Possibly you already know how beneficial coffee grounds are as a plant-eater animal (regardless of flowering plants and vegetables) deterrent.
As a result, if you are noticing destroyed and eaten plants due to skunk raids in your garden, you perhaps will want to learn whether coffee grounds will work effectively to keep skunks away as well or not.
So, to get valid information on your queries regarding this topic, go through the detailed explanations included ahead.
Do Coffee Grounds Keep Skunks Away?
Coffee grounds do keep skunks away. Coffee grounds contain a bitter aroma that is strong enough to displease skunks instantly and make them realize human presence in the area around them. So, as soon as skunks breathe in that bitter scent of coffee grounds, they flee away from that area or garden.
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Most of the time people like to apply unused fresh coffee grounds in their garden, between plants, or around the areas near their homes. So it might bring up a query that can use coffee grounds be applied as skunks deterrent or not.
Therefore, to end this query, a short on point explanation is included regarding the efficacy of used coffee grounds in repelling skunks.
Used Coffee Ground:
The used coffee grounds are also as beneficial as unused coffee grounds and actually can keep skunks away from plants, gardens, and the areas around the home.
It’s because these spent coffee grounds still have a strong and bitter scent even though they are already used.
So, if you think of using your used coffee grounds in the spots frequented by skunks in your garden or around your home to deter skunks from invading again, you certainly can use the used coffee grounds.
The pungent bitter smell of the used coffee grounds also will disturb skunks less harshly without irritating their sinuses and make them scared with the feeling of human presence in that location.
Therefore, after sensing the smell of used coffee grounds, skunks will not attempt to venture into that places or near plants.
But remember that you have to repeat this activity of applying used coffee grounds regularly or at least once every week.
Do Skunks Like Coffee Grounds?
Skunks don’t prefer coffee grounds as the pungent bitter scent of coffee grounds falls in the section of all those certain scents that are highly disliked by the skunks.
Skunks wholeheartedly dislike the aroma of coffee grounds because the bitter scent of grounded coffee acts up similarly to a predator (dog, coyote) urine that scares the skunks off with the thought of the presence of the human beings around them.
So skunks tend not to like coffee grounds even though the aroma of coffee grounds isn’t sensitive to skunks’ noses and doesn’t even bother their sinuses.
How Do Coffee Grounds Repel Skunks?
Coffee grounds repel skunks with their very pungent bitter aroma which is liked by billions of human beings but not liked by skunks at all.
Practically, the grains of coffee grounds have nothing to do with repelling skunks far away from your beloved plants, garden, and nearby areas around the house.
It’s solely the powerful bitter aroma emitted from the coffee grounds that is accountable for making skunks flee away from your residence because the scent notifies them that human beings are present nearby.
Thus, to keep themselves safe from the reach of humans, skunks tend to run away and don’t want to go closer to that place at any time sooner.
Will Coffee Grounds Repel Skunks For A Long Term?
Coffee grounds will stave off skunks for a long term only if you continue to reapply either unused or used coffee grounds every day or every other day in the areas visited often by skunks.
Coffee grounds can get mixed in the soil or can get washed away due to rain, so the effectivity of coffee grounds will not linger.
And it won’t be able to function strongly as skunk repellent for a long time unless you keep applying coffee grounds every day to make the bitter scent last longer.
However, if you can’t keep up with the process of applying coffee grounds daily due to business, try to reapply coffee grounds every 2-3 days, or at least reapply once every week. In this way, the pungent smell of coffee will linger for a long time to repel skunks.
Moreover, bear in mind that the skunks may get habituated to the scent of coffee grounds. And they may understand that there are no humans actually who can cause any harm to them. If that happens, coffee grounds will not repel skunks for a long term anymore.
How To Keep Skunks Out Of The Yard Naturally Using Coffee Grounds?
To let you learn the procedure of keeping skunks out of the yard naturally using coffee grounds, this section has included a detailed step-by-step guide below. Go through the steps and follow them to get the best result.
Look For The Areas Frequented By Skunks:
Naturally, skunks will not visit all parts of your yard. Neither skunks will try to ear and damage all of your plants. So first you have to find the right spots in your yard like where skunks frequently visit, or where they are living, or which plant beds they are damaging.
This will help you apply the coffee grounds only to the right spots and repel skunks, rather than wasting energy is applying coffee grounds all around your property.
Apply Coffee Grounds:
After spotting the areas visited by skunks or their habitats in your yard, now apply the coffee grounds. You can use it in any of the 3 ways explained here.
The first way is that to sprinkle used/unused coffee grounds directly. You can regularly sprinkle your spent coffee grounds or fresh coffee grounds onto the soil or around the plant beds that are likely to get damaged by skunks.
In the second way, you can sprinkle coffee grounds around their living burrows/hollow logs/ under big rocks. It will make the skunks not to come back to their habitats again.
Lastly, you can use coffee grounds as compost. Just mix them with the soil in the plant beds or merely with the ground’s soil. The bitter smell will make them flee anyway.
Continue Reapplying:
Coffee grounds or the smell of them will not linger for a long time. So to get the best result and to keep skunks out of your card, you got to reapply coffee grounds every day in a sufficient amount or every week at least.
What Can I Put Around My House To Keep Skunks Away?
Except for coffee grounds, you can put many other natural/commercial skunk repellents around your home to keep skunks away. And for your additional information, those skunk repellents have been listed and described below.
Predator Urine:
Skunks are afraid of predators such as dogs, coyotes, wolves, or foxes, so they tend to avoid the areas where they smell scents of predators. Therefore, you can use predator urine around your home which effectively will make the skunks flee.
You can buy predator urine from the market and just spray it in the places visited by skunks around your home to keep them away.
Chili/Cayenne Pepper:
Skunks are highly sensitive to the spicy scents of chili and cayenne pepper as both of them infuriate their senses.
You can directly put cayenne pepper in the places around your home where skunks live or are creating a disturbance. Or else, you can mix hot red chili powder with water in a spray bottle and spray the solution around your home to repel skunks.
Citrus Peels:
Citrus fruits such as oranges, tangerines, lemons, and lime peels work greatly in repelling skunks naturally because skunks dislike these overpowering citrus scents.
Therefore, you can simply spread the fresh citrus peels in the frequented spots by skunks around your home or can sprinkle dried citrus peels too.
Essential Oil:
The pungent aroma of essential oils such as lavender, peppermint, and others cause irritation to skunks’ noses, so they avoid the areas with these scents too.
So, dilute a few drops of essential oil with water and spray in the areas where you want to deter skunks around your home. The scent will make them run away from your home’s boundary.
Ammonia:
The unpleasant smell of ammonia displeases skunks as well. Thus, you can soak a rag or cotton balls in ammonia solution and place that rag or cotton balls around your house to repel skunks. However, you got to replace these cotton balls or rags every time after the scent of ammonia wears off.
Final Thoughts
Coffee grounds have a strong and bitter fragrance that works as similarly as any predator urine and the scent informs skunks about the existence of human beings nearby them. Thereby, skunks get scared of being harmed by humans and they run away. And that’s how coffee grounds keep skunks away.