I read that cayenne pepper can be helpful at keeping pests away. Apparently mice, squirrels and other pests don’t like the smell of cayenne pepper. I have been having a problem with mice getting in my greenhouse and eating my tender seedling plants so I wanted to give this idea a try.
I have also read that ants and some other bugs don’t like cayenne pepper either so this may be a good solution to deter them too. I bought a 50 cent bottle of cayenne pepper and have sprinkled it generously all around the greenhouse as shown above. So far it appears to be working. My seedlings haven’t been getting eaten overnight like they had been but lets give it some time to see if this really works.
It’s been about a week now since I first spread some cayenne pepper around in my greenhouse. The plants have been left alone and it doesn’t appear that anything has been getting in and eating them. So if you have been having problems with mice or other such pests, you might try this useful idea of applying cayenne pepper around the area to repel them.
Application: Sprinkle the cayenne pepper all around areas where you want to keep the pests away. Especially apply cayenne pepper in holes and openings where the pests are entering. Re-apply every few weeks to keep the strong smell present for the best results.
Be careful, though, if you have got pets of your own, they do not like the smell either. And it may sting on their paws, in their noses etc!
Thanks for the tip! I use cayenne to keep cats out of my herb garden. I never thought to use it for ants.
Thank you very much. I am always glad to come upon non poisonous solutions that discourage without causing suffering or death.
Worked for me. I used it on my window sill to repel a squirrel that was chewing through the screen and raiding my kitchen garbage. Worked like a charm
Robert – So glad to hear you had good luck with this cayenne pepper idea. I just love to hear from people who have used my ideas and found them useful. Thanks so much for commenting.
Do you sprinkle the powder right on the leaves of your plants?
Linda – No you sprinkle the cayenne around the area of the plant but not on the plant. I sprinkled my cayenne around the pots and around my greenhouse to keep the rodents away.
Hope this helps your problem.
My husband was growing huge sunflowers for many years and then those beautiful little gold fenches found them and loved to eat the leaves. They ate and ate until the poor leaves looked like cobwebs and the plant quit growing. We heard about the Cayenne Pepper in the garden book and sprinkled the leaves. They didn’t like as much of the leaves anymore but it didn’t prevent them daily from coming to eat them. It helped and also prevented the plant from dying.
would cayenne pepper also work on carpenter ants? i had a mouse go into my room two nights ago and i found about using the pepper and i tried it and i heard it running away in a flash (but i still need to find the hole) and it hasn’t come back since, now I’m thinking about the carpenter ants…oh! how about termites?
@Elaine – I’m not sure if the cayenne pepper will work on ants but it might. They don’t like the smell and are possibly repelled.
Good luck and let me know if you have good results with the cayenne.
Pure peppermint drops work pretty good. I put in sprayer and put around all edges of carpets. It worked in my house and less mice are there. It smells good too.
Do you mix the cayenne pepper with water ? Or do you you just spray it alone.
@Paul – I do not mix with water. I just sprinkle the Cayenne Pepper around the openings and areas I want to repel the critters.
If the Cayenne Pepper gets on your plant leaves, will it hurt the vegetable, I am trying to protect? Is there a spray available? Thank you.
@Diane – I don’t think the pepper would hurt the plants but I only would put it around the area and not directly on the plants just to be safe. You might be able to make a spray using some water and put the cayenne pepper in the solution and spray it. Again I haven’t tried this and am not sure of the results. You might want to experiment on something before using this throughout your garden.
Apparently cinnamon works on ants, just sprinkle around the area you want to protect.