FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Last year I had tons of extra habaneros I didn’t know what to do with, so I dried them for powder. Not the nice looking ones, the ones with holes in ‘em and stuff. Anyway, the point is to sprinkle it around my plants so that it will get on the feet of the squirrels and bunnies and they will think twice about returning to that area. It shouldn’t hurt my garden plants, but since CPs are such finicky things, I’m wondering if the capsaicin could harm the CPs. I just caught a squirrel climbing through my sarracenia pots. I might do something with chicken wire in the end, but the powder would be a quick solution I could implement today.

I have sprinkled red pepper flakes over my bogs. There was no adverse effect on the plants and it had a minimal effect on the squirrels.

I used cyan powder in a spray. Had zero effect on the plants or the squirrels. Ended up buying dog cages and chicken wire. That seemed to solve the issue last year. This year all my plants are in square kiddie pools. I rigged up the cage fence pieces and plastic type chicken wire on top. So far so good and the adults and babies have been running around playing in my yard. My wife feeds the birds and rigged up small Slinky's on the poles. It keeps them from getting to the food but they still come around looking for food that falls. As long as they stay clear of my plants I don't mind.

I actually realized that I had my CPs sitting close to a bird feeder that hangs from my soffit. There were a couple full yard waste bags sitting there too, and the squirrels were using my plants as a launch/landing pad to climb onto the bags, then jump onto a downspout to get to the feeder. I moved the bags and plants, and so far so good…for now.

Watch this video. He jumps until he gets it. They are relentless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSKNFiLpXHY