How to banish common garden pests with ‘natural ingredient’

If you’re growing things in your garden and noticing that critters are having their way with your spoils, you may want to put an end to it.

However, you don’t want to harm squirrels and rats, but you do wish to deter them. That’s why using a natural deterrent could be the answer, because it will keep them at bay, without giving you a guilty conscience.

Also, the chemicals you may have previously used could’ve had a negative effect on your own pets, which is a worry. On Martha Stewart’s website, she shares that cinnamon can be used as a pest deterrent, without resorting to “harmful chemicals or traps”.

“Simply sprinkle cinnamon around your plant to create a barrier line,” says Lucie Bradley, gardening and greenhouse expert at Easy Garden Irrigation.

As these animals inhale the cinnamon, it will irritate the mucous membranes in their nose and mouth, and will prevent them from coming back for more.

Cinnamon can also protect plants from things like ants, fungus gnats, mites, aphids, mosquitoes, fruit flies, and wasps.

It contains cinnamaldehyde, “which disrupts the nervous system of insects, making it difficult for them to move, find food, or locate mates,” she adds.

Andre the Farmer backed this up on TikTok by sharing he had a way to exercise “organic critter control” in his garden because he had some cabbage that he was growing, and pests got to it.

He also added some cayenne pepper to the plants as well as cinnamon, to “deter the squirrels from eating your plants”.

Cinnamon can also “help promote root growth” as well, so its benefits are widespread.

In the comments, someone wrote: “What really helps is a garden fence and fine mesh over it. Cayenne lasts one day”.

Andre responded: “Cinnamon is an herbicide and a fungicide. I use it when I germinate seeds, but it only prevents the seeds from growing mould.”

Cinnamon has a strong, pungent scent, which interferes with animals’ ability to navigate and communicate, making them avoid treated areas, so they will not go near the items you pop it on.

Andre explained you can get huge containers of cinnamon and cayenne pepper to “save yourself some money” so you can sprinkle it liberally.

Somebody asked for advice on Reddit, and someone spoke about cinnamon saying: “It’s not a myth. I am a master gardener and it deters rodents, a plethora of bugs and inhibits mould and fungus”.