Question:
Racoons are destroying our flower garden. What can I use, besides trapping them, to get rid of these pesky critters? We have used Havahart “Critter Ridder” and sprinkled it throughout our garden and it has no affect.
Answer:
Raccoons in the flower garden almost always means the raccoons are hungry and you have something interesting in your garden. What you have, however, may be grubs, not bulbs. Kill the grubs and you get rid of the raccoons.
How do you kill grubs? Try Bt, Bacillus thuringeinsis. This readily available product kills insect larvae by giving them severe constipation. The grubs in the ground around your plants literally explode, and raccoons will lose their interest in them. Bt is not a pesticide. It’s a bacterium that occurs naturally in the soil, and all you are doing is increasing the amount of it. Bt is even approved for most organic gardening certifications.
If the primary problem is digging, you can protect recently planted bulbs and seedlings with wire mesh, although you will have to remove the wire mesh as your plants grow. If the primary problem is tipping over flower pots, anchoring your containers with stones will prevent damage by raccoons. The stones can be used to make the plants a visual focus of your garden.
Follow this link to read more about getting rid of Raccoons or here to help you manage wild animals which have become a nuisance.
Oh and by the way, Bt does not dissipate the way manufacturers claim. I would not use it where I eat. Bt is a toxin derived from moths. It is a component of the chemical compound they produce as a defense against getting eaten. It eats away at the preditor that ingests it. That said, seral and utero-placental toxicology studies in Canada designed to detect Bt, found Bt in 93 percent of a group including pregnant women, their fetuses, and not pregnant women. the FDA and EPA often give preliminary approval to these pesticide manufactures (pending further in-house tests), becuase of the belief that water soluble, means it goes away. But guess where it goes? Um hm. Into us.
ncbi.nlm.nih [dot] gov/pubmed/21338670
And your grubs aerate your soil. You want them.
Thank you very much for your contribution and the link. I have edited the link below, so it is now active:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21338670
Plant strawberries. They will eat those, and not dig. Speaking from experience.
Thanks for the tip.