Pest control experts say sprinkling black pepper can help deter pests from your garden this spring
Angela Patrone Senior Lifestyle Reporter and Ellen Jenne Senior U35 Spare Time Writer
07:20, 18 Mar 2026
Pest control experts say sprinkling black pepper can help deter pests from your garden this spring(Image: khouwes via Getty Images)
March brings a whole host of gardening tasks, and it appears there are several things you need to be incorporating into your garden ahead of spring. According to three pest control specialists, scattering black pepper in your garden will help discourage pesky rodents like rats and mice and keep them at bay.
This should be completed before spring to prevent your prized plants from being destroyed. Plus, you don’t have to wait for the mice or rats to appear before starting to explore methods to make them disappear.
Often, the most effective form of treatment is prevention before a problem emerges. Black pepper contains piperine, which researchers have demonstrated is lethal for rodents.
Rats also find black pepper aroma unappealing(Image: Getty)
Piperine functions as an antibacterial agent and provides pepper with its distinctive flavour. That substance may also suppress appetite in female rats, diminishing their desire to mate and the number of offspring they produce, reports the Express.
Rats also find black pepper and stronger pepper aromas like cayenne off-putting, according to Ricky Young, a pest control expert and owner of Young’s Pest Control.
He said, “Rats dislike the strong scent of black pepper, so sprinkling black pepper around areas where rats are can help to keep rats away.”
Pest control experts at Buzz Boss praised black pepper as a “potent rat repellent” that stimulates the pain receptors of rats and other mammals, “causing them to sneeze, cough, and scurry away.”
Piperine can disrupt a rat’s senses(Image: Getty)
Specialists at Bioactive Pest Control agreed with this method: “Black pepper has a strong, pungent smell that can deter rats.”
They advised: “Scatter ground black pepper near suspected rat activity zones to disrupt their sense of smell and encourage them to leave.”
You can apply black pepper on its own or combine it with cayenne pepper for a stronger impact.
The drawback of using this deterrent method is that the tiny pepper particles are readily swept, knocked, or rinsed away, particularly when positioned outdoors. You can utilise larger peppercorn fragments to form piles or fill corners if you wish to attempt this strategy.
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