Known as a famous drink with a consumption demand of up to 5.6 million tons per year, coffee has truly become a beverage culture in every part of the world. However, the value of a coffee bean is not only in the cup of coffee it produces but also in the remaining coffee grounds.
Coffee grounds are the coffee powder (ground from raw beans) that has been used, brewed, or prepared. Depending on the type of coffee used, the grounds will be dark brown, milky brown, or golden brown. Currently, with uses from beauty to agriculture, coffee grounds are a very popular natural preparation. This article, mentions the use of coffee grounds that many people still wonder is “do coffee grounds repel skunks?”
What Attracts Skunks To Your Home Or Yard?
Skunks are known to be nocturnal rodents, active from dusk to dawn, capable of spewing a liquid with a strong, unpleasant odor. They usually spend the day sleeping in nests by the pond, piles of wood, or by the porch. Anise may be attracted and appear in your yard or near your house because certain things attract them, such as nuts, pets, garbage, grills, lumber,… They will eat leaves, shoots, and berries that are within easy reach and create an unpleasant scent in your home. Besides, because of the nature of the species, they also like to dig holes in the garden.
With infestations, every time they appear plus the smell, finding ways to drive them away and protect your home is essential.
What Smells Do Skunks Hate?
Skunks hate certain smells such as citrus, ammonia, mothballs, and the urine of predators (dogs, wolves, ..). These odors can repel ferrets, but there are some odors that bring unpleasant feelings to us when smelling like ammonia, or urine. So, what many people are interested in, is that the smell of coffee grounds can do the same thing as ammonia to skunks? We will discuss that issue shortly.
Do Coffee Grounds Repel Skunks?
The answer here is yes.
While for humans, coffee grounds have an attractive, attractive scent, making many coffee lovers “addicted” to that smell. As for the skunk, it hates the smell of coffee.
Coffee grounds have a bitter aroma, unlike the smell of black pepper or chili pepper, which is quite healthy, so it does not irritate the skunk’s sinuses but still completely repels them. To it, the bitter aroma of coffee grounds has an effect similar to that of a predator’s urine. The scent from the coffee grounds is strong enough to make skunks recognize and fear the human presence around them. That’s why they leave on their own.
Coffee grounds are not only a good way to deter skunks, but they are also great for composting. Using coffee grounds to fertilize plants in the garden both helps plants grow and is good because it is rich in nutrients and minerals and helps repel skunks and some other rodents.
This is really a great solution for you if you are a coffee drinker and frequent coffee drinker. The scent of coffee grounds will not make you uncomfortable when spreading it around the garden like some other substances.
How To Use Coffee Grounds To Repel Skunks
First, look for areas that skunk frequently. Look for places where skunks hang out, live or plant beds they destroy. Determining the right place to proceed will avoid wasting your time and effort.
Next, after determining the location, there are 3 ways to apply coffee grounds for reference. You can use either way:
Sprinkle used or fresh coffee grounds directly onto the soil or around the beds of plants at risk of skunks.
Sprinkle coffee grounds on their lair/hollow logs/under large rocks. It will prevent the skunks from returning to their habitat.
Using coffee grounds as compost, mixing it into the soil in a planter bed, or simply mixing it with soil will deter skunks from coming near your yard.
Finally, it is advisable to repeat the application of the coffee grounds as after a while the coffee grounds will either wash away or the smell will go away.
Do Coffee Grounds Repel Skunks Long-term?
First of all, coffee is a portion of food, so long-term use does not affect health problems.
As for the long-term effects on skunks, it will still work as long as you continue to use coffee grounds daily or every other day in areas frequented by skunks, nothing can guarantee the residue. The coffee you sprinkle won’t get mixed up in the soil or washed away by the rain.
However, if you don’t have enough time to apply coffee grounds once a day, try to reapply the grounds every 2-3 days, or at least once a week. This way, the bitter taste of the coffee will linger for a long time.
But sometimes in nature, there is always an adaptation, over time skunks can get used to the scent of coffee grounds. And they realize that humans won’t harm them. If that happens, the coffee grounds will lose their effectiveness in repelling skunks.
How To Store Coffee Grounds?
For the convenience of long-term use, it is necessary to have a suitable way of preserving coffee grounds so as not to affect the quality and efficiency of use.
Some of the preservation methods that this article covers may be useful to you:
Use a clean plastic bag or zip bag or a glass jar with a lid for storage
In normal weather, you just need to put the jar of coffee grounds in a cool place with a stable temperature
If it’s too hot, put the jar of coffee grounds in the refrigerator
Or you can dry the coffee grounds in the sun and then carefully store them in a bag for longer use.
Coffee grounds have a strong and bitter aroma, which acts as a messenger to skunks about the existence of humans near them. Thereby, skunks fear being harmed by humans and they will run away. And that’s how coffee grounds repel skunks.
