to let us know.