Rabbit control

[pipolo]

Hi, I am a newbie here, and have done a search to see if this topic has been mentioned before but nothing came up. I'm working as a gardener at a residential home for the mentally ill. The grounds are lovely and there is also a large walled garden, coming complete with numerous rabbits! I know they look so cute just sitting there, but I want to plant and grow lots of nice flowers in the borders! Is there a fool proof way to keep the rabbits out? I have tried blocking up the burrows with stones, and will put chicken wire around anything I do plant, burying it as best I can in the soil. Have seen advertised , a 'Sonic Pest Repeller'...has anyone used one of these and can give advice on it? Also seen a plant called a few names, 'Scaredy Cat' being one of them, and that is supposed to smell bad enough to keep cats, especially away, but also rabbits! Wonder if they really do work!!
Any advice greatly appreciated!
Many thanks. Lyn

[nightshade]

Two things spring to mind,ferret poo or Jeyes fluid in the burrows ,if they are commuting you will have to locate the bury
The other way is to plant one for you ,one for the rabbits a satisfying result
both well fed and rabbits to study

[paulinemiller10]

Hi Lyn, I have ten pet rabbits, and they have the run of the garden everyday, but I also enjoy having plants around the garden, I grow a lot of standards, or train everything into standards, then just put the square wire you get for rabbit cages around the bottom of the tree or plant, my buns will eat just about everything, but they won t touch impatiens, so in summer I can plant them all around without any being eaten, also put plants in baskets or out of reach, posting a pic, you can see the wire around the butterfly bush at the front and a shrub at the back, note the blackbird on the floor eating sultanas, hope this helps. Pauline

[knautia]

I have a similar problem. In January I replaced about half of a beech hedge I planted last year which had been eaten by rabbits. In desperation and chance I spread garlic bulbs around the hedge. These had been growing in the garden and had multiplied. So far the hedge is ok. I intend to plant more in other places soon. I have found rabbits dont like daffodils,snowdrops, foxgloves, poppies, cyclemen, and rue. Hope this is of some help.

[pipolo]

Thanks for that.
Do you mean wild garlic?

[knautia]

No. I just set the cloves of a garlic bulb. These never grew in to bulbs big enough to use. They were originally planted under rose bushes to prevent greenfly but this didnt work.

[Polecat]

If I had come accross this thread a few years ago I would have thought...whats all the fuss about?.....but now I know !!!........

Life in the garden is a daily battle against these nocturnal herbaceous border eaters!.......well any plant that I hold dear. They are wilful in their damage, chopping off plants at their base with not intention of eating them. A morning stroll in the garden would be greeted by scenes of plants dis-embowled, the healthy parts lying a few feet away from their stem.

One rabbit actually had its young in its drey? just 10 feet from my front door......how did I not notice? because baby rabbits only get visited by their mums once in 24 hrs...at night and don't make a sound unless being gobbled up by my dogs ( accidental I assure ).

I have chicken wired 1/4 acre of my garden so far, but only wioth 50% success, they always find some way to defeat my defences.

A cull may be the only way......sonic machines don't work either ( for me ) I do not like rabbits one bit anymore!!

One thing that has worked, I've planted all new shrubs etc with Tubex surrounding the stems.....it will make the plants leggy but I do actually have some plants!!!!

[blacky]

hi Pipolo, try planting a boundery of foxgloves rabbits dont like them hence the name foxgloves Blacky

[flying red fox]

Hopefully a fox will come and eat them hehe

Seriously, rabbits can be quite a pest when it comes to plants especially carrots and lettuces. It can be hard to control if you like to grow these organically without fertilizer, pest control, etc.

It might be a good idea to place wire mesh under the soil of the vegetable patch so that they cant burrow underneath it but wild animals are wild, they will try anything!

Good luck though

[captainsalad]

Rabbit Control Service :: Removal/Trapping/Problem/Solution Warwickshire/Sheffield/Northampton did a great job for our rabbit problem, at last we have our lawn back