Has anyone tried using hair to keep squirrels and deer out of the garden?
My friend Heather, who writes the East Coast Edition of gardening chores for me, recently posted about using hair to deter deer, bunnies, and squirrels from entering your garden. While she combed {pun intended} the streets looking for salons that would slip her a little free human hair, I jumped onto professor google to see if this was a common pest control method and I’d just been living in a bubble. Turns out, you can totally call me bubble girl.
Critters cannot stand the smell of human hair, so sprinkling a barrier of hair clippings around your garden, or lightly working it into the soil when you plant bulbs, apparently does have some merit. The whole thing kind of makes me laugh. It never occurred to me that we are the ones that stink.
As I did a little more poking around, I found out that using hair in the garden can be pretty temporary, but no solid information on what temporary actually means. (Hair apparently loses its smell after a bit–which is comforting to know that we get less smelly with time. 🙂
So, it made me wonder, do any of you use hair as pest control? Does it work? How often do you have to, um, well, reapply? Will Monkey Boy and the HH have to commit to a buzz cut every summer?
~Mavis
Chris says
I’ve used dog hair and it was pretty effective with deer.
Timothy R Mccurry says
Idk how to reply to Mavis but if you can forward to her please, use 1/4 cup hot sauce the really hot kind mix with a gallon of water and spray around and on plants with garden sprayer
Sarah says
Hot sauce is extremely cruel and harms wildlife. Lots of other humane ways of discouraging animals from being in your garden.
Gardenpat says
Temporary, in that you need to re-apply after a rain! Same as when you use baby powder/cayenne pepper mix to deter rabbits! Once it rains, which it does often here in the Midwest in the summer, you need to re-apply! HTH!
Edwin says
I use dog hair too but, I leave it attached to Max my Black Lab. Works excellently.
Char says
Tried this a couple of times. I had a girlfriend whose sister was a hairdresser so I had access to a lot of hair. Put it in old nylon stockings and hung it around the garden and tried just throwing it on the ground – neither worked for me. Also tried the shaved Irish Spring soap bar thing and that didn’t work either. The only thing I’ve found that did was Liquid Fence.
Madam Chow says
Does NOT work on rats. They ate all of my tomatoes last year.
Vicki says
I read about animal and human hair repelling chipmunks and since they are trying to eat me out of house and home, I thought I would try it. So far, so good! I used to think they were so cute…Now I realize they are just rats wearing better clothes. Unfortunately I have no deer deterrent tricks to share.
Laura says
We have the worst deer problems where I live. I started cutting DH’s hair and just sprinkling it around my garden every time I cut it, and the deer have left us alone! The voles, on the other hand, are getting worse, sowe’re getting a cat. :/
Timothy R Mccurry says
Put bubble gum in the hole burrows
Lesli says
I used castor oil soaked cotton balls with great success too! Just shove it as far into the burrow as you can.
E in Upstate NY says
We have deer here too. Many live close to humans, and have learned not to be afraid of us [humans]. So for those deer, any repellant using human smell, will not work. To save my daylilies from becoming their food, I dip my fingers in Vicks Vapor Rub, and lightly touch the tips of the just ready to open flower buds. It does keep them away!
When we lived out in the country, and didn’t have any deer used to humans, kept concrete blocks around the garden. Encouraged the males in the family to do an evening walk around, marking their territory on each block. That also worked.
Kasey says
We use Deer Away granules and/or spray. It really works!!
Debbie says
How about Mosquitos? Any natural answers for them? I want to keep the frogs,butterflies etc..,so don’t want to spray poison…..
Lorayne says
Mozzies are not fond of citrus scents. I plant lemongrass. lemon balm, lemon thyme and lemon scented geraniums around my patio area
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Jane says
Many potted Citronella plants will keep mosquitoes away.
Virginia Kramer says
Garlic spray. You can buy concentrated (Mosquito barrier), dilute with water and spray around. It’s the only thing with which we’ve had success. https://www.mosquitobarrier.com/
Joyce Derhousoff Tucker says
My Mom has taken hair collected by her hairdresser, sprinkled it around the perimeter of her garden. She sprinkled it around plants the deer favored. She reapplied after rain… It didn’t help one bit. She lives in a rural area, and since her dog passed, she’s pretty much had to stop gardening. She’s used fish fertilizer sprayed on target plants. She’s tried the Irish Spring soap remedy, she’s even used human urine, nothing has helped. (She’s used Bobex, a stinky garlic, fish oil and egg yolk spray without success.) This product came widely recommended by our local garden center (North Puget Sound area)… What’s the next step… electric fence?
wendy says
I just read up on epsom salts deterring those dang pesky critters. I haven’t tried it but plan to. You can google it and they tell you the portions. Good luck. 🙂
Marie says
We use human hair that has been cleaned out of our hair brushes to deter the deer from feasting on our roses. Key seems to be to drape a “chunk” of hair on the bushes near the buds. Previous to this discovery, we tried the garlic/ rotten egg concoction, commercial Deer Away and dial soap. Now we have flowers for the first time in 4 years!
Nicole says
Umm..gross! The thought of someone else’s cut hair around the food I intend to eat. Guess it’s just me but no thanks!
Jen Y says
I’ve never tried it – I don’t have a huge deer problem because I have a dog that patrols my garden all night long. :o) I have a garden friend that says it’s helped but not eliminated the problem for her. She also empties her vacuum cleaner dirt around the perimeter of her garden. It has human & dog hair in it. She uses that when she can’t get enough hair form a salon.
I’ve never found anything that will keep squirrels out except a dog & then it has to be a very active dog. At one point all I had were old dogs. I would watch them lay in the yard as the squirrels ran by them, to & from my garden carrying produce – totally worthless!
Lauren says
if you make a solution of castile soap and cayenne pepper in water and spray it on plants, it should keep deer away. you obviously need to wash the produce well before you eat it, and it will have to be re-applied after rain.
Jean Nelson says
I make my own deer repellant and sprinkle it on vulnerable plants after a rain. 2tablespoons white glue, 2 tablespoon cayenne pepper, 2 tablespoons hot sauce, mix in one gallon water.