Animal eating my petunia's?

Question

I have some sort of animal (maybe a groundhoug) who comes at night and eats the flowers off my plants, what can I do?

Will mothballs help?

Answer 1

Whether it is a rabbit, groundhog, insect, or something in between, a method that will work best is using hot peppers.  Invest in a bottle of Tobassco sauce at your local grocery store -- as hot as you can get.  Mix 3 tablespoons into one gallon of water and spray onto your plants.  This will need to be reapplied after waterings or precipitation events, but it works!  For animals, they don't like the hot taste.  For insects, the hairs on the petunia leaf brushes against their sphiricals (openings for air circulation) and other soft tissues and irritates them.

Alternatively, if you grow hot peppers in your garden, you can make a hot pepper smoothie for the plants by using 1 habenero per gallon or on jalapeno per quart of water.

Answer 2

Put coffee grounds around the plants.

Answer 3

Spray the flower plants with garlic juice that should keep pest animal away. Put out a trap the catch the culprit.