Raccoons like to eat cabbage, but do not like walking on prickly plants.
Raccoons love to eat cabbage, but the only cabbage that will kill raccoons is poisonous cabbage, which would be cruel and illegal, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. If you have a pesky raccoon munching on plants in your garden, deterring him with plants and textures he does not like, instead of killing him, is more humane. Does this Spark an idea?
Omnivore Diet
Raccoons eat plants and animals, including garden-grown and wild cabbage. Other plants raccoons like are berries, acorns, grapes and corn. The raccoon also eats small animals such as mice, insects, worms, fish and amphibians.
Deterring
Raccoons in urban areas prowl for food in home gardens and trash cans. To save your garden, plant one regular garden and one garden especially for raccoons, filling the raccoon garden with its favorite foods, such as cabbage, beans and sweet corn.
Sensitivity
Raccoons have incredibly sensitive toes. Planting vegetable plants with prickly leaves and stems deters raccoons, but will not kill them. Squash, oriental poppies, globe thistle, pumpkins, Kentucky Wonder pole beans are a few examples of sharp, uncomfortable plants.
Washing
The raccoon's scientific name, "lotor," means "washer." The omnivorous, nocturnal medium-sized mammal seems to wash its food before devouring it. While the raccoon often dips its food in nearby water, scientists learned that the reason raccoons "wash" their foods is to press it and squash, making sure no hard or sharp bones are inside that can harm it in digestion, according to the Pelotes Island Nature Reserve website.
Tags: will kill, your garden