THOSE PESKY WABBITS

The Only Bunny I Like in My Garden

I designed and planted a beautiful garden in the Chicago suburbs a few years ago. The client called me the following Spring and asked me to stop by. The rabbits had eaten everything down to the ground, including a rather large Mugo Pine. Hundreds of dollars of plants were destroyed.

Since then I've tried every kind of rabbit repellent , with the exception of a fence which she doesn't want, and nothing has worked. Bloodmeal worked the best but the problem with that is it has to be constantly reapplied after each rain or snow.

This Spring we are trying a new repellent which has bloodmeal in a vegetable oil binder that promises not to be washed away by rain or snow. Plantskykdd ( they have a website at Plantskydd.com ) makes a rabbit and deer repellent which they claim will deter the rabbits for 6 months in winter and 3-4 months over the summer. WOW ! Is all I can say at this moment. We are certainly going to try it .

I came across another product called Plant Pro-Tec Units which has a high concentration of garlic ( rabbits and deer hate the smell ) that is evident for 6-8 months One ounce of the garlic oil is equivalent to 200 lbs. of fresh garlic and it is in a slow release system.

Don't think you can just go out and throw garlic oil or bulbs on your garden. Won't work. A little thing called oxidation happens and the odor is soon gone. Pro-Tec has a website at protecplant.com.

Rabbits are a major garden pest all over Chicagoland now and they have few natural predators to keep their numbers in check. Walking down my street a few weeks ago I came upon three young rabbits eating a bagel. They paid no attention whatsoever as I passed by.

This season my client's yard will be a test garden for repelling rabbits. I'll let you know the results.