How to Keep Rabbits out of Garden

[opabinia51]

A note on Rabbits: in many places rabbits are actually an introduced, invasive species It is that way in my town. So, it may be a good idea to talk with your local municipality about culling the rabbits as well.

Good discussion going here, I hope you rabbit problem is getting better.

[fargardener]

If you install a fence, make sure it is 2 feet tall or taller. PLUS, it has to go underground a few inches because the critters will dig under! Mine goes about 4 inches under ground into well packed soil.

Cheers!

[sig url edited by mods]

[smokensqueal]

Last year I had problems with rabbits and mixed black pepper and red pepper together to a nice powder. Sprinkled that around and they never bothered my garden ever again that year. This year it appears either the rabbits or something else has been eating my tulip leaves. So I mixed some more together last night and put it around them.

[Snippy]

Hi! It's spring in Southern Ontario and I am back! I read recently that rabbits hate talcum powder. When it rains, apply some more. I could see this being an issue in a rainy area. What a pain.
In a book I have, "1,001 Old-Time Garden Tips" by Roger Yepsen, (Excellent) rabbits do not like the exotic spice 'asafoetida' which is sold in East Indian grocery stores. The book says that one could pulverize some resin with a nutmeg grater, dissolve it in hot water and experiment with the resulting tea. They don't like blood meal but the most effective method is a fence. Old time recipes used a mixture of lime, water and cow manure; they don't like cow manure.
I haven't tried any of these yet because well, I need to prepare a garden first. New old house scenario. I'm working on it.

[DrTom]

Visit your local barber and ask them for their hair clippings

Take the clippings home and sprinkle them around your garden

Wild rabbits (most wild animals) don't like human smell, are afraid of it

If it rains, or you have high winds you may have to repeat

AND - yes it sounds crazy, but it works!

Also this is cheaper than a fence, which they will dig under

Dr Tom from MN

[chefshelle]

How do you get the tomcat pee? Hope this doesn't sound too stupid, but I'm a little confused!

[Snippy]

Libraries are good info centers. Apparently emptying your vaccuum bag of it's contents in a trench on the side of the garden where wild animals venture, will keep them away. It may need to be repeated because of rains washing the "human ordour" away etc.

[Ilovegardening]

This is really funny; because before I got on here this moring, (I'm new on here); I was thinking of what I could do to keep the rabbits from eating all the foliage off of our tomato and other plants. We do have a high fence around the garden; but when we put it up; we didn't have the time then to put it deep enough into the ground; so the cute but pesky little rabbits and probably other critters can still get in and wreak havoc with our food crop. Anyway; to get to the "funny" part; this morning before I got on, as I said; I was trying to think of ways of keeping the rabbits out of our garden; and since we have a male housecat; I thought, "Gee, I wonder if putting some used litter around the garden would help."! And then I got on here and read about people doing that very thing!
Our cat has been fixed; but I assume it will still deter the rabbits from trying to get in the fence...or under it...if I sprinkle some used litter a foot or so away from the fence; around the whole perimeter?
Also I side note. I would ask people who have cats to PLEASE keep them inside. You are not making them "happier" by letting them roam wherever they please.
We have a neighbor who has cats she lets loose all the time; and they might be good mousers; and keep some other "pests" away; but their usefulness ends there.
If they defecate in your garden...which they have done in ours; it's VERY BAD for your food crops; since almost all outdoor cats have parasites and sometimes other diseases which can and will be deposited on or in your food. Yuck! And I have witnessed first-hand the destruction they cause to not only gardens; but to cars...climbing and scratching the paint...sounds minor but is very expensive to fix; and it's not just a "cosmetic" issue either; rust starts where there are scratches. Scratching and clawing posts and other wood items on or around the house, etc. And they kill lots of things like someone else on here mentioned; birds that cause no problems; and other things like chipmunks. The cats themselves are a HUGE nuisance; and I love cats...but if they are your pet; then they are your pet; not the whole neighborhood's. PLEASE don't unleash...literally and figuratively...your pets on everyone else around you.
I'm not saying any of this with any "attitude"; please don't read that into this. I am just trying to help; because most people I talk to that have cats they let wander around wherever they want to think it's O.K.; it's somehow good for their cats. But we've asked every vet we've had over the years about that; and most all have sighed and said, emphatically; No; no; no; it is NOT good for the cats at all; they get hit by cars; they get in sometimes fatal fights with other cats; or dogs kill them; they get lyme disease; ticks; fleas; parasites; (All of which they can and will bring home to YOU and your children if you have any) and of course; are a huge nuisance to everyone around them because of the things they do that I stated above.
I say this with mercy and kindness--just because you love your cat(s) doesn't mean your neighbors do; or have to. So Please; consider keeping your cat(s) healthier by keeping them as tame pets inside your home. Thank you.
I hope I'm not making anyone mad; honestly; but it's a point of contention with a lot of people I know; ESPECIALLY gardeners; they are always frustrated with the people around them who think it's perfectly all right to let their pets walk through other people's property; doing whatever they want; urinating and defecating all over the yards; in the gardens; and doing all the other things they do.
Gee; I really hope I'm not making trouble on here; that is NOT my intention at ALL. I may get "kicked off"; but I hope not. If you knew me in person you'd know I mean none of this with any meanness or self-righteousness; and I hope you can "read" that here without knowing me.
I actually hope this helps some people to understand that although their intent is to do the "right" thing for their cats; and I understand and appreciate that; they really aren't. My cat was a stray; and used to roaming around. We took him in, since he "adopted" us, and had him fixed right away; and we play with him inside; and he's as happy as he can be; WITHOUT going outside again.
Thanks for "listening"; and please don't be offended anyone; I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes. But just trying to offer help...NOT harm.
Take care all. Bye for now.....

[Pikachu1]

We have a large vegetable garden in the middle of a huge herbivore playground. We have deer, an extensive groundhog colony, rabbits, squirrels, etc.

What we did (actually it was my husband) was dig a one foot trench around the garden. Then he put in posts. Then he took three foot tall wire fence, with narrower wire at the bottom and wider at the top, and ran it all around. No gate, we step over it. Then around that he put a taller fence to keep out the deer. He wired the fences together along the top of the groundhog fence. He made a gate with the deer fence. So far no mammals have eaten anything. This is the third year we've had it (picture is from the first year).

I have to say, I could not have done it myself. It was a huge amount of work. It cost a few hundred dollars, but less than the thousands it would have cost to have chain link installed by people who do that for a living.

Cris

It is hard to see in this picture, but the groundhog fence comes up to my knees. The gate is open and behind me. There is a roll of the deer fence on the left side of the picture.

[img]https://img8.imageshack.us/img8/5/crisingarden2007.jpg[/img]

[Nana]

I also use cat litter the clumping kind which holds the cat urine. It really works and won't harm anything....Does keep the rabbits away!!

[gixxerific]

Stupid rabbits are eating all of my stuff as well. So far I have tried a solution of water and hot sauce. I do have have some "Extreme" hot sauces as well, the one drop is too much kind. Not sure if ti helped at all with all the rain we have had.. Funny thing is my sweet potato plants are the main target. The keep getting eating to the ground and than coming back. I'm sure they will be small when harvested, but they are some tough little buggers.

Oh yeah did I mention I have a huge pit bull female that loves rabbits. I really need a doggie door in this house. She was out there tearing up a rabbit hole the other day, which led to diarrhea. But they are everywhere, I have the pellet gun at ready.

[cynthia_h]

Stupid rabbits ...

Oh yeah did I mention I have a huge pit bull female that loves rabbits.

All the terrier breeds, from Cairns to Kerries, were originally developed to find *and destroy* ground-dwelling rodents: rats, ground squirrels, badgers, groundhogs, rabbits, and the like. I'm not at all surprised that a bull terrier loves to find and destroy rabbits! Yucky though it might be...

Maybe, when she finds a burrow, you can take her off of it after a few minutes? That way she won't eat herself sick, or whatever it was that happened.

I'm fortunate w/regard to rabbits (my pestilential squirrels are tree-dwellers, unfortunately). The only rabbit I've ever seen outdoors in this neighborhood was a pet rabbit who had escaped his outdoor hutch. He (?) was petrified with fear and not eating anything. His next-door neighbors knew him and he knew them, so the woman came over with a towel and picked him up, putting him back in his hutch.

Rabbits have high birth rates to support their role in Nature's plan: they are, for better or for worse, primary food sources for many other mammals. They give birth to enough babies quickly enough so that, even if they experience severe predation, there will be (more than?) enough rabbits to continue the species.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[kat hass]

Hi, I have found liquidfence.com's deer spray effective. It is stinkie, but boy does it work!! It works on deer and rabbits. not squirrels tho!

[promethean_spark]

A fence is the only practical solution for a large garden. Mine is a 28" 'rabbit fence' with 7 electric wires above it. This keeps out pretty much everything. I bought a 100 mile fence charger for about $100, it runs at 15kV, arcs over half an inch and is extremely effective. Chargers for dogs at the hardware store don't pack enough punch to teach deer a lesson. The great thing about using electric fence is that animals learn to fear fencing in your yard, all fencing, so even a bit of rabbit fence around a small tree will make the deer uneasy if it's near the electric fence.

[zone9garden.com]

My dogs keep just about every animal out of my garden. Their "Scent" keeps most animals at bay, other than birds, but I don't have many problems with them anyway!

[kat hass]

Hi, I wish my dog would keep some animals out of my garden. I have a greyhound and he is beautiful, but not a good garden guard dog! I am sticking to my liquid fence deer repellent. Maybe I could try to train him to spray it around the yard. I wish I could post his picture!

Oh well. Hope we all get rid of the pests in our garden.

[Jbest]

Rabbits keep eating the leaves off my tomato's, green beans & green peppers. Is there something I can do to keep them away?

From what is being eaten I would think it is a groundhog. In either case a 12 Gage with No.4 shot is most effective.

John

[opabinia51]

Try Cayenne pepper, it seems to do the trick, we tend to try to conserve wildlife here at the HG.

[crobi13]

I don't know if I was just lucky, or if the scent of my 2 male dogs kept the rabbits away, but I did not have a problem with rabbits. I had a pretty good sized carrot crop, too.
I don't remember where I read it, but I read that the scent of a meat-eating animal's urine will deter rabbits. Perhaps it is true? My dogs go potty around the perimiter of my property & my garden is in the center. The rabbits would have to pass by the dog's scent to get to the carrots.

[kat hass]

Hi I have heard the same remedies - give your husband a steak dinner and have him "mark" the yard, and cayenne -- but I didn't want to go either of these ways!

And sorry, but I don't believe in guns.

I do spray liberally with liquidfence deer and rabbit repel.

It works and my neighbor won't call the copy son my husband peeing in the yard.

[zone9garden.com]

Odd that your dogs sent doesnt keep the animals away! Right behind my garden is a wooded area, and I don't even see squirls on the fence! Maybe my dogs have a mean sent! LOL

[Sporthorse85]

I wish I could say my two male dogs keep the bunnies out of my garden.... they urinate all along the perimeter but those dang rabbits are persistent enough to squeeze through the fence between my house and the neighbor's and waltz right into my garden.

I do have a fence up, but because I hadn't seen any rabbits in over a year, thinking the dogs chased them away, it's not really a 'rabbit-proof' fence... looks like I need to fix that.... in the meantime I'll have to get some repellent and see if it works to save my carrots and cantaloupe!

[garden5]

This may sound nuts, but you can actually buy jugs of predator urine (fox, coyote, etc.) and dump it around the perimeter of your garden. The down side to this, of course, is that you must keep re-applying it after the rains. In the end, a strong fence is the best method to keep almost any animal out of the garden.

[JONA878]

I've found over the years that the best control is to place a small piece of lead just behind the rabbits ear.

Then roast, fry or bake in a pie....delicious.

I have never been completely successful in making my garden rabbit proof dispite much fencing and many trials of deterants from human hair to the contents of a foxe's midden.

So, if Brer Rabbit wants to share my table..fair enough...but he becomes part of it as well.........providing I can catch the little rascals.

[bdub653]

Take 6 hot peppers( I used jalepenos on sale) and 6 "bulbs" of garlic. Pop them in a blender with water to make a smoothie. Pour into 1 gallon of water for 1 hour, then strain. Apply over vegetable plants and around perimeter of garden once a week.

I noticed the rabbits and ground hogs suddenly dining on grass instead of my veggie plants.

[lovegarden]

I sprinkle Blood Meal organic fertilizer around the plants, this work for me this year. Last year I lost most of my vegetables to rabbit, deer and mole.

[mandipants]

Hey I just want to let everyone know that there is no reason to use outlandish procedures for keeping cute little bunnies out of your garden. As everyone knows there is an over population all over the country of stray animals. This is why everyone should spay and neuter their pets. There is also no reason to kill, hurt, or poison our wildlife. The solution is simple and it works perfectly. First get a small gardening fence, you can get these at any store that sells garden supplies for a couple dollars. Then put it around your most precious plants that you know the rabbits and such other animals love to eat( not sure if this plan will work for big animals such as deer). Then the thing that is the vital to this plan is MARIGOLDS! That is it. No crazy antics, just flowers. I have been a gardener for 6 years now and have never had any animals invade my garden, never! Try it for yourself and let us know if works for you. No reason to harm our wonderful earth and to promote over population of stray animals. Thanks, hope it works for you as well as it has for me!

[polarbearforge]

We used to have a lot of rabbits in our area. I think it was because we didn't have as many cats as the neighbors. Now that we have a few outside kitties, the visible rabbit population has noticable declined.

I live out in the country, and when I am in the garden, I can't see any roads or houses, so rather than run inside to go to the bathroom, I usually mark my territory outside.

A number of years ago, we watched a rabbit wandering towards my parents garden. At one point, he seemed to noticed a barrier and quickly went another way. It turns out my dad had been filling a sprayer and periodically sprayed the perimeter of the garden. I've employed a similar method around the garden with no rabbit damage.

Jamie

[BrianIllinois]

I have tried just about everything.

Spray-on chemicals. Bottled fox urine. Blended-up peppers.

Plastic mesh fencing? Ate through it.
Marigolds? Ate 'em.
BB gun? I swear they can tell when you're armed.
Dog? Mine has caught only one.

They're thick in my town, like rats. I've lost count of how many young plants I've lost.

But there's hope. There've been a couple reports this year of coyotes being spotted in town.
My brother, who lives in a nearby suburb, says he never has problems with rabbits in his garden. He thinks that might be due to the abundance of urban coyotes in his suburb.
I can only hope: That the predator becomes the prey.

[jal_ut]

If you can get some four foot wide 1" mesh chicken wire to put around your garden then bend a foot of it to 90° and put that portion on the ground, the rabbits will not get in. They won't dig under because of the part on the ground. They always try to dig right at the fence, and if that ground is covered by the net, they give up. They can't think to start digging a foot back. They will not chew that wire and make holes in it. This leaves a 3 foot high fence and the rabbits will not climb it. If you have trouble with climbers like raccoons or opossums, you could install an electric fencer and run a wire around the top 4 inches above the net.

[donworden]

Well, I am not an advocate for the destruction of the critter populations in my neighborhood... While we are in a very populated area, there is a plethora of critters, racoons, rabbits, squirels, ground hogs, skunks, deer to name a few. The wife and I have 2 dogs... One is an austrailian cattle dog, and the other is a jug (Jack Russel, Pug mix). The cattle dog (Pita) is the squirrel / deer removal device, no she doesnt catch them... The Jug (Sasha) is a wabbit getter and ground dweller removal dog.. I watched her bothering a trapped rabbit in the middle of my garden, and eventually it got chased out thru a crack in the chain link fence and our house. We have never allowed our animals to destroy another animal, nor will we. However we also do appreciate the fact that our back yard is critter free. And yes on numerous occaisions I have witnessed both bucks and does running down our very populated street. I also want to point out that Sasha is actually Pita's pet.

[BP]

Fence or rifle.

[Kisal]

I also want to point out that Sasha is actually Pita's pet.

I like this!

[TheWaterbug]

If you can get some four foot wide 1" mesh chicken wire to put around your garden then bend a foot of it to 90° and put that portion on the ground, the rabbits will not get in. They won't dig under because of the part on the ground. They always try to dig right at the fence, and if that ground is covered by the net, they give up. They can't think to start digging a foot back.

Shhh!!!!! What if they read your post?!?!?!

But seriously, I had major squirrel problems last year, and barriers were the only thing that worked. I tried all kinds of deterrents, including dried blood and insanely expensive coyote urine, and they were less than useless.

Rabbits can chew through plastic chicken wire? That's scary. I hate the metal stuff, but if that's all that works, use it.

[gixxerific]

I was re reading this thread just now.

Jun 2009 in this thread I posted the rabbits were tearing up my Sweet potatoes well guess what they area at it again.

I have since that posting put up a fence around my main garden but not my secondary garden where my sweets are this year. So I just threw some Agribon over them they are doing well now. But they did a lot of damage in only a few day's after they found them. Which happened to be a few day's after I planted them.

[Zorro35]

I wonder if the used kitty litter would make my dogs more crazy about the rabbit than they already are. I have two dogs who are always looking for the rabbits. The dogs are fenced into the back yard which does not seem to stop the rabbits from visiting there regularly. The big problem today is the rabbits are eating my asters leaves. My vegetable garden so far has not been attacked by the bunnies, it is fenced. The foxes that used to live across the street by the lake appeared to have moved on and the rabbits moved in. The only good thing so far is that a large hawk ate one of the rabbits a couple of days ago for dinner in our front yard. (We have pictures) Have not been able to contact Mr. Hawk to come back and take the other 4 rabbits terrorizing our street anyone got Rabbit Mines?

[johnny123]

Wow!!! 4 pages.
Buy the time I read all these replies the fence could of been put up. LOL

[jennydevon]

If you can afford it go for an electric fence but if not, reuse old mosquito screens or poultry mesh and surround each plant in a cylindrical shape. It also help to grow other plants such as alfafa and clover that rabbits love but plant them far away from your prized ones. Rabbits are well known breeders and can be a regional problem so I would speak to nearby residents to see if it is a regional problem.

[infinitijeff]

When you were talking about your using a sprayer, Is he peeing in the bottle? Like you, I can mark any place my heart and my bladder desires.

[Zorro35]

My neighbor just told me that she found 2 bunnies in her window well - I have an idea - I am going to put a trash can in my window well and cover it with newspaper and put a piece of lettuce on top and hope the bunnies will go for the lettuce and fall into the trash can. I am not aware that bunnies can jump very high. I will let you know if it works - bunnies soup anyone!