Protect Plants From Rabbits
Try installing rabbit netting around your raised beds
Another way to help deter these bunnies from your garden is to stop them from getting in in the first place. Sturdy garden fence ideas can do wonders around your plot, however, if you have areas where there are gaps, or have a hedge instead, then rabbit netting is a good addition.
This is made from galvanized steel, woven into a pattern with small, hexagonal holes no larger than one inch wide. Go for a height of 30-36 inches, and bend the lower end at a 90-degree angle before burying it six inches into the ground, as suggests the team at FineGardening.com. This will deter even the most determined rabbits from digging underneath.
You can also protect the bark of trees and shrubs. Try adding cylinders made from hardware cloth, which is a galvanized wire screen bought in rolls from garden centers, around the trunks of young trees. Position an inch or so away from the trunk itself and bury the lower section into the ground.
What Are Some Common Signs Of Rabbits
One very reliable sign of marauding rabbits is an area scattered with coarse, round, fecal pelletsthe scat of rabbits. Depending on the species, these may be 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch in size. You may also see rabbit hair or fur caught on or under tree branches, rabbit trails, or nesting areas under bushes or brush.
How Do I Keep The Rabbits From Coming On My Patio And Eating My Plants
- Lisa S. on Feb 07, 2018Plastic snakes. I have them I think it helps a bit. But sometimes I forget and scare myself!
- Bonnie Morris on Feb 08, 2018I live in a very heavily wooded area next to a state park with wildlife abound. I purchased plastic refillable containers from Menards that contain moth balls. They were meant to keep deer away but they worked for rabbits as well. I hadn’t had any lily blossoms for years because deer and rabbits simply bit off the buds. The last two years I have had beautiful lilies.
- Ruth P. Hakulin on Feb 08, 2018Plant marigolds! They are a natural repellent. Many people plant them around their vegetable gardens to keep the rabbits and deer away.
- Patty on Feb 09, 2018I use vicks vapor rub. Just spread a little around the pots and believe me they won’t touch your plants. Not only will it keep the rabbits away, but squirrels and deer. I put it on rocks anything decorative in my flower beds. I even spread it on the bark of young trees. This really works, I have been doing this for years and I don’t have a problem with any critters and we have plenty, deer, rabbits, possums, raccoons, and a black bear was spotted in our area , but animals hate the smell of it.
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How To Keep Rabbits Off Your Garden Or Land
Domestic rabbits are common family pets but wild rabbits are quite different. Destroying your land and passing fleas on to your pets in the process, they can be a real nightmare. In the summer theyll thoroughly enjoy your flower beds, weeds, grass, leaves, fruits, roots and shoots perfect for a growing bunnys appetite and in the winter theyll tuck into tree bark, twigs and bushes .
If youve got a headache over the state of your garden or land due to a fluffle of rabbits, then read on to find out how to prevent rabbits from eating plants and tips for repelling rabbits.
How To Fill Hole In Your Lawn Caused By Rabbits
If youve already cleaned your yard and have done all you can to prevent rabbits from coming on to your lawn thats fantastic.
However, before you had a chance to do that, rabbits still may have done some digging in your lawn.
They may not be as bad as gophers and moles, but rabbits are also notorious diggers. There are a variety of reasons why they would be digging. One could be to get to your plants, but if you dont have that many appealing plants, then they could be making a little home.
When the weather is too cold or warm, wild rabbits will dig to get away from the weather. However, they sometimes dig when theyre bored and stressed out, too. This goes for both wild and domestic rabbits. Both wild and domestic animals are often found digging holes 5. Thankfully, these holes will be shallow and easy to cover up.
To fill up holes from wild rabbits, you must first make sure all its inhabitants are out. If the dirt is fresh and looks damp, then chances are its an active rabbit hole. In that situation, the best thing to do is to get ahold of a local professional for the next steps.
If the dirt is dried up and hard, then chances are that there is no longer anything living inside it. Make sure you check thoroughly. Once youre certain that nothing is in the hole, go ahead and start to fill it with dirt. Next, plan to plant some grass seed over the area ASAP depending on the time of year it is.
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Tip 2 Scare Them Away With The Scent Of Predators
Strong scent of a predator this can instantly drive pesky rabbits away from your garden plants. You can sprinkle pet or human hair, dried blood meal or cat litter in a defensive circle around shrubs, garden beds or trees.
A tip to consider: Replace sprinkled deterrents every week or whenever it rains.
What Good Are Rabbits
In areas where native predators can keep their numbers under control, rabbits do a lot to promote a healthy natural environment. The same appetite that makes rabbits so frustrating to gardeners and farmers makes them living weed-eaters. Their constant feeding keeps down the growth of aggressive plant species, allowing for greater biodiversity. In addition, their waste helps spread seeds and improve soil quality. As previously stated, they serve as a vital food source to various predators. Their role in the ecosystem is so important that they are called a keystone species. This means that when rabbit populations suffer a decline in their natural environment , the well-being of other plants and animals in that area suffer.
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How To Easily Control Rabbits In Your Yard
Rabbit control is often necessary if you want to reduce damage. The best means of controlling damage is by discouraging rabbits presence and preventing their access to plants. Remember, complete extermination of rabbits is not desirable. Individual plant protection and professional rabbit control will help you to outwit rabbits without doing them harm.
If you have witnessed the damage caused by pest rabbits, you are probably ready to try these methods of rabbit elimination:
Garlic Hot Pepper Repellant
Homemade rabbit repellent is a cheap way to keep critters out of your garden, requiring a bit more effort on your part than commercial products. The ingredients are easy to find and generally inexpensive.
- 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes OR chili powder
- 1 tablespoon dish soap
- water
- empty gallon-size container with lid
Peel garlic cloves, smash them and drop into a gallon jug. Add dish soap and crushed red pepper flakes or powder. Fill the jug with water and apply lid. Shake the container to mix ingredients.
Place the jug in the sun for two days to steep, ensuring that the water becomes entirely concentrated with the ingredients. Strain through a fine sieve or coffee filter. Dispense using a spray bottle or garden sprayer and apply to plants and areas targeted by rabbits. Reapply every five days.
It will take several weeks to begin seeing results. In case of heavy rain, reapply as soon as the weather clears to ensure that your repellant efforts remain effective.
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Will Coffee Grounds Keep Rabbits Away
Coffee is has a very strong scent and can be a deterrent for a variety of animals and insects. Rabbits have a sensitive nose and are repelled by the aroma of coffee grounds. Rabbits will avoid any area where coffee grounds have been sprinkled. A great way to create an environment that your rabbit wont want to be apart of is to place coffee grounds in entry points to the yard or a regular basis. Rain and dew will diminish the effect of the coffee grounds over time. This may not be a good long term solution but it could buy you time as you patch holes in your fence or clean up your yard.
When Do Wild Rabbits Cause Problems
Frankly speaking, there is no season of the year when the appetites of these destructive animals dont cause some problems. In spring and summer, rabbits eat flower gardens and plants of vegetables. In fall and winter, they damage valuable woody plants.
Do rabbits dig holes? Yes. They do. Whats more these destructive animals can cause serious damage to your buildings by digging under the foundation. Rabbits can even cause problems in town cemeteries by burrowing beneath gravesites.
Getting rid of rabbits can be a difficult undertaking. Not anymore try these methods of rabbit removal and crack the problem right now!
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Do Dogs Scare Rabbits
Yes, most dogs will typically chase the rabbit out of your yard. Dogs can be an effective way to scare off rabbits and to keep them away for a while. Rabbits consider these animals to be predators. Even, Murphy, our family dog has chased a few out of our yard over the years. Rabbits will also smell your dogs urine and immediately know that there is a threat in the area. I have found that the dogs help but ultimately the rabbits do come back to the yard when the dog isnt around. Some dogs have no interest in chasing rabbits and others lose interest over time.
Zovenchi Solar Ultrasonic Animal Repeller
Do you want a high-tech way to keep pests away? If so, then the ultrasonic repeller from ZOVENCHI might be ideal. It emits sounds that only animals can hear. This is designed to keep rodents, dogs, cats, and rabbits away.
You can use it around the lawn, flower bed, bird feeder, pond, and other areas of the home. When an animal comes within range, the sensor starts working to emit ultrasonic sounds. Then, the red light is going to come on, which also works as a deterrent.
It features solar panels at the top of the product, which ensures that it works all day and night. Plus, it charges itself so that it runs all night long. This also means that you dont need an outlet or have to worry about cords.
Youre going to find it easy to use because you just insert the stake into the ground. Make sure theres plenty of sunlight throughout the day and turn it on so that it starts charging.
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Bite Or Gnawing Marks
Rabbits love vegetables and younger plants. They especially like the following plants:
- Plants in the rose family
- Raspberries
- Sumac
- Dogwood
So if you happen to have any of the above in your yard, be aware they make attract rabbits. Usually, rabbits wont eat the bark of trees, like maple, until its the middle of winter and they have nothing else to eat. However, they wont have a problem switching from berries to bark if they get hungry enough.
Why Would You Keep Rabbits Away
Anyone who tills the soil regards the rabbit as more than a cute threat to the carrot patch. This long-eared animal possesses a voracious appetite for all kinds of fresh vegetationwoody plants, perennials, annuals, vegetables, and berries. In fact, a menu of rabbit favorites is so ridiculously long that its easier to list the few plants they dont enjoy.
Rabbits also have an extremely high reproductive potential, which is why keeping them around might quickly cause a total garden infestation. They reach up to three litters of six babies each per year in the north, and up to six litters of three babies each per year in the south. The first litter appears in March in the north, year-round elsewhere. The gestation period is 29 days.
Your backyard bunnys primary concern is to eat without being eaten, a difficult task given that rabbits are relished by more than two dozen species of predators. Nibbling your petunias is therefore not a carefree picnic but a danger-fraught mission. However, if your neighborhood bunny can squeeze through a hole in your garden fence, it will be able to munch in safety.
You can check our tips for keeping your plants safe from rabbits, but try to regard rabbits as Beatrix Potter didpart of a peaceful, pastoral landscape. Then protect the plants that you and the bunnies really love, and dont worry about the rest.
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You Can Also Put Down These Organic Compounds:
- Onion powder
- Powdered red pepper
- Dried blood
Dried blood is usually made from the blood of cows that would normally go unused during the slaughtering process. This compound is dried and is sold at nurseries and hardware stores. In addition to repelling rabbits, its also a great natural fertilizer. So you can nurture your plants as you protect them!
What Are The Best Natural Rabbit Repellents
Here is a list of the best natural products that keep rabbits out of your yard: Advanced Ultrasonic Animal Repeller, Natures Mace Deer & Rabbit Repellent, I Must Garden Rabbit Repellent and Animal Stopper Granular Repellent. There are many types of products you can use to repel rabbits from your property. Using a natural rabbit repellent is a simple and easy method that has a high success rate. You can find also use home remedy repellants. Soaking a rag in ammonia and then placing it in your yard will repel rabbits. Using certain oils and spices like lavender and garlic will repel rabbits. You can even go to most hardware stores and find fox urine or coyote urine to spread around your property.
One thing to keep in mind is that a natural repellent will wear off and have to be re-applied regularly to keep the rabbits out. Most repellents will have to be reapplied after rain. You must use these consistently to break the rabbits habit of coming into your yard.
What Essential Oils Keep Rabbits Away?
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How To Stop Rabbits From Eating Flowers
Rabbits like a lot of the same vegetables that we do, but they also eat all kinds of plants that we dont find very appetizing. This includes many different types of garden flowers. The same tips weve given above, for garden areas, apply to flower gardens as well as vegetables and fruits.
Another thing you can do is try to plant flowers that rabbits will not eat. Many are distasteful or poisonous to them, including marigolds, geraniums, begonias, snapdragons, sunflowers, and salvia flowers.
Sprinkle Dried Sulfur Powdered Red Pepper Or Hair
Rabbits are also repulsed by sulfur and red pepper. By sprinkling a bit around your lawn or shrubs, the smell alone will help to get the rabbits far away. You can also consider sprinkling some human hair as well. Hair looks similar to grass, so when Rabbits feast on it, they just find it to be a terrible tasting grass. Knowing that the grass is not what they want, they stop hopping over.
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Getting Rid Of Rabbits In Your Lawn
Although getting rid of established rabbit families is difficult, it isnt impossible. Rabbits love anything that provides shelter, like low-to-the-ground shrubs, bushes, and taller grass. By eliminating areas they can hide, it makes their lives more difficult. Trim shrubs and bushes, put chicken wire below porches and elevate any decorative garden pieces that may be offering them refuge. You can also cut off their food supply. Fence off gardens, making sure fence openings are smaller than a rabbits head and dug 6 inches into the ground so they cant go underneath. Spraying different odors on your plants, like capsaicin , castor oil, ammonium salts, or predator urine can also help! However, it must be reapplied after every watering or rain. Its also smart to utilize your pets. Get your dogs to chase the rabbits, or let your cat outside to be the fearsome predator they are!
Rabbit damage can be very frustrating. It creates brown spots in your lawn and can ruin a garden if it goes unchecked. However, with the right prevention and proper lawn care, you can get the furry nuisances to leave your lawn alone!
Use A Commercial Rabbit Repellent
Commercial rabbit repellents can be effective if you need to know how to keep rabbits out of your garden or yard
You can buy commercial rabbit repellents online or in some garden centers. These are ideal if you need to know how to keep rabbits out of your garden or yard and want a quick and low-maintenance approach.
You can find both sprays and granular solutions.They work due to their scent, which is disliked by rabbits . Look for all-natural kinds that are safe for pets, plants, and beneficial insects.
However, even with natural products, be sure to read the label carefully before application, keep them out of reach of children, and avoid spraying or sprinkling them on the edible parts of crops .
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