How distressing would it be to see your precious succulents are damaged by these nasty creatures ? Despite this issue being this distressing, if you act swiftly and smart, overcoming the mice problems in your succulents’ garden would not be a difficult task.
So, if you wish to know how to keep mice away from succulents, you will find this article useful, and it would be worth going through this article.
Do succulent plants attract mice?
Yes, mice are sometimes attracted to succulents. Mice are attracted to succulents to fulfill their dietary requirements.
So, if you constantly go through this condition, it would be somewhat challenging for you to battle with them and to protect the plants from these nasty creatures.
Rats find the succulents as tasty food and they will enjoy every bite of the plants. Chances are that they may even bite through the hard exteriors on the succulents.
In addition to fulfilling the dietary requirements, mice tend to invade the succulents to quench their thirst too.
How to keep mice away from succulent
01. Remove shelter
Rats usually invade the succulents in search of food and shelter. Mice usually tend to occupy the warmer dry areas to make their nests and get shelter.
So, do not leave any piles of brush, compost in the surrounding area. Furthermore, if there are large areas of tall grasses and scrap wood, you need to get rid of them as well.
That way you will be removing the shelter of the mice. Consequently, it would make the rats less prone to attack your precious succulent’s garden.
Ensure that you are constantly sweeping the areas so that it would be less appealing for the mice. Keep an eye on the garden shed as mice tend to make their beds moist in those areas.
Have a closer look at every nook and corner in your succulent’s garden and try to keep your gardens less prone for these nasty creatures.
02. Eliminate food sources
Mice would be quite attractive towards your potted plants if they find any food source there. For example, if there are pet dogs, chicken pellet mice would be attractive towards them.
So, if you find any spilled dog food, cat food you need to get rid of them as soon as possible. In addition to that , if you have placed compost bins chances are that they may consist of worm farms. Mice tend to consume them as well.
So, make sure that you have closed the lids tightly so that it would not attract the mice. If mice can’t find shelter , water, and food sources it is very unlikely that mice will occupy the space.
Best is to get rid of all the leftover food around your plants. Furthermore, you could mow your grass and pick up whatever food scraps you find out when you do that.
03. Control lawn grubs
Lawn grubs are more like different kinds of larvae types and mice are fans of them. These are a pest type which are about once inch in length, and they would usually burrow into your lawn and feed on the grass.
So, once they get spread severely, it would attract more mice to your succulent garden. Hence It is important that you get rid of them at the very moment you spot them so that mice would not get attracted to your succulent’s garden due to that.
To control them, best would be to make use of the chemical ways. However, if you use them, chances are that it may kill the beneficial insects also.
We can also divide the chemical treatments into two sections. If I name them, they are a curative method and a preventive method. If you use the curative method, it will help you to remove the existing larvae.
You need to apply water before you proceed with applying the curative pesticide. Usually, they consist of two main ingredients called Carbaryl and Trichlorfon. I recommend you to always refer to the labeled instructions before you apply them.
On the other hand, preventive chemicals would help to prevent lawn grubs from occurring in your garden.
Furthermore, make sure that you keep your garden clean so that it would not allow the lawn grubs to take over our garden. In addition to that you may also make use of beneficial nematodes to prevent them occurring too.
04. Improve sanitation
You should improve the sanitization unless it would encourage the mice to invade your succulents. Mice do not prefer to take over open spaces.
So, always try to keep the sanitization on a higher level by trimming the overgrown plants and keeping the garden clutter free.
Mice will not bother invading those areas if they don’t find favorable conditions for them. So, to sum up, you need to trim your garden often and get rid of all piles of plant debris and wood.
These steps may sound very simple, but if we consider them in the long term, they would be quite effective in preventing these nasty creatures from invading the succulents.
05. Seal holes
I suppose best would be to try all the preventive measures which you could take to stop them taking over your plants.
That will save a lot of time for you, and you don’t have to spend any time trying to combat the mice problem in the future. In that context, closing all the entry points of the mice to your succulents would be very crucial.
So, if you come across any holes in the garden you need to seal them. Bear in mind that mice can sneak through even from a tiny hole.
To be more precise, if there is a hole which tends to take a coin size , mice can sneak through them also. So, check the surroundings and see whether you could witness any holes which would be excellent entry points for the mice.
06. Fences
I suggest you protect your cactus from wire fencing so that it will discourage the mice from invading your beloved succulents.
Ensure that you place the fence at least 4-6 inches deep into the soil so that the mice will find it difficult to dig under too.
07. Mouse traps
I suppose, you need to go ahead with mouse traps as the last method to get rid of the mice. In other words, you need to practice this only if you can’t get the best results from the aforesaid methods.
Ideally you could use live traps for this purpose. However, when you trap them and try to relocate them you need to check with your relevant authorities whether it is possible to do so as in some areas you can’t do so.
Signs of mice on your garden
It is very easy to identify the signs of mice infestation in your garden. They are very clear, and anybody could identify those signs. It doesn’t even require 10-15 minutes to figure those out.
01. Droppings
Mice drooping are distinctive, and they are unique to mice. Mice droppings have a unique shape and a unique size to them.
Mouse dropping would be about eighth to a quarter of an inch long. Their ends would be tapered. Further they may look like dark grains of rice as well.
02. Footprints in the dirt
Mice move at a rapid rate where you can’t identify their footprints at times. However since they usually occupy the dusty areas, you could spot some distinctive footprints on their walkaways.
03. Mounds / Burrows
Mice are quite renowned for their ability to dig faster and make mounds. The purpose of doing these is to provide shelter for the future generation, provide shelter for food etc. You would commonly find the burrows usually around the compost bins, garden sheds etc.
04. Plants disappear suddenly
In addition to the above factors, if you spot your plants have disappeared suddenly it could be most probably due to mice attacks. Mice can bite through exteriors of the plants massively and they have the ability to do a greater damage for the plants.
05. Tunnels on grounds
Mice usually tend to form tunnels on ground so that they can store their food in those places.
06. You actually saw them
Last but not least if you come across one or two mice in the garden, you can guarantee that they will attack your beloved plants.
What scent will keep mice away?
01. Cinnamon
Mice hate the cinnamon smell. It has a strong spicy aroma which mice don’t like at all. You could easily find cinnamon in your pantry, and you could make use of them for this purpose.
There are many ways of applying cinnamon to get this task done. For example, you could stash some cinnamon sticks around the plants.
It will act as a great mice repellent. Further it will release a nice aroma in the whole surrounding also. Furthermore, it is not a costly method, and anybody can afford doing this method.
02. Vinegar
Vinegar also has a strong odor which mice hate. I recommend using diluted vinegar so that it would emit a strong odor. It can repel so many animal species and mice are one of them.
You can disperse some vinegar in every nook and corner in your garden and mice would not even try to get in contact with your beloved succulents.
You may simply mix some water into vinegar and spray them in any area where you spotted the mice or where you think the mice are present.
03. Dryer sheet
Mice don’t like the smell of the dryer sheets either. You may simply stick a dryer sheet in a small space in your garden and leave it that way for about one week’s time.
You may keep them for more than one week also. However , chances are that they would tend to lose the odor after one weeks’ time, and it would be less effective after some time.
04. Peppermint Oil
Peppermint oil odor is yet another strong smell which Mice cannot tolerate. In fact, it acts as a great alternative for pesticides also.
You may simply spray some of the peppermint oil around the plants, so that it would avoid mice invading your succulents.
05. Tea Bags
Tea bags are yet another household item which you can easily find, and Mice don’t prefer the odor of the tea bags either.
However, mice don’t withstand the peppermint tea bag smell at all. So best is to use the peppermint tea bags to do this task.
You could simply boil water and make tea and let tea bags sit around the plants. The strong odor will repel the mice.
06. Mint Toothpaste
Mint toothpaste emits a strong scent which mice cannot tolerate. You may simply rub some mint toothpaste next to the holes and it would avoid the mice reaching your plants. it would keep the mice and other pests away from your succulents.
07. Ammonia
Mice don’t tolerate the Ammonia scent also. Literally once the mice sense Ammonia smell, they will feel the predators are around that area and avoid invading those spaces.
Many people tend to use predators’ urine for this purpose. They will feel they aren’t safe there and they would refrain from reaching those areas.
If you think the Ammonia smell has faded, you could reapply them so that it would be more effective in repelling the mice.
08. Clove oil
The clove oil scent also keeps the mice at bay. Clove oil is mainly used to ease the pain you get from toothaches. That said, you could make use of them to keep the mice away from your plants.
09. Cayenne pepper
Mice hate the strong odor of the cayenne pepper also. Cayenne pepper is a chili pepper type which would emit a strong smell that mice would not tolerate.
Many animals’ species hate the scent of the cayenne pepper and mice are no exception. All you have to do to repel the mice is just sprinkle some cayenne pepper wherever you witness the mice.
Plants that keep mice away.
Plants such as Lavender, daffodils and marigolds repel the mice away. These plants release a pleasant scent for us and the mice that smell unpleasant and try to stay away from them.
Lavender deters mice through it’s scent which is made up by several terpenes including linalool, caryophyllene and ocimene. Ocimene in particular is well-know for repelling predatory insects.
Plants such as garlic deter mice. To elaborate further on this. garlic consists of several Sulfur compounds which emit a strong smell that mice don’t prefer to smell. In addition to mice, it would further help to deter fleas and ticks as well.
Besides these, you may also go ahead with growing plants such as black pepper, cayenne sage and oregano as they would also repel the mice.
If you wish to keep the mice away from your succulents, you could simply grow one or two of these plants around your plants. it would be an effective way of keeping the mice at bay.
Conclusion
Well, it is almost the end of the article and I am sure you learn a lot under the topic “how to keep mice away from succulents”. And I hope you found this article useful and worthwhile.
One might think that keeping mice away from your precious succulents is a challenging task to do, but if you follow the above methods, you could successfully overcome the mice problem and protect your beloved plants from these nasty creatures.
I hope you can make use of the aforementioned method to battle with the mice menace.
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