Experts Are Urging People to Hang a Bar of Soap in Their Garden for One Surprising Reason

Squirrels, these playful little creatures, are synonymous with the word mischief. Step out of your house, and you’ll find them performing a series of fluid acrobatics as they leap, jump, and hop over the grass, scurrying and stirring carpets of fallen leaves, sweeping and scattering them with their bushy tails trailing behind. Using their long incisor teeth, they dig up fields and gardens to scour nuts, seeds, plant bulbs, insect proteins, and fruits. In times of dusk, you’ll find them peeking from inside a tree hole or an abandoned woodpecker nest where they breed, eat, and sleep for the rest of the time.

Despite their mischievous nature, squirrels are never seen as annoying, even though they may climb onto your house balcony and chew that wooden railing. But the mischief turns into peskiness when these clever rodents start intruding into your garden, harrowing up the mulch, squashing the plants, and spoiling the landscape. Though it is next to impossible to trap these sprightly and speedy beasts, it is possible to deceive and shoo them with things that they are repelled by. Soap, for example. Experts at Happy Gardens explain how hanging a bar of soap in your garden can ward off the pestering squirrels and prevent them from crushing your plants.

“Squirrels detest the smell of Irish Spring soap. The musky, masculine scent is said to keep squirrels at bay,” the experts write on the website. They recommend dangling a bar of soap “not too far from the bird feeder,” ideally placed inside a sock. They added that you might want to reconsider the strategy during summer months when sweltering temperatures can turn the soap-chugging sock into a squishy mess in no time.

Critter Stop also affirms that the “hanging a bar of soap” method is a far better way to detest squirrels than any chemical solution or lethal trap. An easier way to implement it is to grate and shred the soap into tinier fragments and punctuate them across all the entry points or possible spots in the garden where squirrels might pop up and wreak havoc with their plump mouths. However, the website cautions that the soap hack might not prove to be just as effective when it comes to repelling squirrels in the long term.

Despite their strong sense of smell and strong aversion to the masculine scent of the Irish soap, they may eventually adapt to it and not resist it any longer. Eventually, they may start “ignoring the scent,” especially if they find food or shelter nearby. As their need for a fresh supply of high-fat food and drinking water propels them to dig a certain spot, they will likely dig it, even if their noses smell the scent of soap. “Squirrels are highly adaptable and may eventually become accustomed to the scent, rendering the soap ineffective as a deterrent,” they explain.

If the soap method works out, well and good. But in case it proves to be ineffective, fret not, because there are tons of alternatives, such as capsaicin-oozing pepper sprays, predator urine, physical barriers, squirrel-repellent plants, and motion-activated sprinklers. Some of the plants that repel these fuzzy woodland creatures, according to Southern Living, are mint, nasturtiums, marigolds, alliums, garlic, daffodils, hot peppers, lilies, and geraniums, to name a few.