How to Protect Tomato Plants From Rabbits
Watch your tomato plants grow into beautifully lush plants with a little care and attention and help from a green thumb. Watch, too, your plants get scavenged of their fruit if you are not proactive against eager predators. Prepare to protect your tomatoes from rabbits. Seek available gardening advice if a green thumb is not one of your natural appendages. Defend with topical repellents, traps or barriers. Here, learn about tomato protection from rabbits using the barrier method of chicken wire fencing. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Measuring tape
- Shovel
- Stakes, 3 to 4 foot tall
- Hammer
- Chicken wire, 3 foot tall
- Wire cutters
- Staple gun
Instructions
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How to Protect Tomato Plants From Rabbits
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1
Use the measuring tape to measure the perimeter of the tomato patch. The resulting measurement will determine the amount of chicken wire you need to complete the fence. Use the wire cutters to cut the needed amount.
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2
Prepare the perimeter for the fence by digging a trench six to twelve inches deep with the shovel. Save the dirt to fill the trench back in later. The fence will sit down in the trench, which will deter crafty rabbits from digging under the barrier.
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3
Pound a stake into the marked perimeter every five feet to a depth of about six inches using a hammer. Make sure the stakes are deep enough to be secure under a little bit of pressure. Be sure to also place a stake at each corner.
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4
Bend one side of the fencing over to an "L" shape, or a 90° angle. The chicken wire is fairly flexible and this bending is done easily by hand. Turn the wire fence so that this ledge is at the ground.
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5
Sit the fencing down into the trench with the lip facing outward. If a rabbit attempts to dig his way under the fence, it will meet up with the chicken wire and stop. Since rabbits are not high jumpers, they will not be able to hop over the fence that towers two feet above the ground.
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6
Fill in the trench with dirt, packing it down with the flat head of the shovel. Staple the chicken wire to the stakes as you go. Once you are at the stake where you started, you are completely finished enclosing your garden. Your tomatoes can ripen in their new safe haven without worry of being eaten early by rabbits.
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