What Will A DIY Hot Sauce Deterrent Do To Moles In Your Yard? Read This Before Trying

With everything you do to try and keep your yard beautiful — there's nothing more frustrating than having pests take over. Moles can be a complete nuisance with all their burrowing, leading to tunnels and holes in the lawn. If you're looking to keep your yard free of pesky moles, a DIY solution many people swear by involves hot sauce. What makes the repellent ideal is that it's non-toxic and humane, unlike some other methods involving poison or chemicals. 

Moles are creatures with terrible eyesight, but the hot sauce plays into another one of their senses — their smell. It's the strong and spicy scent of the hot sauce that sends them packing. It can be used to deter other pests from your yard as well — such as rabbits, deer, gophers, and squirrels, who also find the sauce's capsaicin intolerable (but be warned, bears are drawn to the taste of capsaicin, so don't use this method if bears are an issue in your area.) Another benefit of this DIY method is that you might have a bottle in your fridge already, and the other ingredients it calls for are pretty simple too. Overall, it's an easy way to keep moles away without actually causing them harm.

You're going to need a bottle of hot sauce, water, peppermint oil, and castor oil. The next time you're tired of moles messing up your yard or garden — mix 1 cup of water and ½ cup of castor oil in a jar or bottle. Then, add a teaspoon of hot sauce and 3 to 4 drops of peppermint oil to the mixture. Once it's all combined, saturate cotton balls with the liquid — and drop them inside the holes the moles created. It should have them moving out once they come across them.

Using a hot sauce repellent for these kinds of pests can work well, but there aren't downsides, just like with most tricks. Being a natural mixture, it will likely require reapplication in order for it to stay effective, especially since it can wash away in the rain. It's also not a guarantee if your yard has a large mole infestation, which usually requires other methods or professional services. But if you're looking for a harm-free and inexpensive solution to keeping unwanted rodents out of the yard — it's definitely worth a shot.