surrounded by RABBITS

how can I keep rabbits from eating my flowers, I just planted five new plants with lovely foilage and this morning most of the leaves were gone and 3 baby rabbits were eating breakfast, there are so many around here I am at my wits end. I did purchse a spray from farm store but it sure didn't work and it was $11 for a small (1 pint) spray bottle

Human, cat, or dog hair placed in among your flowers will help keep the rabbits away.

thanks CoCo I will try that

Coffee grounds work too. I've also seen many suggestions of "rabbit scat".

Our pet rabbit decided he was in lust with one of our infirm dogs, so we looked for formulas, etc to put on the dog. Garlic spray, hairspray, nada worked. I am thinking the dog hair wont work with the neighbor's bunnies who run free in the neighborhood since Bunnie felt free to pester the dog by digging at her fur, but I am going to give it a try, along with my hair. A dozen prize coleus plants gone in record time. Anyone have success with anything short of wire cages around the plants? I do grow a variety of plants for the bunnies but if I skip putting some out, I am always sorry with the loss of something I didn't want them to eat.

I will definitely be trying the coffee grounds now that I've read that one. Don't have a cat or dog :-S

I'll be watching this thread too, to see what I can do about the bunnies without harming them. (I love bunnies!) What other plants to you use to feed them, Ladyanne?

Cajun, our bunny garden consists of yarrow, sage, parsley, pennyroyal, carrots (they love the tops, tolerate the vegetable) watercress (double yun) chamomile, kolrabi (sp?) gotukola, every lettuce under the sun, broccoli, basil, spinach, radish (tops only) horseradish (leaves), licorice leaves (special treat), kale, endive. Not everything is a regular every day food, some are special treats and rabbits should not have a great deal. Hope that helps. I wish I had the room to grow alfalfa and timothy hay!

The list of bunny no-no's in quite a few pages. If you are interested in it, I would be more than happy to send it.

Oh cool!!!! TY TY TY!!! You know last year I didn't have a CLUE there were bunnies in the back yard. So I thought I was just a horrible gardener... couldn't grow certain leafy things to save my life! (spinach, basil, sage, parsley). Thought it was just me! LOL Good to know MAYBE I'm not such a bad gardener. Just a work in progress :-)

BTW... anyone know where I can find Pennyroyal seeds? I'd looked all year and didn't find any in the stores. I'd gladly trade you something if you could share some seeds.

Cajun, send me your addess. I will send of flowers, thusly seeds. Separating the seeds is too difficult for mine old eyes, but I am sure this would work for you!

kewl hon! tyvm!
What can I send you in return?
I am gathering seeds now from my Jewels of Opar, Pink & Purple Ruellia, some tall bronze leaf Cannas, Money Plant, Yellow 4 o'clocks, Blue Pincushion, Red Zinnia, and Orange Mint (although the PDB says seed collecting is not recommended). I'll be collecting seeds soon from my Cardinal Climber and Hyacinth Bean Vine. I still have 2003 seeds from the Hyacinth Bean and some Castor Beans.

Just LMK!

Here's something I've successfully used for two years now which has eliminated any bunny damage to my perennial beds:

"Mix 2 eggs in a blender or food processor with 1 cup of water (just to break down the yolk and albumen of the egg) and put it in a garden sprayer with 1 gallon of water and spray all the good bunny munchies - be they plants, shrubs or trees. You´ll need to respray about every 3 months or, in the case of tulips and other spring yummies, when new growth or buds appear. The mixture does not wash off with rain or snow and does not change the appearance of the plant in any way -- The theory being that eggs are protein and rabbits are vegetarians."

I found this online a couple of winters ago from Jean of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and it works. I've shared it with half a dozen friends who also have had success. A local nursery person told me that if I add garlic gloves to the mix it would also keep deer away. I don't have deer, but a friend of mind does and I'm going to try it with garlic in the spring in her gardens.

Good luck...

hey very cool! I'll definitely give it a shot... thing is... I'm not really certain which plants of mine they DID dine on. It's one of those things where I see a plant in an old picture or read someone's mention of a variety and I'm thinking "hey, wait a minute. I think I HAD that plant... where did it go?" So I can't say I didn't kill it myself (or maybe it committed suicide), or if it became something I shared with a hare.

Sure worth a try!!

So I am not the only one with plants that commit suicide? LOL!! Hamilton, thanks for the egg idea, I will try that, too! One of the bunnies burrowed under the ground yesterday (does that mean she's moved in?) and I am sure we will see the plants above suffer, but it's evening primrose so no loss considering we can't kill that stuff. "Share with a hare" - love it!!!

I sure will try the egg mixture, tried the hair, that did not work, also the expensive stuff I bought to stop the squirrels didn't work either.it is called Deer Off, for Rabbits, Squirrels, and Deer at $12 a pint in a spray bottle

Dried blood meal works well for me but it has to be re-applied every two or three weeks. I'm thinking I'll try the egg mixture next.

Lets keep in touch and let everyone know when we discover something that works, even though it might not work on all bunnies. I am thinking that Holstein, who doesn't like yarrow, wont react the same way as Gurnsey, who loves the stuff. Just a thought.

I had a serious problem with rabbits, as whined on other threads. :-) I live in a subdivision with few gardeners. So comes spring time when rabbits are hungry. They come dine at my garden. They probably find other things to eat during summer. I haven't had too many visits.

Here is a list of products or methods that works or doesn't work for me.

Works for me:
Rabbit Scat (works the best for me)
Blood Meal

Does NOT work for me:
Hair (human or dog or cat)
Cayenne pepper, pepper, tobacco sauce
Silver reflective stuff
Scardy Cat! Bunny Gone! Coleus

Edit: I might give ehamilton12's egg formular a try next spring. Rabbit Scat works very well. But the warning label is scary. I hate to use evil to fight evil.


This message was edited Sep 14, 2004 12:27 PM

I have had "Battle of the Bunnies" raging for years. I had tried all of the folk remedies and a few store bought. As for the egg, it's worth a try. This year and last, I've used Liquid Fence. It contains egg and other kinds of nastiness (but nothing harmful) to keep the little buggers at bay. I haven't lost a single plant, this year even all my hostas were completely filled out! Now I am so sold on this stuff, I buy the concentrate. And it's guaranteed. Good luck!
http://www.liquidfence.com/

Golly, I hope to heck our local stores have that. Thanks, Moby! Now I have a bundle of new things to try, along with a new baby bunny. Boy, they DO multiply, don't they?

I get it at our 2 local nurseries. Your Wally World type garden centers probably won't have it.

Ye gads and little fishes. We have one of the front wild bunnies, the youngest born this spring, in our bunny cage in the bunny run. Lopped ears, deer brown (dirty dishwasher brown?) and as cute as can be. After a four house and ten neighbor chase we managed to catch the poor thing who keeps crossing the bizzie, bizzie street, totally street unwise like her lovely tame mum who became road pizza last week. The bunny run houses the white California Giant bunny who we inherited the week before. Don't ask. The question is, the run is partioned off with a fence I can JUST barely step over, I am 5'9, so it's hmmm, three feet tall. The lop ear is in a big bunny cage but very unhappy. Until we find a home, IF we find a home, I would prefer he/she run loose in the bunny area. This is not a tamed bunny. Sooo....how high CAN they jump? Letting her out to find out the hard way will not be fun. Anyone have experience with bunnies jumping your short garden fences, etc, and if so, how high were the fences? Anyone want a REALLY cute bunny?

Only if it's the Easter Bunny that brings my bubble-blowing toys!

I was at Lowe's today seeing what they might have (they do carry quite a few Texas native plants, much to my surprise) ~ alas nothing on sale.

But what I DID find that was rather interesting was a little plant with cute little "scarecrow" type things on sticks. Now this was the same plant with 3 different 'scarecrows' ~ one being a bunny, one being a cat and the third being a dog.

However... when I got home, I tried researching the Coleus canina on PDB but there is no such listing. The plant is called 'Bunnies Gone' 'Scardy Cat' and 'Dog's Gone' (Coleus canina) and I finally found it online here: http://www.millstadtjungplants.com/
After looking over their website, I see that it's not exactly hardy here. Obvious an annual, but... not sure if it'd even grow here in the summer. (Or it could also be that I have misread the information or misinterpreted...)

And I had gotten really excited there for a minute!

I am no longer excited about them anymore. If you notice my post, those plants didn't work for me. Sorry, worked for *me*, as in chasing me away. It stunk! Didn't make the slightest difference to the rabbits. BTW, I don't have dog problem in my garden, but my Husky doesn't seem too impressed with the sinky plants either. Someone else might have better luck. The rabbit gangs in my neighborhood are rough.

Too funny... you crack me up, drop "The rabbit gangs in my neighborhood are rough."

Yeah, I was drawn in by the 'scarecrow' looking signs on their tags, but quickly figured there was no way it'd survive winter OR summer here, so what good would it be? And how many would you have to have... assuming it DID work?! hmmmph!

Don't have any 'gangs' in this 'hood, just the Sabre-Toothed Bunny kind. Same for the squirrels... rotten little %^#$^*&s....

Sigh. I wish I had your wisdom, Cajun2. I bought 10 at more than $4 a pop "to see if they work". I am very sure I did an Elma-Fudd-evil-face when I bought them, "I am buying 10!!!. It's wabba season!"

Honestly, the light green color looks nice against everything. Under the right condition, this coleus could grow to a huge clump. Unfortunately, the bigger they get, the stinkier they get.

I would try the egg formula. I saw one bunny came back and munched on the Liatris.

new method I am trying, I soaked some HOT RED PEPPERS in water, then poured the water around the plants, did not hurt the plants but have not seen a rabbit near them for almost a week

I had rabbits and bunnies in my yard all year. They don't seem to bother much of anything. I don't know what I am doing right or wrong. I do notice that they prefer to eat grass if given the choice. I saw some of them sitting right in a flower bed and muching on weeds and grass.
It does not cost much to go to a feed store and bring home some alfalfa hay to lay around the base of the plants. I have pet rabbits in cages and when I let them loose, they like to nibble in clover. So maybe sow some clover, or if your yard is like mine, you may already have a patch or two in your lawn. Just grab hands full and place it where the bunny is trying to eat your plants.
You could also buy 25lb bags of rabbit pellets for about $6 and set out some of those for them to nibble on. I know it may sound strange to feed them, but they are not going to go anywhere anyway, so you may as well.

hey i like that idea windy!
i'll just get some alfalfa hay for the garden!
smart thinkin' lincoln!

The wild front yard bunnies here have been so much better about not eating no-no plants since we made a bunny fast food stall. Alfalfa, timothy hay, pellets, water dish, carrots, etc under a plywood, three walled shelter. Only problem is, someone took one of them and Gurnsey is left all by herself now. Too sad.

Rabbits are tough. They are so cute but when I see a large bite out of a beautiful hosta, ouch. The blood meal works for a small area and has be be replaced after a rain.

I will definitely have to try the egg trick. The worst thing here is the red cardinal plant. I have tried 3 years running only to be defeated by the bunnies. The lady I got them from has a huge bed of them but she obviously does not have bunnies. They sheared mine to the ground.

Cayenne or cracked pepper does deter the squirrels and chipmunks at least here.

I was so mad tonight I was ready to grab those rabbits and throw them in the neighbor's living room. I don't have to prune my roses, that has been overdone. My neighbors have had a bunch of rabbits all Summer. They eat my plants - I have lots of clover in my yard- but they prefer daisies,roses,etc. They also keep my dogs riled up. I see they are starting to eat the bark of my shrubs. At least 5 got run over in the road but they still have at least three. I know they will run all Winter without shelter or food. I will definitely try the egg and liquid fence on my shrubs. I used hot sauce and red pepper flakes all Summer which helped but still lost plants. Funny, in 20 years I have seen wild ones around but never lost a plant to them!

An old folk remedy for deterring bunnies is talcum powder. I've never tried it because the bunnies around here don't eat my plants. I read about it in the Farmer's Almanac.

My bunny/chipmunk/squirrel deterrent is urine soaked cat litter. maybe a cat poop here and there. I have 10 cats, so the litter is not a problem. I put it down in Tablespoon increments once every 10 days around areas I don't want "interference" with. Works like a charm! April

I will try them both! I am ready to try anything - even bring in my "trap em/ shoot em" nephew!! My DD has cats so getting used litter is no problem. Someone told me coyotes kept their rabbit population down. We have them here! Of course, these are tame rabbits - the neighbors- so maybe they don't venture far enough into the woods. Thanks.

I haven't seen fox urine mentioned. It is not cheap but a little goes along way and it is very effective.

Ok, that really makes me wonder what might be in fox urine that isn't in ours? Hmmm...or dogs, cats, etc.

I don't know but my urine didn't keep the bunnies or the deer outta the yard, LOL!!!