How to Prevent Rabbits From Eating the Landscape

Rabbits eat away at plants and flowers, damaging your garden.

Rabbits are nuisances to well-groomed landscaping. The animals eat away at the leaves, roots and limbs of plants in your garden. To keep the rabbits away, you must set out something they don't like to taste or smell. Many remedies are suggested by gardeners that work at times, depending on the stubbornness of the rabbits. However, before falling back on those solutions, try the formula offered by the North Dakota Extension Service.

Things You'll Need

• Cayenne or jalapeno
• Food processor
• Water
• Cooking oil
• White glue
• Liquid soap
• Dried blood
• Fox urine
• Hair
• Vinegar
• Corn cobs

Instructions

1. Grind cayenne or jalapeno peppers up in a food processor with water. Use enough water to make the mix like a soup.

2. Pour it through a strainer into a jar and add 2 tbsp. of cooking oil, a squeeze of white glue and a couple drops of liquid soap. Shake up this mixture.

3. Fill a spray bottle with the the pepper mixture. Use 1 part mixture to 10 parts water, and spray this on the plants you want to protect. Reapply every few weeks or after a good rain. If this does not deter all of the rabbits, try one of the alternate remedies in the steps below.

4. Sprinkle dried blood or fox urine around the landscape. These products are available at a local gardening store. Also try spreading around hair clippings from the beauty salon.

5. Soak corn cobs, minus the corn, in vinegar for five to 10 minutes and place them around the landscaping. Rabbits do not like the vinegar odor and avoid the areas where the corn cobs are placed.

References

• North Dakota Extension: Rabbits
• Emmitsburg: Rabbits