| Joanne |
| | April 05, 2005 | Reply with quote | #1 |
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| Help! The rabbits have eaten all my perennial vines. What can I do to keep them away from my plants? Our cat chases them away in summer, but in winter they sit and munch on my garden. Short of trapping them or taking out a pellet gun, what can I do in winter to keep them away? Its too late for this year, but I need advice for next year. I think they are living under a spruce tree in my side yard or perhaps under the deck. |
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| Jim Kohut |
| | April 06, 2005 | Reply with quote | #2 |
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Hey Joanne,
Talk about timing - check out the "Plant Problem Of The Month" we ran just last week - it was about rabbit damage! Hope there's something in there you might find helpful!
Jim K
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| Shannon |
| | April 06, 2005 | Reply with quote | #3 |
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At the risk of sounding like my family is insane....
My grandfather had a great way to keep all animals away from his garden, winter, summer, spring and fall. He kept a sling shot and some of those hard white mints on hand and pelted anything that came near. Surprisingly, only the birds (which he liked) seemed to go near his garden after a while.
(for the record - I don't necessarily condone this, but it kept my grandfather from getting arrested for in-town-fire-arm-usage.) |
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| Jim Kohut |
| | May 09, 2005 | Reply with quote | #4 |
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Joanne, Just to follow up with you on this, I would use metal chicken wire and wrap it a safe distance around the base of your vines. I have tried plastic fencing, but the bunnies (actually jackrabbits in these parts) chewed right through it! So much for that! I can assure you from experience that they can't chew through chicken wire, and that will keep your vines safe. Jim K  |
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| Ken B-U |
| | March 29, 2008 | Reply with quote | #5 |
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Hi Joanne!
I have the same problem with rabbits that you do! I planted about 6 types of vines on the 5 ft. chain-link fence around our house for the dog run. The rabbits did not touch the Virginia Creeper, but it chewed the Honeysuckle & loves the grape vines...all 3 varieties. It also chewed thru the Bittersweet vines. The saving grace is that they grow fast! They did not eat the Clematis or the Potato Vines either.
I agree with Jim thet next year I'm putting chicken-wire around the base of the fences!
I loved our rabbits-we live on the river 5 mins. from downtown Wpg. -& it was wonderful to have that country feel here! Now I'm not so keen on the little bunnies!!
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| Penny |
| | May 17, 2008 | Reply with quote | #6 |
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How high should the chicken wire be? I was thinking 18" but having watched some of the bunnies recently I think they might be able to clear that pretty easily. They eat my tulips and now that I'm planting a veggie garden I don't want them eating that, too, lest they think I've opened a buffet!  |
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| Andy |
| | July 04, 2008 | Reply with quote | #7 |
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Note:
Apparently our long eared friends CAN eat through the plastic style mesh fencing. Even worse, the cheeky bugger chewed two holes in the plastic. It's now metal... next time it's electric.
Andy
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| Jon |
| | May 27, 2010 | Reply with quote | #8 |
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I had this same exact problem with rabbitts last year and I used some stainless steel wire mesh as a border around my garden.
http://www.bwire.com/index.htm
I called up these guys and they knew exactly what I needed. I ordered mine to be 24 inches high, and after a while, the bunnies wouldnt even consider trying to get near my tulips. I am not sure if 18" will be too short, but I know 24" of metal wire mesh did the trick nicely. Good luck to you.
-J
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| Rozmund |
| | June 27, 2010 | Reply with quote | #9 |
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I also suffered with rabbit damage to my Bitter Sweet Vines...because I did not consider that the snowfall would be a minimum of 2 feet...so although I put the chicken wire around, they just ate what was above the snow line...they also ate our barberry bushes, thorns and all...- as for the tulips in the spring..I sprinkle blood meal around the new shoots, and that seems to work...
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| akeimou |
| | June 30, 2010 | Reply with quote | #10 |
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they chewed on the stems of some of my new lilies. they don't even eat the tips but just leave them on the ground for me to mourn over. so i got some wire mesh waste baskets at the thrift store, about 1' tall (the rabbits don't seem to bother with the lilies once they've gotten taller than that). i place it upside-down over the shoots and secure to the ground with landscape fabric pins.
--meg
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