View Full Version : Rabbits in the garden
I've never had rabbits in my area but late last summer I had at least one nibble down a couple of nice tender young perennials and since then have seen one in may yard a few times a week. I'm getting ready to plant spring greens like lettuce, kale and spinach which I can imagine as being a nice buffet for the little critters. Fencing of my garden is not very practical. I have a raised bed and an irregular larger open space. My plan B is to get a live trap, but I'm wondering about alternatives. I suspect there are certain crops that rabbits don't like, like maybe peppers, eggplant or tomatoes? I could possibly screen off my raised bed, but am not sure if they would even get up into it. It's about 10" high.
I'm new to this. Any magic solutions or helpful suggestions?
We have major issues with marauding rabbits in our garden. I’ve tried the various available concoctions of predator urine or dried blood to scare them off with no success. Fencing the garden with chicken wire slows them down somewhat, but you need to check for holes pretty regularly. I’ve tried cheaper plastic fencing, but they chew right through it. Someone suggested planting marigolds to ward them off, but that didn’t work. For the past several years, I’ve been live trapping them and deporting them several miles away (it’s not that I object to killing the little rodents, it’s just a pain disposing of the bodies). It’s a significant inconvenience, and the neighbor children think I’m a monster, but I haven’t found a better way.
I had them nibbling on the alyssum so made little covers for them out of chicken wire- It seems once the blooms are a bit older the bunnies don't find them as tasty. I also made a tabasco water spray- not terribly effective, but sprinkling black pepper heavily right on the plant seemed to help.
Sorry Rogar, but having had lots of personal experience........nothing works but fencing. And it needs to have very small openings or they can't squeeze through or jump over. Sorry!
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mMG6lhQ0Z0s/maxresdefault.jpg
iris lilies
3-16-16, 1:11pm
Our main pests are squirrels, they take everything including tomatoes. Well, they don't take leafy green and beans and okra.
Still we do have rabbit pests.
What I am finding about the bunnies is weird: they seem to poop right over where or dog poops. Isn't that strange?
I like it Bae. Doesn't look like it's designed for catch and release.:)
I like it Bae. Doesn't look like it's designed for catch and release.:)
It releases just fine, into the stew pot. :-)
One year my rusted chicken wire fencing needed replaced, but it was too much to do at that time. I later discovered a nest of baby rabbits under my zucchini bush. Oh well......there were plenty of green beans for all of us.
Darn. I was hoping someone would have found a magic bullet. I can't discharge real bullets in my city. Our local rabbits don't seem to be particularly intimidated by our local dogs.
Chicken lady
3-19-16, 4:05pm
Bae's solution is very quiet and doesn't require a stakeout. Dh called it "elegant"
Fencing, nothing else spots the bun buns. I cut my ornamental grasses down in fall or winter(they do look pretty in the winter though) because if I wait to long into the spring bunny nests under all of them.
I love to look at the rabbits in yard at any given moment there are a few, then last fall the dogs got one in the fenced in dog area. I had to go pick it up, it was filled with ticks. I have not looked at them the same since, ick.
Last year our tulips in our front garden were just eaten down to the ground by rabbits--so annoying. Not sure what we'll do about it this year. Perhaps if I could rig up a bae-syle trap, it could look like a garden sculpture, who knows? :)
But we also lost a ton of green beans to deer last year, so we are seriously talking fencing. Oddly, the rabbits didn't attack our greens. I did plant marigold in the salad garden.. maybe that did the trick, but I kind of doubt it because I have read very mixed reports on the efficacy of marigolds as pest deterrents.
Williamsmith
3-19-16, 9:11pm
I had a nice quarter acre homestead garden. Sweet corn, green beans, potatoes, asparagus, strawberries, squash, zucchini, pumpkins, Lima beans, tomatoes, green peppers, radishes, leaf lettuce, hot peppers, cantaloupe, cucumbers. I spent some serious time with my hands in the dirt.
Somehow word got around the animal kingdom that there was a smorgasbord being served at my place and gradually everybody started helping themselves without asking. It was a full time job shooting maurading rabbits, raccoons, woodchucks, even the crows got into the act going along picking out my corn seeds as soon as I planted them. The turkeys decided my freshly tilled garden was a great spot to hang out and tear up. And the deer were ruthless. I even had a bear wipe out an entire corn crop. He just sat down and raked the stalks in with his arms until he clean them all off and then moved to a different spot. Rinse repeat.
One day I just decided why not let the Amish grow it for me. So I drive up the road a mile and pay for it. It's just cheaper and much easier on the wildlife. I play the guitar on the porch a lot more now.
Simplemind
3-20-16, 1:06am
We have many types of critters and use various methods but the one that works best on everything (at least for us) is a device called The Scarecrow. It is a motion detector that sprays a hard shot of water for about 30-50 feet. It has worked on the rabbits and deer in the garden and the raccoons in the fruit trees and our fish pond. We have several of them and swear by them. Can't tell you the amount of times I have forgotten about it, walked through and got shot.
That's an excellent idea. I looked up the "scarecrow" and noticed that they also make a motion activate ultrasonic sound emitting units that seemed to have decent reviews. I just suspect it might not be as effective as a water spray, but avoids having to have it hooked up to a hose (and getting sprayed). And less troublesome than disposing of animals from a live trap. Something to consider for sure.
lessisbest
3-20-16, 9:21am
I put human hair (I cut my own hair and use it, but any shop will be happy to give you a bag of hair) all around for the scent, apply blood meal to the ground, sprinkle cheap bottles of cayenne pepper (Big Lots or the Dollar Tree) around, and suspend anything that will flip, fly, or make noise around my garden to scare animals away, and usually it works with everything but cats, which I trap and take to the animal shelter. Why people leave their pets run wild and destroy other's gardens is beyond me.
I put human hair (I cut my own hair and use it, but any shop will be happy to give you a bag of hair) all around for the scent, apply blood meal to the ground, sprinkle cheap bottles of cayenne pepper (Big Lots or the Dollar Tree) around, and suspend anything that will flip, fly, or make noise around my garden to scare animals away, and usually it works with everything but cats, which I trap and take to the animal shelter. Why people leave their pets run wild and destroy other's gardens is beyond me.
Great suggestions. I forgot to add that two years ago I added a Japanese bamboo deer chaser to my herb garden--really for the purpose of enjoyment of the water feature, but it occurred to me if I leave it on all night, it might actually live up to its name. Problem is, I didn't really locate it well for the purpose of keeping animals from the garden--it's about 50 feet away, but maybe it will still work.
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