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Hot peppers are a well known approach to deterring dogs from relieving themselves where you don't want to step in it. It's effective, but not toxic to dogs, people, or anything else. But if you just sprinkle Tabasco sauce or cayenne powder, it's likely to wash away (if it's rainy) or blow away (if it's not). My solution is to mix cayenne powder with oil, and dribble that on the ground around the area you want to protect. The oil not only helps prevent the rain from washing it away (and the wind from blowing it away), but it also helps bring out the capsaicin, the active chemical in hot peppers, which is soluble in oil but not in water .
It's worked for us to solve a regular problem, and has lasted through several days of very heavy rain.
It's worked for us to solve a regular problem, and has lasted through several days of very heavy rain.
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Signing UpStep 1Ingredients
There are just two ingredients: cayenne powder and vegetable oil. If you have cayenne that has been sitting around for a long time, it might have lost strength. It can't hurt to go ahead and try it, but you might need some fresh stuff.
If you buy cayenne in fancy bottles, it can be pretty expensive, as much as $75 per pound , including shipping. But if you buy it from the bulk section of a grocery store, or in bulk packs with free shipping from Amazon, it can be less than 1/10 the price. Avoid getting too large a package, because its strength will decay with time after the package is opened. Two 1-lb. packages from Amazon for $14.24 seems like a great deal, if you are serious about this. Each pound is good for dozens of applications. Or you could opt for the organic variety .
For oil, you could use any vegetable oil you have handy. I used mustard oil , because I had a bottle of it around, and I thought it might help deter dogs. (I bought it for cooking, but haven't used for cooking after reading about occasional problems with it being mixed with Argemone mexicana oil , which is toxic, and because the bottles you can buy in the US are labeled for external use only, it's hard to be confident that it has been carefully prepared to food-grade standards. But I digress--any vegetable oil will work.
The wildflowers aren't needed for anything, but why not? Anything's better with wildflowers.
If you buy cayenne in fancy bottles, it can be pretty expensive, as much as $75 per pound , including shipping. But if you buy it from the bulk section of a grocery store, or in bulk packs with free shipping from Amazon, it can be less than 1/10 the price. Avoid getting too large a package, because its strength will decay with time after the package is opened. Two 1-lb. packages from Amazon for $14.24 seems like a great deal, if you are serious about this. Each pound is good for dozens of applications. Or you could opt for the organic variety .
For oil, you could use any vegetable oil you have handy. I used mustard oil , because I had a bottle of it around, and I thought it might help deter dogs. (I bought it for cooking, but haven't used for cooking after reading about occasional problems with it being mixed with Argemone mexicana oil , which is toxic, and because the bottles you can buy in the US are labeled for external use only, it's hard to be confident that it has been carefully prepared to food-grade standards. But I digress--any vegetable oil will work.
The wildflowers aren't needed for anything, but why not? Anything's better with wildflowers.
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I wonder, how does it affect plants? I don't have a rocky yard, I have grass and vines. :P
I also wonder if it is too thick to be "sprayed" along the edge of sidewalk/grass.
I went for dribbling, not spraying. It would likely clog a spray bottle.