topic Re: Bunnies!! in Garden

Bunnies!!

JuLee — Thu, 04 May 2017 21:53:47 GMT

The community that we just moved into has a TON of rabbits hopping around everywhere. They're very cute and we love watching them, BUT they ate all of my tulips!

I read that if you put coffee grounds around the plants they won't eat the plants because they don't like the smell of coffee. We tried that.... to no avail!

I don't want to put out anything harmful, but I'd like them to stay away from my tulips.

Does anyone have any suggestions??

Re: Bunnies!!

Hershey2 — Thu, 04 May 2017 22:02:37 GMT

You can try dog or cat hair, myself I have had great success using a product called dried blood I get at the garden store. Just sprinkle and the added bonus is flowers grow better.

Re: Bunnies!!

Julie928 — Thu, 04 May 2017 22:07:57 GMT

My stepdad plants lots of tomato plants and plants marigolds around them to keep the rabbits away. Might be worth a try around your tulips. Good luck!

Re: Bunnies!!

Kachina624 — Thu, 04 May 2017 22:14:07 GMT

@Hershey2 wrote:
You can try dog or cat hair, myself I have had great success using a product called dried blood I get at the garden store. Just sprinkle and the added bonus is flowers grow better.

Plus you'll have the added bonus of meeting every dog and cat within 20 miles as they're attracted to the smell of this stuff. I've also heard it can contain salmonella and other harmful bacteria.

Re: Bunnies!!

Perkup — Thu, 04 May 2017 22:22:18 GMT

My solution? Just love them, feed them, and don't plant tulips. I have three or four in my back yard right now. At night they work over the front yard. We are thoroughly fenced, but the little buggers find ways to get in anyway. I finally decided if you can't beat 'em, love 'em and forget the flowers.

Last night the deer ate the tops off of about 40 sunflower plants. I'm sorry to see them go, but the animals have to eat, and I made the mistake of setting them into a front bed. Last week I watched as two large does jumped over our four foot fence into the back yard to get some "interesting" mushrooms that had come up. I enjoy the critters as much as I enjoy the flowers.

Re: Bunnies!!

HLP — Thu, 04 May 2017 22:32:45 GMT

Are you sure it's not deer? They love tulips. I gave up on all the flowers. Had beautiful flower beds and when the deer started coming I had to give up. The only thing they don't eat is Marygolds, and there are a variety of them now, so you may want to try those. They won't eat poppys, but pretty much everything else. I have always had rabbits, but had flowers till the deer showed up. I am surrounded by woods and decided to just enjoy. I have turkeys, and raccoons, but you finally give up I did, I have a raised flower stand coming tomorrow, going to try to grow herbs. I feel your pain, been there.

Re: Bunnies!!

dex — Thu, 04 May 2017 22:43:31 GMT

I have bunnies too and now they so used to me that they just go on eating and enjoy watching me working in the flowerbeds.I call them pets now and try to plant a few things for them in the back yard.

Re: Bunnies!!

StraytoStay — Thu, 04 May 2017 23:15:35 GMT

I was going to suggest feeding them, too, so they don't have to forage for food in your garden. I don't have any but saw one once in my area. I have a racoon that visits from time to time & a skunk. I'd love to have bunnies though!

Re: Bunnies!!

dex — Thu, 04 May 2017 23:19:26 GMT

@StraytoStay No way I'd trade my bunnies for your skunk...haha

Re: Bunnies!!

Gram W — Thu, 04 May 2017 23:19:53 GMT

@Perkup. I also have had to live with my neighbors on 4 legs. I went on line and got a list of the plants that wildlife do not like. They read the same list so in several cases they won. Now a widow I no longer plant a garden so their buffet they loved has disappeared. At present time I am waiting to see what nature has dealt me this year. For about 4 years I have had 2 foxes in my woods. They have devastated my once abundance of rabbits, pheasants and turkeys. The deer are still here. I saw a lone turkey down the road a few weeks ago. I hope this means that the foxes have moved on. I would love to see the rabbits, etc return. I still have raccoons, a skunk, possum, ducks and geese and the song birds are all returning.

I also have a beautiful grove of black walnut trees north of my kitchen window. It is a beautiful peaceful place to hang my hammock. I also learned that many flowers can not survive within 50 feet of these trees. I can use hanging baskets on shepherd hooks as long as I keep their soil protected. I have lots of nuts to harvest and black walnuts to stain with.

Life in the country is beautiful. You learn to flow with its natural happenings and adjust to nature's presents. Relax, watch, enjoy and work with what is provided. On line are many university studies of how to plant for your acquired neighbors and the plants that grow in your area. I got my information from Cornell University studies and articles. There are no articles that tell you how to deal with the beauty and cuteness of the critters who allow you to share their world. I am watching patiently for their arrival.

Re: Bunnies!!

JustJazzmom — Thu, 04 May 2017 23:20:33 GMT

@JuLee wrote:
The community that we just moved into has a TON of rabbits hopping around everywhere. They're very cute and we love watching them, BUT they ate all of my tulips!

I read that if you put coffee grounds around the plants they won't eat the plants because they don't like the smell of coffee. We tried that.... to no avail!

I don't want to put out anything harmful, but I'd like them to stay away from my tulips.
Does anyone have any suggestions??

Rabbit fencing works and is very effective. Get it at Lowe's or HD and cut with a wire cutter to size. See this around my Asiatic lilies which they nibble to the stems. I used a twistee at the top and then 3 U shaped landscape stakes to hold the 2 ends and 1 stake across from that.

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/18222203_10155520526294396_7882232224360575688_n.jpg?oh=e190a39d8daa47c0c5987339e612c49a&oe=597FD94B

Re: Bunnies!!

JustJazzmom — Thu, 04 May 2017 23:22:34 GMT

If it's just tulips, plant daffodils among them; they are poisonous to rabbits if they eat any part of the plant @JuLee

Re: Bunnies!!

Perkup — Fri, 05 May 2017 00:44:21 GMT

Geller Girl, your home sounds lovely and peaceful. I envy you. I'm also a widow, and I can't begin to keep up with the rose beds and various plantings that my precious husband kept so pristine. But I do care for a couple of rose beds, and have cleared out some of the plantings that we lost in an overnite freeze last winter. We (or me) live in a subdivision, but it is surrounded by a river and several hundred acres of woods, so we get many wild things. The usual raccoons, possum, dozens of squirrels both grey and brown, doves, cardinals, bunnies, deer. Last year trappers removed three bobcaats from behind the home across the street, and we sometimes have a gator wandering through from the swamp down the street. We are also blessed with many armadillos, who constantly dig holes in the yards. I can deal with all of it except the dillos and the snakes. Enjoy your wonderful place. It sounds amazing.

Re: Bunnies!!

makena — Fri, 05 May 2017 03:49:56 GMT

@JuLee a product called "Liquid Fence." They foraged my lillies one year. This spray works beautifully. We still have a bunny or two every year but they no longer bother the flowers ... they just eat the clover and grass in our back yard.

Re: Bunnies!!

x Hedge — Fri, 05 May 2017 05:22:53 GMT

I just plant the outer row with a wall of Swiss Chard for them.
It's pretty, and they don't venture further in. They stay on the outer perimeter, keeping a watchful eye out for predators while nibbling chard. So far they don't touch anything in the rows behind the chard.

Re: Bunnies!!

Lilysmom — Fri, 05 May 2017 09:46:42 GMT

@JustJazzmom @JuLee I have rabbits also. They ate my Allium leaves last year but not the flower. They also nibbled on the hostas along the edge of the property. This year, they came back. I have some small wire fencing to close of parts of the garden when I plant new items. I used those and also used a couple of tomato cages turned upside down. The fences must have worked as they stopped eating the leaves. I was surprised it worked.

I planted quite a few Canada 150 tulips this year for Canada's 150th birthday. So far so good. Fingers crossed.

Good luck. LM

Re: Bunnies!!

candys mine — Fri, 05 May 2017 11:39:46 GMT

@x Hedge Swiss chard? Does that really work? I can DO that! Can't hurt, might help, THANKS for the idea!

Re: Bunnies!!

tototwo — Fri, 05 May 2017 12:17:33 GMT

A family of bunnies has lived under our deck since long before we moved in here -- which is OK with us because we love them. I sprinkle Bloodmeal around their favorite plants and spray my hostas with diluted Murphy's Oil Soap to repel them. Our bunnies go to our neighbors' houses to eat. We have allowed clover to take over areas of our lawn in the backyard. Our bunnies feast on the clover and leave my hostas alone. Thank goodness!

We also keep a bowl of bunny food (we buy at Petsmart) on the deck steps in summer. They're too full to eat my perennials.

Re: Bunnies!!

TaylorBrown — Fri, 05 May 2017 12:35:28 GMT

I have no idea how to keep them out of your flowers, but I think they're cute. We have them very frequently in the spring. Every morning I look to see if there are any in the yard. I like to watch them sit still thinking that they cannot be seen.

Re: Bunnies!!

stets — Fri, 05 May 2017 14:00:57 GMT

What ratio of Murphy's to water for dilution?