How to Keep Rabbits out of Garden

[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!

[dave103069]

This is what I use and it seems to work for me for most critters, deer, rabits, squirls, chimpmuncks & bugs..

I use fresh items

Get a one gallon jug to make the mixture - then you will need a spray bottle to apply

Habenero peppers cut open - about 5 or 6 - you can use other peppers
Garlic - about 10 cloves just smashed a little
Egg Shells - about 5 or 6 eggs worth
Fill the rest of the jug with HOT water but leave a liitle room for last item
Dish Soap - about a cup worth - I use plain green palmolive
Leave outside for a couple days to ferment
Then pour the liquid only into a spray bottle and spray on plants at night

Seems to work for me on keeping things away...

I have about 55 pots with various items, tomatoes, hot peppers, derby beans, squash, ect. I also suround all my plants with the hot pepper plants just in case.

[infinitijeff]

One heck of a recipe. I wouldn't eat it either.

[kyhwy]

go to a sporting goods and get some fox urin that is used as a cover sent for deer hunting, put a few drops in different places around your garden. the fox is natural predator of rabbits.

[Georgene]

I tried live-trapping the rabbits in my yard and relocating them, but I still had problems. There were simply too many rabbits and I ending up building a chicken wire fence to protect the garden. The fence of course works, but is pretty ugly. I would love to find a fence that looks better. Does anyone have a suggestion for a better fence?

[ruggr10]

I lucked out and there is a female fox who lives behind my property. Thanks to her, I've never even seen a rabbit around my yard.

[TheWaterbug]

I lucked out and there is a female fox who lives behind my property. Thanks to her, I've never even seen a rabbit around my yard.

That would be awesome. I need to "adopt" a predator that will eat squirrels and gophers, but that's too small to threaten either my cat when she (infrequently) escapes from the house or the super-friendly feral cat that lives next door, but who doesn't seem to want to eat my rodents.

[Kisal]

I tried live-trapping the rabbits in my yard and relocating them, but I still had problems. There were simply too many rabbits and I ending up building a chicken wire fence to protect the garden. The fence of course works, but is pretty ugly. I would love to find a fence that looks better. Does anyone have a suggestion for a better fence?

You can use any kind of fencing, even a picket fence, as long as the spaces aren't large enough for the rabbits to get through.

Whatever you use, just attach some wire to the bottom 12 or 18 inches of the fencing and bend it so it lays flat on the ground on the outside of your garden fence. Digging animals, like rabbits and many rodents, will dig at the bend in the wire, where it's attached to your other fencing. They just don't have the brainpower to dig at the free edge of the wire.

I prefer to use welded wire rather than hardware cloth or chicken wire, because rabbits and rodents can chomp right through lightweight wire with those wonderful incisors they're blessed with.

[Tat2doc]

Here is a trick that I found works very well. It's actually a combination approach. Both parts use the sensitive sense of smell of the rabbit. First, mix some Rosemary and Mint in with your vegetable garden or around the perimeter. Second, pour "sudsy ammonia" around the outside of the garden (the ammonia scent is a convenient substitute for fox urine and a trick that I actually found when looking for a way to drive away groundhogs). If you can't find sudsy ammonia where you live, just mix about 2 cups of ammonia into about a cup of water (always pour ammonia into water and not the other way around), then add about 2 ounces of dishwashing or laundry deterrent to mixture. Mix this solution outside or in we'll ventilated area and do not lean over bottle when mixing. In fact, it's not a bad idea to wear goggles to protect your eyes from fumes and wear rubber gloves when mixing to protect hands from splashing. Pour this solution on ground around the garden periodically depending on rainfall and you'll be pleased with the results. Happy gardening!

[JayPoc]

The lady across the street maintains a herd of about 10 (more, probably...hard to count) feral cats. I haven't seen a bunny in years...

[valley]

I'm thinking of hiring a cats, an outside cats. In the mountains we have mice and other rodents. Lower we have mice, kangaroo rats and rabbits.

[mattie g]

The lady across the street maintains a herd of about 10 (more, probably...hard to count) feral cats. I haven't seen a bunny in years...

We have a good number of foxes in our neighborhood and the woods surrounding it, and we also have a few outdoor cats around. I've seen one rabbit in this neighborhood in four years of being here.

Now, if only they could take care of the squirrels that get into my peach tree...

[HamptonsGarden]

What's best way to trap rabbit safely so I can transport to the wild?

[LeafyGreenSteve]

Greetings folks, first time posting. One option I didn't see mentioned here was motion activated sprinklers. Example: http://amzn.to/1seRfNV . I've purchased one and haven't had rabbit problems since, or dog, cat, raccoon, etc... It's really a good solution compared to some of the attempts I've seen, maybe it can help someone.

[valley]

Or a trap, there are traps you can make with instructions on the net, door closes behind them when they activate the trigger by eating the bate.

[Gary350]

The easiest why to keep unwanted animals out of the garden is, get a CAT.