How to Get Rid of Groundhogs in a Garden: 4 Humane Methods

Groundhogs (also known as woodchucks or whistle pigs) are the largest rodents in the squirrel family. Groundhogs are typically between six to twelve pounds, with brown fur and bushy tails. They are burrowing animals, digging holes in grassy meadows to live in underground dens. Groundhogs are herbivores that eat vegetation, including flowers, tree bark, and garden fruits and vegetables.

Other pest animals include gophers, skunks, chipmunks, marmots, deer, rabbits, and squirrels.

Groundhogs can devastate home vegetable gardens in several ways:

1. 1. Eating produce: Groundhogs are voracious eaters—adults consume around a pound of plant matter per day. Thus, one adult groundhog can wipe out a home garden in minutes. They will eat everything from seedlings to ripe produce and are fond of alfalfa, sweet fruits (especially cantaloupe), corn, legumes, lettuce, and broccoli.
2. 2. Digging holes: Groundhogs are burrowers that dig complex tunnel systems underground, with large entrances at the surface. A single groundhog burrow can leave fertile land riddled with holes, making it difficult to garden and dangerous to walk through your yard.
3. 3. Clawing fruit trees: Groundhogs eat fruit and tree bark, often targeting fruit trees and clawing or gnawing on their trunks. While adult trees can survive this damage, it can spell disaster for young, tender saplings.

Since groundhogs are voracious eaters, they are most attracted to places with food sources and hiding places like lush meadows and home gardens beside a wooded area full of ripe produce and dense vegetation. They will eat everything from seedlings to ripe produce and are fond of alfalfa, sweet fruits (especially cantaloupe), corn, legumes, lettuce, and broccoli—all while hiding in dense grass, beneath shrubs, or under porches and decks.

These locations offer the burrowers a huge feast and lots of cover during the spring and summer months, allowing them to gorge themselves safely in the growing season to prepare for hibernation in the winter.

If you’re worried about groundhogs finding your garden or flower beds, there are many precautions you can take to keep your garden safe:

• Harvest produce as soon as it’s ripe: Ripe fruits and vegetables attract groundhogs, so harvest these from your garden when they’re ready to stave off groundhogs.
• Install fencing around your garden: Fencing is one of the most powerful tools you have to keep pests out of your garden—including woodchucks, deer, and raccoons. To ensure your fencing is groundhog-proof, bury it at least eighteen inches below the ground to prevent them from burrowing under it, and build it at least six feet tall to deter avid climbers.
• Clear away fallen fruit from trees: If you have fruit trees in your yard that drop fruit onto the ground, your yard may look like a bountiful feast for a family of groundhogs—clean up fallen fruit regularly.
• Stay on top of pruning and mowing: Groundhogs feel safest in locations with lots of groundcover or places to hide from predators—like overgrown shrubs and tall grass. To make your yard less attractive, get rid of these hiding places by staying on top of trimming and mowing.
• Seal beneath your porch: Groundhog’s burrows often start in places with heavy cover—and a porch or deck is a perfect hidden spot. Install a grate or chicken wire around the porch to prevent groundhogs from building their home underneath your house (which can also cause major problems for your foundation).
• Use a woodchuck repellent: Several over-the-counter or DIY homemade groundhog repellents can help you deter them from finding your garden. Common repellents include coyote urine, blood meal, black pepper, red pepper flakes, hot sauce, garlic, talcum powder, Epsom salts, mothballs, lavender, and human hair clippings or ultrasonic vibration machines. Unfortunately, these repellents are only effective for preventing groundhogs from finding your garden—once they move in and start feasting, you’ll need more advanced tactics.

If you have a groundhog problem in your garden, there are several ways to take groundhog control into your own hands humanely:

1. 1. Live traps: Live trapping is one of the most effective ways to get rid of groundhogs in your garden. The most common live groundhog traps are large wire cages with a bait system—when the animal goes in for a snack, they trigger a mechanism that automatically shuts the door of the cage trap behind them. You can then start relocating the animals yourself or call pest control for help.
2. 2. Fencing: Fencing is a key tool for preventing groundhogs (and other critters) from finding your garden and stopping them from coming back if they’ve already moved in. Bury the posts at least eighteen inches below the ground to prevent the critters from burrowing underneath, and build the fence at least six feet tall to deter any avid climbers.
3. 3. Predators: Groundhogs prefer places without many large predators, so if you’re dealing with an infestation, introducing a threat may scare them away. Allowing your dog or cat (or a neighbor’s dog or cat) to occasionally patrol the garden will signal to groundhogs that your yard is too dangerous to infiltrate. You can also purchase bobcat, coyote, wolf, or fox urine and apply it in places around your garden to create the illusion of large predators lurking around the property. While this tactic is not adequate to scare them off completely, it can be effective when used in tandem with a dog or cat.
4. 4. Strong-smelling substances: Groundhogs dislike strong-smelling substances like ammonia or cat litter—to encourage a groundhog to move out of its current burrow, identify the burrow entrances and exits and pour ammonia or kitty litter into each groundhog hole.

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