Can I kick rats out of the garden with a Euphorbia?

Question

Today I heard that there is a Euphorbia which removes rats from vegetable gardens. Unfortunately I didn't get the specific name of the Euphorbia.

Do you know what kind of Euphorbia it could be (I would say something similar to E. lathyris)? Do you have good experiences?

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 01 '17 at 20:16

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The only one I know of said to do this is Euphorbia lathyris, or caper spurge (not that the 'capers' it produces are edible, they're toxic if consumed).

Whether you want to put up with an invasive plant in your vegetable patch or not is your choice - it seeds itself prolifically. I'm afraid I've no experience as to its effectiveness as a rodent repellent.

answered Apr 01 '17 at 20:16

Bamboo

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"invasive" is the blocker for me, so I'll check if there is other natural methods. – Giacomo Catenazzi Apr 03 '17 at 07:37
@Bamboo Theoretically, are we saying that the rodents would eat the toxic capres and die or do they naturally repel rodents? – JStorage Apr 13 '17 at 06:28
@JStorage dunno really, but I very much doubt its because they eat the 'capers', more likely something about the plant and its roots they don't like, if they really don't like it anyway – Bamboo Apr 13 '17 at 08:46

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 05 '19 at 01:50

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I don't know but in my greenhouse, there is a rat and the only cacti he ate, out of many palatable options, was my euphorbia medusoid.

answered Apr 05 '19 at 01:50

Taylor

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Can I kick rats out of the garden with a Euphorbia?

2 Answers2