Issue 3, May 19, 2021

Rabbits in the Landscape

I look forward to my local FFA Chapter’s annual greenhouse sale. It’s a great opportunity to spruce up the front of the house with flowers.  I have hanging baskets across the porch and several planters filled with a variety of annuals.  I enjoy the beauty of the flowers and the color they give the yard.  This year, not even a week after planting, I noticed several planters that the plants were broken, missing, or chewed on.  I have two little boys that love play in the dirt, and so I honestly just chalked it up to them getting carried away playing.  After watering these planters daily, I noticed the plants getting smaller and found rabbit scat in the planters. I finally found the culprit. I began to feel like Mr. McGregor from Peter Rabbit and wanted full-on warfare with them. It not only financially hurts as I watched several dollars be eaten up, but I also lost the beauty of all the flowers.

Knowing that I couldn’t just tie my dog out front in the yard to keep the rabbits away, I was going to need to resort to some other form of control.  There are two types of repellents available to use taste and odor repellents.  Taste repellents containing thiram and ziram make the plants distasteful.  Odor repellents repel the rabbits by a strong odor that is emitted, and the products may contain ammonium soaps.  These products can vary in their range of effectiveness as some rabbits will deal with the taste or the smell and still proceed to eat around the infected area or chew on new tender growth.  The other problem is the frequent application required as many of the products wash off during rain or watering.

The next option is to modify the habitat. In my case, it is to raise containers over 2 feet high to keep rabbits being able to jump into the container. It can also mean keeping the yard free of debris, tall grass, or places for the rabbits to burrow. In my case, the containers are heavy, and the bottoms are not very sturdy, so we will have to create a strong base with legs to raise the containers should we choose this option.  Habit modification can be effective but living in an urban setting, even if you modify your area, your neighbor might not, and that will not deter the rabbits from visiting.

The last and most effective option is exclusion.  Fencing is the best way to keep rabbits out until new plants have time to establish.  Chicken wire has been proven effective against rabbits. The mesh of the wire should be 1 inch or more petite and at least 2 feet tall.  Be sure to support the fence with posts (rebar, wooden posts, or fence posts) and bury it slightly under the soil to keep the rabbits from burrowing.  Also available for use are U-shaped landscape pins that can hold the fence down. 

Unfortunately, the fence may not have the same aesthetic appearance that you were hoping to have, but rabbit control is difficult.  There is no magic bullet to control rabbits, so make multiple tactic approaches to the problem with repellents, trapping, exclusion, and habitat modifications to get the best results.

Jauron, Richard. Protecting Gardens from Rabbits. Iowa State University Horticulture and Home Pest News.https://hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/2002/6-21-2002/rabbits.html. Accessed 5/17/2021.

Author:
Maria Turner

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