Help with rabbits eating flowering plants

[Anywho6]

My mother lives in Louisville, KY and is frustrated (to put it mildly) that she's not able to keep any flowers in her yard for more than a day or two before they are completely devoured by rabbits. Is there a way to safely and effectively deter the rabbits without chemicals or harming them?

Thank you kindly in advance for your suggestions!

[Dover]

1. An outdoor dog?

Works for us.

[Anywho6]

4. I wish!

Yes, that would be a great idea, but she is quite the busy woman--church, works full-time and helps with her eight grandkids, so having a dog is not an option. She LOVES it when my sister brings her beagle over and he makes a beeline for the backyard to track the bunnies!

[bluerum]

2. Pick plants that rabbits don't eat. There are some. Then surround the

others with those.

Not much else you can do - maybe try some organic rodent repellents like coyote urine or something.

I hear ropel works and is not toxic. It stinks though.

Maybe sprinkle a few mothballs if you can live with that.

[Cleita]

3. Has she seen the rabbits doing this?

I have been fighting three problems this year, birds, gophers and snails but no rabbits. I find wire baskets in the ground before planting deters the gophers, bird netting the birds and various traps I use for snails are effective. It's a lot of work. I think wire baskets (I use chicken wire) over her new plants would discourage the rabbits. She could also plant lettuce along the edges of her garden to keep the rabbits busy there. All I can say is good luck. It's been a tough year for gardening here in California too.

[Speck Tater]

5. Rabbit Stew. (nt)

[Anywho6]

6. HAHAHA!! Oh, she would love nothing better... n/t

[griffi94]

7. we have the same problem

except it's not rabbits...it's our autistic 12 year old son
he loves to eat the flowers...well he chews and spits them out

[Straight Shooter]

8. Here you go ...

Another effective form of animal repellant is fox urine powder that copies the smell of a fox; the natural predator of mice, rabbits, rats, skunks, woodchucks, groundhogs, moles, possum, chipmunks, shrews and voles. Containing the same safety properties of coyote urine powder, fox urine odors help direct these forms of wildlife away from your lawn and garden preserving your precious garden.

http://www.frostproof.com/garden/animal-repellent.html

[The River]

9. Predator Urine

They actually sell it in some garden supply stores
Lion dung, panther piss, etc.
Cute little plant eating mammals instincively know the smell
of predators who eat them and clear out ASAP.

I used to get "big cat" dung every spring when the
circus would come to town.

[MuseRider]

24. Visit the local zoo.

We had heard that urine worked. I think it was the best summer my young boys ever had, running outside to pee around the garden. What is it with boys anyway?

BTW, their urine did not work. :hi:

[Lobster Martini]

10. Red pepper flakes. n/t

[thatgemguy]

11. Dried Blood

Go to the garden store and buy a bag of Dried Blood. Sprinkle it liberally around the plants. Rabbits hate the smell of death, and will avoid the area.

Another benefit is that Dried Blood is a mild fertilizer, providing a source of nitrogen.

I use it on my lettuce and other crops that rabbits like to munch on.

[Sherman A1]

13. It has worked for us in our garden

I believe it is called Blood Meal (at least around here).

[nevergiveup]

19. Blood meal

works really well. Rabbits hate it but you have to sprinkle it again after a rain.

[tubbacheez]

12. Fence?

Sorry to present a likely obvious idea, but would a physical barrier be appropriate in this situation? It worked for my strawberry patch years ago.

[Lobster Martini]

14. Fence wouldn't matter here--we have some seriously tough bunnies

Our bunnies will kick your bunnies' cotton tails any day of the week.

[tubbacheez]

16. Okayyyy... in light of that additional information...

How about a wall? No? Cinder block wall? Maybe? How about punji sticks? Reactive armor? Mines???


And if a wall won't stop 'em, I'd be skeptical that the other suggestions involving various odors will work either.


Best wishes in any case.

[Lobster Martini]

18. Ever seen "Night of the Lepus"?

I am not making this up, I have witnessed rabbit fights. There is nothing stranger that witnessing a battle of herbivores. These are some punk bunnies.

[tubbacheez]

20. Nope, but I saw "The Magnificent Seven," so...

clearly, your best solution is to hire seven tough but handsome lone-wolf maverick bunnies with combat skillz and attitude problems, and form them into a fighting team of self-less heroes who can defeat the other far-more-evil bunnies in a showdown match that will go down in history.


If it were me, I'd switch to a rock garden. If these hossenfeffers are so punk, who am I to blow against the wind?

[Anywho6]

25. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! God, I love that movie... n/t

[OnionPatch]

26. I have some pretty tough bunnies here

but the fence keeps them out. If the fence is high enough with no holes in it, I don't see how they would get in. :shrug: I tried every other method for this same problem and all of them were only temporary fixes at best until I invested in my fence.

[MuseRider]

15. I have heard that human hair works.

I have not tried it but I was told to go to a beauty salon and ask them to save hair. I guess it would be worth a try or she could borrow one of my damned cats that brought me a barely living baby rabbit last night. I got to take care of it until it died. Grrrr.

[Sanctified]

23. This does work.

As long as your dealing with rabbits who are afraid of humans, the hair has human scent on it and will keep the rabbits away, this also works on deer.

[Anywho6]

17. You DUers are just awesome!

Thank you for your practical, humorous, thoughtful, enlightening suggestions! I will forward all to Mom.

Peace to you all...

C

[applegrove]

21. Have you tried those garden noisemakers that emit a constant beep? I hear

it works on groundhogs and mice. Perhaps on rabits too.

[Cleita]

22. They don't work. I tried them and the gophers and moles

tunneled around them in close proximity.