Here's the Target
How can anything so cute be so destructive ?
Carol at Maydreamsgardens and Mrmcgregorsdaughter along with countless others, I'm sure , are having rabbit problems and have declared war to rid themselves of this garden pest.
I've posted on this before but I think it bears repeating. I designed and planted a beautiful garden for a client ( their first ) and over the winter the rabbits ate it right down to the ground. Hundreds and thousands of dollars worth of plants decimated. So the homeowners and I have tried just about every rabbit repellent in sight until they get the one that works the best : a fence surrounding the entire property.
The two repellents that worked the best are Plantskydd ( blood meal in an oil binder base that adheres to the plants ) and Pro-tec garlic units. Both have websites ( www.plantskydd.com) and www.plantprotec.com ) .
The Plantskydd is very effective but smelly so the first day you spray it better keep your windows closed. The smell will go away in a day or so. The plant pro-tec garlic units are less messy and also effective because they have high concentrations of garlic which rabbit don't like.
The latest gadget in the war on rabbits is a motion detector frog. The frog senses the rabbits approach and starts croaking, presumably scaring off the intruder. It's worth a try at $22. Check it out at The Frogstore. I'm definitely going to recommend this to my client. Hey, in the war against rabbits, every tactic counts.
I've posted on this before but I think it bears repeating. I designed and planted a beautiful garden for a client ( their first ) and over the winter the rabbits ate it right down to the ground. Hundreds and thousands of dollars worth of plants decimated. So the homeowners and I have tried just about every rabbit repellent in sight until they get the one that works the best : a fence surrounding the entire property.
The two repellents that worked the best are Plantskydd ( blood meal in an oil binder base that adheres to the plants ) and Pro-tec garlic units. Both have websites ( www.plantskydd.com) and www.plantprotec.com ) .
The Plantskydd is very effective but smelly so the first day you spray it better keep your windows closed. The smell will go away in a day or so. The plant pro-tec garlic units are less messy and also effective because they have high concentrations of garlic which rabbit don't like.
The latest gadget in the war on rabbits is a motion detector frog. The frog senses the rabbits approach and starts croaking, presumably scaring off the intruder. It's worth a try at $22. Check it out at The Frogstore. I'm definitely going to recommend this to my client. Hey, in the war against rabbits, every tactic counts.
Carolyn,
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons I haven't planted a vegetable patch is past experience with the pesky rabbit. So far they leave my perennials along...I am crossing my fingers right now!
I understand that you have to plant the fence into the ground some inches?
Thanks Carolyn for the information.
Gail
hey Gail ~ congrats....did you know you're 'blogs of note' today?
ReplyDeleteSee the blogger home page + you're there!
Rabbits are hard to catch....i tried as a child and it just wasn't happening-like your motion detector frog suggestion...
cute picture. reminds me of the book 'velveteen rabbit'.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn! May I be the very first to congratulate you on being a Blog of Note! I've always enjoyed your blog and am thrilled beyond measure that your creative space has been recognized by the blog gods! Bask in the glory, honey...Debi @ GHT
ReplyDeleteWow, I'm sure glad you were blog of note on the day of the bunny post. Wabbits! My husband had a rabbit relocation program going one year where he used a live trap and moved three or four of them across the river on his way to work. I'm sure you can imagine how much good THAT did!
ReplyDeleteLove the Florida post! I would buy it. We too have had over a foot of snow in the past week, but it appears to be on the run now. I recycled my "Lessons from my Garden" series on "The Journey" this week just to lift my own countenance.
Congratulations!!
Hey Ingar,
ReplyDeleteAny other day I would've looked but you discovered it before me. Thanks from a fellow " Blog of Note " !
Thanks, Debi. You are simultaneous with Ingar. I usually read it every day but missed it the one day it appeared, would ya know ?
ReplyDeleteIt was totally unexpected but I am honored to be selected.
Don't give up on the veggie patch, Gail, join the war against the rabbits !
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Zara. You live in a beautiful country full of great gardens.
ReplyDeleteHi Tracy,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Sweet Home and Garden Chicago and thanks for the congratulations.
Thanks for the attempted link, but it didn't work. (I couldn't get the link to May Dreams Gardens to work either.) I've used Plantskydd & I'm going to try Pro-tec soon too. But a croaking frog? I think my rabbits would probably laugh at that. Now if it sounded like a coyote or a cat, then maybe.
ReplyDeleteMust be something wrong with my fingers! Sorry, MMD. I did send you a P.S. saying that it is www.plantprotec.com. Try it again.
ReplyDeleteI've had problems with them too. They ate my burning bush down to the ground and are still "pruning" my other shrubs. Maddening!
ReplyDeletebunnies get hungry too, but i thought of a solution. Instead of randomly killing them, or as they are doing in Kelowna(i think?) trapping and sterilizing them to the tune or $30 bucks per bunny, i think they cull them to a degree, and use the fur for mittens, and make rabbit stew for all the homeless individuals, (and anyone else who enjoys rabbit stew!) - i mean really, spending $30 per rabbit when we cannot even look after our Homeless!!!
ReplyDeleteNow don't get me wrong, I love bunnies, but people should come first!
funny story about rabbits, - my dad has a garden in his backyard, and when I was living there, my parents had a bridge party. My cat was in the backyard, caught one of those pesky garden eating rabbits, and brought the dead rabbit (half of it) to the back glass door where the ladies were playing cards. Needless to say they screamed like crazy, and my cat never caught rabbits again,..lol. Thanks for your great blog.
ReplyDeleteI have already found two nests! I destroyed them before the babies appeared, but I couldn't do it if the babies were already in there. I don't need any more rabbits!!
ReplyDeleteMy buried rabbit fence was most effective at 18" underground. Any less was futile. One year, I dried a combination of hot peppers that I turned into powder for seasoning. When I saw the critter damage to my plants, I did: 1. Soak a teaspoon of that pepper powder in a quart of water overnight. 2. Pour water into a 1 quart spray bottle, but run it through a coffee filter so the powder won't clog the spray nozzle. 3. Add several drops of sink-top style dish washing soap, such as Dawn, to help spray adhere to plants. This does a nice, humane job. For larger areas, multiply the amounts. You can try shaking black pepper, but wind and rain disperse it quickly. Black pepper or my spray will also remind cats that they need to "do their duty" at home.
ReplyDeleteI'm battling squirrels at the moment but had brushes with rabbits, deer and groundhogs. I don't plant a vegetable garden anymore because fences of all sort were no deterrent in keeping them from eating everything. :(
ReplyDeleteSquirrels are very annoying as well. I'm sorry to learn that you've given up the vegetable garden because of all those critters. You mean the fences didn't keep them out ?
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm not sure how well you or your client take my idea of pest control... Invite a falconer to hunt that property.
ReplyDeleteSounds cruel? Hawks hunt in the wild, but it's still a necessity for hawks to hunt in captivity. Without a predator to drive them off, it's likely the rabbits will dig under fence or squeeze through some gap. More importantly, without sufficient predators to keep them in check, rabbits will just increase until they start becoming starved and diseased.
just and opinion
Knowing it wouldn't fir here, I just posted a new entry on frombobsporch if you'd like more detail on keeping a garden as yours. LOVE all your photos!!!
ReplyDelete