adminBest repellents for keeping rabbits out of garden
Rabbits, contrary to what most people think are actually mammals and not rodents. They are predominantly herbivores, and would build a community wherever they find food, including gardens and yards. They spend a great deal of their time burrowing and searching for food. If you live in an area where rabbit infestation is common, and have a garden, be prepared because they will very likely pay your garden a visit. To guard against this, you will have to plant your garden with repellents strong enough to keep away bunnies.
Before applying repellents, you have to be sure that rabbits have been responsible for the damage in your garden. When rabbits visit a garden, they would bite off the tips of stems and supple leaves, eat away the bark of low level trees, feed on young plants and leave of small, round and black droppings.
That said, below are some of the best repellents for keeping away rabbit in garden.
- Powdered sulfur or onions
The smell of sulfur is repulsive to rabbits, and they would scuttle for safety wherever their noses catches this smell. To keep them off, plant sulfur in your garden, but only ensure vegetables and other edible plants aren’t touched by the sulfuric powder. Better still, you can add some slices of onions for better results because rabbits hate the smell of onions as much as they do for sulfur.
- Talcum powder
Just like sulfur powder, rabbits also detest the smell of talcum powder. To use, get a little quantity and sprinkle it around your garden.
- Shavings of Irish Spring soap
Place an Irish spring soap in small bags with perforations and then plant them at strategic spots around your garden. If done properly, that would mark the end of rabbit visitation.
- Chili pepper mixed with onions and garlic
Nothing frightens rabbits as much as the smell of garlic does. Add chili pepper and onions and you would have a killer combo. To use, grind the three ingredients together, and a little water and stir until a watery mixture is formed. Add some more water until a gallon of the mixture is formed. You can experiment with pungent garlic oil if the raw garlic is beyond reach. Do thy diligence to always reapply the mixture on your garden once after it rains.
Other methods of keeping away rabbits away from your garden
Relying on deterrents alone is counter intuitive. Rabbits during times of acute food scarcity will learn to adjust to the smell of whatever deterrent you plant in your garden. Making your garden as inhabitable as possible and then using deterrents will be your best bet.
Some control methods you can use include:
- Fencing
- Policing your garden with dogs and cats
- Cultivating plants rabbits naturally hate. Some of these plants include marigold, lavender, zinnias, daffodils and lilac bush.
- Spraying you garden with Lysol mixed with a gallon of water
- Use of reflectors – rabbits are terrified at the sight of their own reflection, so using reflectors would work.
