Natural deterrents for animals/pests

[bjl584]

We have a lot of wildlife in our yard, and I have our garden and many of our fruit trees fenced with physical barriers.
But for some of our other flowers, shrubs, etc., they are in the wide open for the critters to get to.
I really don't want to use chemical sprays, so if anyone has any natural, environmentally friendly deterrents, please share

[Fishindude77]

Unfortunately, not much of anything other than physical barriers works 100%.
We plant a massive pumpkin patch every year and it's always an ordeal to keep the deer, groundhogs and rabbits out of them. I put up a low fence, spray weekly with store bought repellent, put up coyote decoys, etc. and still get some damage.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Mammal pests are hard. I agree barriers are best.

For birds that go after fruit on trees, we have had good results with bird scare tape. https://www.groworganic.com/products...inbow-500-roll

We suspend it over the trees, making the orchard look like a used car lot! But you have to wait to put it up just before fruit is ripe enough for birds to come for it. If you put it up too soon, birds habituate to the tape. Since we have trees that don't ripen all at the same time, we've worked out a way to move a length of tape from one are to another. Imagine re-positional clothes lines strung with shiny tape.

I'm trialing "dog coleus" planted right next to aronia bushes this year. Rabbits will eat both the stems and ripe fruit. Dog coleus smells like heck and is supposed to repel rabbits. (It repels me!) I'm very skeptical but giving it a try. The botanical name is Coleus comosus, and I see it in nurseries most years. It could be planted among flowers, looks okay, and puts up nice purple flower spikes like any other coleus.

If you get the kind of fruit tree borers that injure the tree near the soil line, "Tanglefoot" https://tanglefoot.com works, but is a messy pain-and-a-half to work with.

A capsaicin coating is supposed to repel squirrels when applied directly to things they want to eat.

[myrdale]

Unfortunately, not much of anything other than physical barriers works 100%.
We plant a massive pumpkin patch every year and it's always an ordeal to keep the deer, groundhogs and rabbits out of them. I put up a low fence, spray weekly with store bought repellent, put up coyote decoys, etc. and still get some damage.

Get an old tee shirt and soak it in a jar of urine for a day or two. Hang it up in the area. Between the action as a scare crow, and the smell, deer will avoid.