Rabbits. No matter how cute they are, they can be a nuisance if you’re a farmer or a gardener. For anyone who lives in an area where rabbit populations run rampant, allowing this furry species to thrive without human intervention may seem at odds with the desire to protect a garden.
Fortunately, there are several sustainable ways to keep rabbits out of a garden, from building fences to growing rabbit-resistant plants.
Rabbits, Cottontails, and Hares
The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is a separate genus from the cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus spp.) and hares and jackrabbits (Lepus spp.) that are native to North America. Most domestic rabbits descend from introduced European rabbits, but cottontails are the most common rabbit species in North America.
Identifying Rabbits in Your Garden
If you find evidence of uninvited diners in your garden, don’t assume rabbits are the culprits. Mice, squirrels, and other rodents are also opportunistic eaters. Here’s how to tell who is eating your plants.
- Rabbits are most active at dawn and dusk. Sit quietly in your garden during these times and see who arrives for a meal.
- Ask at a local greenhouse, garden center, or university extension service if rabbits are known to live in your area.
- Look for gnawing marks. Insects leave holes in plants. Rabbits nibble from the edge. They’ll leave your plants looking clean-cut rather than ragged.
- Rabbits leave round or oval brown-colored fecal pellets as they move around the garden. You might also find rabbit hair or fur caught on branches.
Keeping Rabbits Out of Your Garden
If you’ve identified your problem as rabbits, there are multiple ways to keep these critters at bay. The first step to take is to stay ahead of the problem by creating a rabbit-deterrent garden.
Place a Rabbit Fence
A fence is the best long-term method of keeping rabbits out of your entire property. It should be made of a heavy-duty, galvanized steel mesh at least four feet in height, with the bottom foot sunk below ground level and the lowest six inches bent outwards to prevent rabbits from tunneling under it. The mesh should be narrower than three inches.
Protect Garden Beds
To protect entire garden beds, place chicken netting over favorite rabbit foods. But remember that rabbits are consummate diggers. Bury hardware cloth around the base of your garden beds to prevent the animals from burrowing under the chicken netting.
Surround Young Trees and Shrubs
You can protect your young trees and shrubs with a half-inch mesh hardware cloth or one-inch chicken netting. Form the hardware cloth or chicken netting into a cylinder and force it into the ground to hold it upright.
Set Up Repellents
Repellents with putrescent whole-egg solids can reduce browsing by rabbits. You might, however, end up attracting other pests to the decaying organic matter.
Alternatively, distribute a pouch or spray a liquid mix of any combination of garlic, red pepper, strong-smelling soap, or other strong odors around your garden’s perimeter or at the base of trees and shrubs. Just keep in mind that you or your neighbors might smell the repellent as well.
Remove Potential Hiding Places
Rabbits don’t like exposed spaces where they are vulnerable to predators. Remove potential nesting and hiding places by clearing brush piles, weed patches, rock piles, and other debris. An open area surrounding your garden will give your plants some limited protection.
Create Disturbances
Rabbits are creatures of habit, so any novelty is a threat. Create harmless disturbances with any unfamiliar sound or sight likely to keep them at bay. Try low-maintenance solar-powered LED lights that flash or blink according to a timer, or a motion-activated sprayer to startle rabbits away from your yard. Noise-making garden ornaments, wind chimes, spinning pinwheels, and mobiles of pie tins or aluminum cans can deter rabbits—if the wind is blowing, that is.
Grow Food That Rabbits Don’t Eat
Rabbits are opportunistic feeders and especially enjoy the tender shoots of seedlings, including young trees and shrubs. The key is to grow what they don’t eat. Once rabbits discover a great source of food, they’ll return again and again until they’ve exhausted the food supply.
Removing any temptations early in the spring can prevent their habits from setting in. Rabbits love beans, carrots, lettuce, parsley, peas, and spinach, but will likely avoid plants with fuzzy leaves, milky sap, thorns, and strong scents, as well as any member of the nightshade family, due to their toxins. But when rabbits get hungry enough, they’ll eat just about anything.
