Garden

[qshpr89]

Any gardeners have any suggestions for plants that deter Canadian Geese? We have a pond behind our house and that's where I feed the birds.  The bird food falls on the ground and the geese venture over to eat it.  I have put out reflective pinwheel spinners because they don't like things that are reflective or spin.  Just wondered if anyone found any plants that geese don't like the smell of that I could plant in front of the feeders?

[mousiegirl]

@qshpr89   Have you googled?  Maybe salvia will deter them, it does gophers, also lavender, they won't touch either, too pungent, I suppose.

Google has suggestions, such as these:

There are still a number of things you can do for Canada goose control.

1. Erect a barrier. When planning your strategy for controlling geese, keep in mind that geese prefer to walk from the water to their preferred feeding area and back. ...
2. Never feed the geese. ...
3. Remove nesting material. ...
4. Scare them away. ...
5. Install staking.

[Fressa]

Carolyn Gracie has geese. You might want to ask her on her Facebook page as well as Piliip Watson. I always find it helpful if I can find multiple suggestions.

[qshpr89]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.  I had googled what to do and we have tried just about everything out there except the coyote decoy.  Was just thinking maybe someone had found something that they planted that actually worked.  We don't want to spray we have a dog.  We want to keep the birds and ducks just encourage the geese to move along.  It may be we can't have one without the other.  I will try Carolyn's FB page too.  Thanks.

[proudlyfromNJ]

Golf courses, parks and company buildings with big grass lawns have a hard time keeping them away. Seems very hard to do.

[Kachina624]

A very active border collie could probably eliminate the problem but doubt one could distinguish geese from ducks.  It would run them all off.

[2blonde]

I work at a suburban college with lots of woods and green space around it.  The Canadian geese have always been a problem here.  They leave their deposits all over the sidewalks and roads, and in the spring they become very aggressive with unsuspecting students who get too close to a nest.  Other than that, I kind of like them.

Anyway, a few years ago the college started hiring a guy with border collies to herd them away.  It does work pretty well, but they often return, although in smaller numbers.  One time I saw about 100 of them near the road where I was jogging.  That was a little unnerving, but the numbers have since dwindled.