How can I stop rabbits eating my plants?

swebb

Not pet rabbits - we have wild rabbits that roam the garden and they eaten some plants that I've been putting in. And they keep digging holes in the soil and even the lawn - any ideas on how to deter them?

Murlyboo

I'm afraid you can't stop rabbits eating plants, unless you're prepared to:

1. Install a lion
2. Hand out rabbit muzzles and make them obligatory
3. Change all the plants in your garden to cacti

Being a rabbit owner, and a mad fan thereof, I don't recommend any of the above. Realistically, the only way to keep rabbits off your plants is to keep them out of the garden. Bunny-proofing to keep them out of the garden is the only way.

nickj_2

i let our rabbits run out in our garden , they are fussy on the plants they will eat , they dont tend to eat shrub type bushes , lillies , hydrangeas - red hot pokers it would be a matter of trial and error to find stuff they don't like , unless you can totally fence of your garden , incidently i have a small veg plot , one of the rabbits ignores it completely , whilst the other likes to get stuck in - needless to say , he doesn't get to roam as much

Murlyboo

Nick, if you haven't seen Wallace and Gromit's Curse of the Wererabbit, you must

My first (and previous) bunny never bothered about eating a thing in the garden but my little scamp of a bunny will happily eat his way through every leaf on every plant if I let him. Needless to say I have installed a huge metal bunny playpen in the middle of the lawn :rotfl:

wallbash

Another bunny owner

they are fussy on the plants they will eat

yes , tame rabbits are fussy, they are fed every day
wild rabbits will eat anything
Baby rabbits will 'run ' thru wire fencing , as if it did not exist :eek:

any ideas on how to deter them?

No !

Murlyboo

Ah but this is no ordinary rabbit (spot the Python quote) fencing! This is thick galvanised Merlin-proof fencing! And Merlin-proof fencing needs to be practically lion-proof. This animal can turn a hutch into woodshavings overnight (I think he's a beaver, actually). He's 5 months old and we're on hutch number 2. That's not very money saving is it :rolleyes2

Anyway, I digress...

If rabbits can get in your garden, they can and WILL eat EVERYTHING given half a chance (as you've worked out by now). The only way, like I said, is to bunny proof. I'm not an expert on this because luckily my garden was completely rabbit-proof when I moved in so no alterations needed to be made. I have a feeling its quite a bg job though, because even if you block off the bottoms of fences and things with bricks, the little blighters can still burrow under. You could try it I suppose, but ideally the best bunny-proofing method is to run wire all the way round the garden and made sure it goes a few inches down into the soil.

Failing that, try the muzzles.

will-he-payitoff

Get someone to shoot them and have a nice stew and the last laugh, could use some of your veg if they have left you any

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Bunny stew - organic, low fat, nutritious, and makes you feel like your carrots are getting their own back.

AndyD_OHD

I did read somewhere that they don't like the scent of onions, so planting onions amidst your other plants may be an idea. Also on the Beechgrove garden I did see them encirlce their crops with chicken wire and embed within a 6inch deep trench to impede burrowing under. It seemed to work....

Andy

Pretani

agree with 'will-he-payitoff', eat the rabbits. That would be the easiest way. they're actually quite nice.

martindow

Pretani wrote: »

agree with 'will-he-payitoff', eat the rabbits. That would be the easiest way. they're actually quite nice.

But no matter how many you eat there are likely to still be rabbits feeding off your garden!