Deter Squirrels From Your Bird Feeder With An Underrated Plant In The Mint Family

While some find them cute, squirrels have long been the bane of backyard birders. That's because they chase off birds, ravage bird feeders, and destroy bird houses. As a result, those who hope to attract avians to their yards have gone to great lengths to find ways to humanely banish squirrels. Unfortunately, some commonly suggested methods, such as providing squirrels with their own feeding station, can backfire and actually cause them to overrun your yard. However, you can easily deter squirrels from your bird feeder with pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium L.), an underrated plant in the mint family.

Native to Asia, Europe, and Northern Africa and hardy in USDA zones 5 to 9, pennyroyal is considered an invasive species in the U.S. and can quickly grow out of control. Nonetheless, it is commonly used as a landscaping accent, thanks largely to its pest-repelling properties. Like other members of the mint family, pennyroyal contains menthol, which helps repel insects and other pests. However, it also contains pugelone, a serious neurotoxin. This makes it a danger to mammals, including humans, if consumed. While humans have experimented with medicinal uses for pennyroyal, animals, including domesticated ones, tend to avoid it.

Using pennyroyal to keep squirrels off your bird feeder is much like growing mint to keep them out of your garden. The idea is to create a barrier deterring them. With that in mind, the simplest solution for using pennyroyal as a method for keeping squirrels off your feeder is to plant it around the base of the feeder pole. To that end, given that it does best in areas of partial sunlight, pennyroyal can typically be easily grown in what are also the best locations for bird feeders.

While a ring of pennyroyal around the base may deter a squirrel approaching from the ground, it is still necessary to place your feeder in accordance with the 5-7-9 rule for protecting it from squirrels. This means feeders need to be 7 feet away from a vertical position from which a squirrel could jump and 9 feet from any overhead structure that squirrels can use as a launch pad.

Once established, pennyroyal does require regular watering, although fertilization typically isn't needed. Pruning, however, is essential to keep the plants not only maintained, but also contained. Again, pennyroyal, like many members of the mint family, can rapidly spread outside its intended area if not monitored and maintained.