I posted this last January in a thread about deer.
"The accidental discovery that a bug spray on the leaves will repel the woodchuck led me to spray it all around each new daylily, on top of the mulch or soil. This seemed to defeat those raccoons or skunks, or whatever, and they stopped coming."
I needed to add that it looks like it can't be just any kind of bug spray. A couple weeks ago, a raccoon was digging in some potted plants that had overwintered beside my porch. I grabbed the only bug spray I had at the time, which was Home Defense. It says on the label that it's effective for 3 months outdoors, so I thought it would work. I sprayed it on the plants, pots, and all around the area, but the coon came back that night and did even more damage. That bug spray didn't bother the coon whatsoever.
I searched in the garage and found the almost empty container from last year. It was Bayer Dual Action Rose and Flower Insect Killer. It seems that the creatures can still smell this stuff after it dries, because they're not even doing a test nibble now!!! Sure enough, it works like a charm.
I've been spraying this stuff on my phlox, but then the groundhog started in on the hosta. I was shocked, because it hadn't bothered the hosta ever before. And it sure never went in and ate any of the stuff I was using in the havahart trap to try and catch it! I did some research online. Apparently, as long as it's green, groundhogs will eat just about anything.
So, I cut off all the damaged leaves on those two hosta plants. Will they put up new growth this year? They were beautiful.
