Rats Find These 5 Plants ‘Repulsive’, So Grow Them To Keep Rodents Away

Rats are known to store food underground and bury, causing damage to plants by uprooting them and destroying their root systems. Rat droppings and urine can contaminate your soil and spread disease.

While some gardeners resort to traps and poisons to eliminate these pests, this can also harm other wildlife. However, according to the pest control experts at Pure Pest, certain plants can effectively deter rats.

They stated: “It turns out that a few special plants, nature’s guardians, can help keep these rodents at bay,” the Express reports.

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1. Lavender.

Lavender is often praised for its beauty and therapeutic properties. However, the scent that is calming to humans and attractive to pollinators such as bees and butterflies, has an entirely different effect on rodents.

Rats, with their heightened sense of smell, find the intense aroma of lavender “quite overpowering.”

While the plant attracts beneficial pollinators with its visual appeal, it simultaneously “warns potential pests” such as rats.

2. Currency.

Mint has an incredibly strong flavor. The potency of the peppermint smell is “overwhelming” for rats, who have a keen sense of smell.

The smell of menthol and other mint compounds act as a “natural deterrent that drives them away forever from spaces where this plant thrives.”

Additionally, mint spreads, often covering large areas once it takes root. This means that it not only releases its deterrent aroma from a single point, but also “creates a scent barrier, making large parts of your garden less attractive” to rats.

3. The marigolds.

Marigolds have a distinctive, somewhat pungent aroma. To the human nose, it might be sharp, even a little musky.

Rats, known for their keen sense of smell, find this smell rather “disgusting”.

The experts explained: “It’s as if marigolds, in their subtle way, are sending out a scented warning band, warning rats of the territory they’re about to tread. The message is clear that this may not be the best place for you.”

The magic of marigolds doesn’t end there, as these flowers have a reputation for ‘repelling various harmful insects’.

4. Catnip.

Beyond its reputation as a cat attractant, catnip has a valuable role in the garden, particularly in rodent control. The very smell that “intoxicates cats acts as a deterrent to rats.”

For these small rodents, “the strong aroma of catnip is repulsive,” making them “think twice” before venturing into areas where this plant thrives.

5. Camphor plant.

This strong scent of a camphor plant is far from therapeutic. Areas dominated by the smell of camphor “become no-go areas for these rodents.”

It’s as if the tree has its own built-in rodent repellence system, warding off potential burrowers and gnawers with just its natural scent. However, like marigolds, the deterrent properties of the camphor plant are not limited to rats.

Many insects also find the aroma of camphor “disgusting”.