Coffee grounds are widely known as a good and environment-friendly repellent as it’s seen to work effectively to repel garden insects, pests, and plant-eater animals.
Thereby, knowing the effectiveness of coffee grounds as a repellent, you might naturally want to know whether or not coffee grounds can repel chipmunks in your garden and nearby your home’s area as well.
Therefore, let us straightly jump into the explanations included ahead to learn the answers.
Do Coffee Grounds Repel Chipmunks?
Coffee grounds work effectively to repel chipmunks because the noses of chipmunks are very sensitive to the strong smell of coffee grounds, thereby, chipmunks can’t withstand the smell of coffee grounds. So if they can sense the smell of coffee grounds at any spot, they don’t go closer to that area.
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Unused coffee grounds always have been considered as an inexpensive yet highly effective chipmunk repellent. So it might raise a question about used coffee grounds and whether or not they can repel chipmunks as effectively as unused ones.
Therefore, a brief explanation regarding the effectiveness of used coffee grounds as chipmunks repellent is included below.
Used Coffee Grounds:
Among all those certain strong scents that chipmunk absolutely dislike the powerful scent of used coffee grounds is also a smell that chipmunks really can’t withstand.
It’s because their noses are sensitive to both the strong scent of unused and used coffee grounds and it harshly irritates their noses if chipmunks breathe in the smell of coffee grounds while sniffing here and there to find food.
As a result, if chipmunks can smell the strong scent of used coffee grounds too at any nearby places of them or around their holes in the ground or around the plant beds, they do not even dare to go closer to those places mistakenly.
And using used coffee grounds is like doing two things with the same strategy as people can both enjoy their morning coffee and them can use the leftover used coffee grounds as the cheapest chipmunk repellent.
So it clears the query that, even used coffee grounds are very beneficial in repelling chipmunks.
Can I Pour Down Coffee Grounds In A Chipmunk Hole?
You cannot pour coffee grounds down in a chipmunk hole like other chipmunk repellent solutions but surely can sprinkle coffee grounds around the chipmunks’ holes.
Generally, most types of homemade chipmunk repellent solutions are not directly poured down in the chipmunk hole, rather it’s sprayed around the hole to repel them.
The same goes for coffee grounds as well, neither you can pour coffee grounds down in the chipmunk hole in fresh/used condition nor can spray as a dissolved coffee ground solution condition.
If you want to use coffee grounds to repel chipmunks, you can sprinkle either freshly grounded coffee or used coffee grounds around the opening of chipmunk holes in the ground.
In this way, the smell of coffee grounds deters chipmunks from coming back to their holes in your garden.
How Do Coffee Grounds Keep Chipmunk Away?
Coffee grounds help in keeping chipmunks away by their strong scent as chipmunks despise such strong scents.
Many of you may think that the crumbs and texture of grounded coffee are responsible for working as such a natural and effective chipmunk deterrent. But in reality, neither the crumbs nor the texture actually keeps the chipmunks in your garden away.
Rather, it’s the strong smell of grounded coffee that everyone likes so much is the main reason that deters chipmunks away. It’s because they feel irritation upon breathing in the smell of coffee grounds.
Therefore, whenever you will sprinkle coffee grounds in the garden, chipmunks will not be willing to do anything near that spot.
As while sniffing around, their nose will catch the smell of coffee grounds and they won’t want to feel irritation at all by going near that place anymore.
How Can I Get Rid Of Chipmunks Using Coffee Grounds?
Perhaps you don’t know the steps of using coffee grounds to get rid of Chipmunks. So, this section has comprised the steps of using coffee grounds as a chipmunk repellent, go through the explained step-by-step guide to learn about them.
Find The Areas Where Chipmunks Are Raiding:
It’s is obvious that chipmunks will not create a nuisance all-around your home’s garden or nearby areas around your home.
So to get rid of them, first spot the right places where chipmunks are being a problem, or find the vegetable or flower plants that chipmunks are munching on.
Then it would be easier for you to apply coffee grounds to those exact places rather than the entire garden to oust the chipmunks from your garden.
Apply Coffee Grounds To The Designated Spots:
Now it’s time to apply coffee grounds to those areas. And you can use coffee grounds in 3 ways to get rid of chipmunks.
The first way is that you can sprinkle fresh coffee grounds or used coffee grounds as soil amendment directly onto the designated areas or between plants without mixing them with any other things.
It will both lessen your hard work and prevent chipmunks from overrunning your plants.
Secondly, again you can sprinkle fresh or used coffee grounds around the chipmunk’s hole around your garden or home’s premises. The strong smell will keep chipmunks away from returning to their residence again and you will get rid of them.
Thirdly, you can use coffee grounds as mulch to get rid of chipmunks. Just pile up about ½-1” of coffee grounds nearby the plants and the strong smell of coffee grounds will do the rest job in repelling chipmunks.
Reapply Coffee Grounds:
When it will be raining, coffee grounds tend to wash away. Therefore, to get rid of chipmunks for a long time, you must reapply coffee grounds every two weeks or as per the need.
But don’t overuse coffee grounds on the soil as it will imbalance the pH level of soil which isn’t good.
What Will Keep Chipmunks Away?
Not just coffee grounds, there are several other effective ways of keeping chipmunks away from the garden. And for your better knowledge, the most effective ones are included and explained below.
Fill The Chipmunk Holes:
Chipmunks generally live in the same garden where they raid and eat plants, so look for burrows that seem 2*-3” in diameter around stumps, woodpiles, or outdoor patios. If you have spotted them, now fill the burrows with dirt as a temporary solution.
Or mix 3 portions of gravel with 1 portion of soil and fill the holes as a permanent solution, you can use cement too.
Use Cat Litter Or Fox Urine:
Chipmunks are afraid of cats and predator animals as foxes. So if you have a pet cat, you simply can use its litter around the chipmunk holes, between the plants, or nearby places to keep chipmunk away, as the smell of cat litter will make them feel that the cat is somewhere around them, and they will flee.
Fox or coyote urine is now available as chipmunk repellent spray, you can get one and spray it around the edges of your garden or near the chipmunk holes. The smell will effectively keep away chipmunks by making them feel afraid.
Garlic Puree, Hot Pepper, And Soapy Water Solution:
Chipmunks just despise the pungent scent of garlic and the spicy strong scent of hot pepper. So you can mix 15ml of garlic puree and 1 cup of crushed or hot pepper flakes with 240 ml of soapy water.
Mix them well, pour in a spray bottle, and spray it around your plant beds, the perimeter of the garden, and near chipmunk holes to deter them.
Use Essential Oils:
Chipmunks also do detest the strong smell of essential oils such as eucalyptus, peppermint, citrus. You can mix 2 to 3 drops of these oils with water (1 cup) and spray the solution in plant beds, ground, or chipmunk nests to keep them away
Build Fences:
Build a fence tall enough that chipmunks can’t climb around the edges of your garden and stay away from your garden.
And make sure that the fence goes 8 inches deeper in the ground so that chipmunks can’t get into your garden from underneath as well. And for extra protection, bury a layer of mesh 2” deep under the soil along with the fence’s line.
Does Coffee Ground Repel All Rodents?
Coffee grounds don’t work effectively to repel all species of rodents. Squirrels, chipmunks, groundhogs are particularly seen to despise the smell of coffee grounds, so it repels these rodents effectively.
But coffee grounds are less effective in repelling mice and rats, so coffee grounds don’t really repel these rodents.
Final Thoughts
Chipmunks are one of those rodents that dislike the pungent smell of coffee grounds and tend to stay away from places where they have smelled the scent of coffee grounds. And this simply means coffee grounds (both freshly grounded and used) are effective in repelling chipmunks.