Learning how to keep rabbits from eating plants in yard/garden is something every gardener must to do. While rabbits can be really fun to watch, these animals also eat a lot and can destroy flowers and plants quickly by simply scurrying through your plant or vegetable garden. Rather than clean up after them, read how to eliminate pest rabbits in your yard/garden.
In this article you will find out how to control pesky rabbits in your garden, what methods of rabbit control to use and what products to purchase. Take a look at our expert tips and techniques and decide which method of rabbit control will work best for you.
Rabbit damage
There is no doubt – rabbits are cute, fuzzy and soft, but not when they are in your garden. If you walk out into your favorite yard or garden one morning and see that it looks like someone snipped off the stems of your plants with angled cuts and mowed your plants and lettuces, your property has likely been visited by a bunny or two.
To make sure the damage was done by rabbits, look around for round fecal pellets – ¼ inch – that rabbits may drop constantly. Another clue to identify the culprit is the presence of a rabbit’s footprints.
When do wild rabbits cause problems?
Frankly speaking, there is no season of the year when the appetites of these destructive animals don’t cause some problems. In spring and summer, rabbits eat flower gardens and plants of vegetables. In fall and winter, they damage valuable woody plants.
Do rabbits dig holes? Yes. They do. What’s more these destructive animals can cause serious damage to your buildings by digging under the foundation. Rabbits can even cause problems in town cemeteries by burrowing beneath gravesites.
Getting rid of rabbits can be a difficult undertaking. Not anymore – try these methods of rabbit removal and crack the problem right now!
How to easily control rabbits in your yard
Rabbit control is often necessary if you want to reduce damage. The best means of controlling damage is by discouraging rabbits’ presence and preventing their access to plants. Remember, complete extermination of rabbits is not desirable. Individual plant protection and professional rabbit control will help you to outwit rabbits without doing them harm.
If you have witnessed the damage caused by pest rabbits, you are probably ready to try these methods of rabbit elimination:
Tip 1. Ensure your garden is not rabbit friendly
The first tool of prevention is to minimize multiple hiding spots in your garden.
If you have a vegetable garden, ensure no woodpiles or gardening equipment is present. Eliminate dense shrubs, a brush of wood and stands of tall weeds.
Making the habitat less pest-rabbit-friendly will surely keep pests out of your property.
Tip 2. Scare them away with the scent of predators
Strong scent of a predator – this can instantly drive pesky rabbits away from your garden plants. You can sprinkle pet or human hair, dried blood meal or cat litter in a defensive circle around shrubs, garden beds or trees.
A tip to consider: Replace sprinkled deterrents every week or whenever it rains.
Tip 3. Use chemicals
Place soaked-in-ammonia rags around your garden. Odor repellents containing potassium salts, naphthalene or ammonium are very effective if you want to prevent rabbits eating grass or plants in your yard. However, they shouldn’t be used around pets. So we suggest only using these repellents labeled for garden use.
A tip to consider: Repellents can lose effectiveness and need to be renewed periodically. Reapply them after watering or after it rains.
Effective rabbit control solutions
If you don’t want rabbits to devastate your garden leaving you with nothing you are to apply methods of rabbit control.
Here are several ways to keep rabbits out of your garden:
1. Fence them out
When it comes to the first stage of making your property rabbit – free, fencing is the best option. It works well if you want to exclude rabbits from a certain area. Fencing is impractical over large areas but very good for small areas – like home gardens, hay sheds, and high-value crops.
Though fencing method is often expensive, it has such advantages as:
- Fencing is a human method of rabbit control;
- Fencing can provide a rabbit-free area.
If you don’t want your grass to turn into a mud pit and spend hundreds of dollars on several liquids we suggest installing a fence.
Rabbits can easily dig under your fence.
To prevent them from doing this, the wire mesh component of the fence should be buried at least seven to ten inches in the ground.
WHAT TO BUY:
Polypropylene rabbit fence by Industrial Netting – strong and durable net that effectively supports plant and garden vegetables and is perfect for protecting your garden from rabbits.
Price: $62.79
Advantages: almost invisible, functional, practical and easy to install.
Where to purchase: available on Amazon
Sixteen-Gauge Galvanized Rabbit Guard Net by Origin Point – a long lasting, safe, weather resistant made-of-sixteen-gauge-galvanized-wire rabbit guard that effectively keeps pest rabbits out of your yard, garden or any other area you don’t want them making damage.
Price: $30.32
Advantages: smaller-on-the-bottom openings keep nuisance rabbits out.
Where to purchase: available on Amazon
Garden Zone Gard’n Fence Rabbit Guard – specially designed to keep pest rabbits out of any garden. With small mesh squares at the bottom this fence will keep your plants and vegetables safe and your summer free of frustration.
Price: $30.00
Advantages: Smaller-on-the-bottom openings make the fence much more effective.
Where to buy: at Walmart
2. Use Targeted coverage
Have a distinct plant or shrub you don’t want to risk losing or some crop that you know hungry rabbits can’t resist – such as beans, peas or broccoli? Focus efforts on protecting this particular area with garden fabric.
WHAT TO BUY:
- All-Purpose garden fabric – used as a barrier from pests.
Price: $16.95
Where to purchase: available on Amazon
3. Repel them off
How to keep rabbits from eating plants? Repel them off. Repellents have offensive-to-rabbits smell and taste. Garlic Clips, granular repellents or fish emulsion will encourage pesky rabbits to leave your favorite garden and forage elsewhere.
Most repellents – especially liquid ones – need to be reapplied after heavy rains.
Pellet or powder-forms repellents should be scattered across areas that bunnies regularly travel. Most repellents must be re-applied. However, there are some commercial repellent formulas that withstand rain.
WHAT TO BUY:
Garlic Clips by Pro-Tec – effective set of 25 clips to protect flowers. Shrubs and trees from rabbits and other pest animals.
Price: $27.97
Advantages: no spraying or mixing chemicals.
How to use: clip to a plant or fence to discourage rabbits for up to 8 months.
Where to purchase: available on Amazon
Shake Away Granules by Critter Repellent – all natural, easy-to-use repellent to protect your garden or any area you want from destructive rabbits.
Price: $13.95
Advantages: No mess, no spay – just sprinkle and repel off.
Effectiveness: contains the genuine marking tool of rabbits’ predator.
Where to purchase: available on Amazon
Rabbit Scram repellent – very effective solution to repel rabbits quickly. Specifically formulated to stop rabbit damage to flowers, shrubs, trees and vegetables. Used as a perimeter barrier.
Price: $20.99
Effectiveness: If rabbits are doing a big harm to your garden or yard, fight these pests back in the natural way. Ingredients of this repellent have a fear-inducing-to-rabbits odor. The product remains effective up to 45 days.
Advantages: convinces bunnies that a predator lurks nearby.
Where to purchase: available on Amazon
How to repel and deter rabbits effectively? What deterrent plants can help you to deter those pesky creatures from your garden? Here is the best 7 rabbit repellents.
4. Set traps
When used alone, trapping is not considered an effective method of rabbit control. Why? The population of rabbits will quickly recover and you will need to repeat trapping year after year.
We suggest using trapping in combination with other methods of rabbit control.
A live rabbit trap should be large enough that the majority of the rabbit’s body can fit inside – not including the tail – before reaching the trigger plate. Again, a rabbit’s trap should be small enough – without too much extra space – so the animal won’t move around.
Don’t know what trap to choose? Here is the best info on best-selling live traps for rabbits.
5. Scare them away
A predator – real or fake – will help any gardener to deter rabbits from the garden. Don’t have a backyard dog? Purchase a decoy animal predator.
WHAT TO BUY:
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Owl Decoy – preys on small animal including rabbits. Recommended to use wherever rabbits are a problem.
Price: $ 22.75
Advantages: Simple and easy to use with moving holographic eyes.
Ideal for use at: farm fields, gardens, warehouses and manufacturing facilities.
Where to buy: at Bird-X
Scare tactics is one of the methods of effective rabbit control. Loud noises or unexpected movement can drive rabbits away.
You can use the best motion-activated sprinkler, reflective Mylar tape’s strips or Prowler Owl Decoy with flexible wings. 
Yard Guard – silent, human, ultrasonic pest control device that can humanely keep rabbits out of any yard/garden without using traps or poisons.
Safety: Safe, green and non-toxic.
Ideal for use at: barns, stables and farms.
Benefits: effectively protects your trees, lawns and gardens from rabbit damage and prevents the spread of diseases.
Electronics: Best method to control rabbits in your garden
Being the newest innovation in human rabbit control, electronic repellents provide convenient ways of rabbit control in the yard/garden.
Here is why:
Electronic repellents are versatile and can repel a wide variety of pest animals including rabbits.- They save you money. Although electronic repellents are expensive they help you to save a great amount of money. You don’t need to reapply the products, and fewer repellents are required to repel nuisance animals in your garden.
- They are safe. No need to apply poison and harmful chemicals. Eco-friendly models of repellence – sound, vibrations, movement, ultrasound, water – are used.
- Rabbits never get accustomedto their locations, as electronic repellents are portable. You can relocate them periodically.
WHAT TO BUY:
Pest Away Ultrasonic Pest Repeller – effective deterrent for pest animals including rabbits. Scares rabbits away with strobe lights and motion activated ultrasonic sound.
Price: $49.97
Where to purchase: available on Amazon
Safety: Safe – avoids the need for dangerous electric fences, messy sprinklers, traps and harmful chemical deterrents.
How to use: Just place the unit in your desired location – garden, yard, flower band – and watch as unwanted rabbits are deterred from entering the forty foot range of protection.
For maximum success in rabbit control it is recommended to use multisensory approach – the interaction of two, three or more forces – that is extremely effective in deterring rabbits from an area. We suggest using companion options combining visual scares with repellents etc.
Learning how to keep nuisance rabbits out of the yard is not an easy task and in many cases, it can be futile. Though, by using a few of these methods, you will see fewer rabbits invading your yard.
are these repellants dog friendly
Forget any answers to this question. He** we can’t even decide if eggs are safe for humans or not.
Play it safe, is my advice. The writer suggested smelly cat litter, garlic, predator-looking decoys, fencing, etc. I’ve even seen online where they sell “authentic” wolf urine as a deterrent (I have NO idea how that’s collected). In any case, just avoid chemicals.
Traps also catch skunks! Tried the wolf urine. Kept away critters from 4×4 garden. Needs less reapplying then Liquid Fence. But drove my dog crazy, this HIS yard.
To all using the designed ‘rabbit fencing’ caution, I’ve been watching rabbits climb up the fence 30 inches high and jump through the bigger opening in fence, just like cats! I didn’t know rabbits climbed fences, but they do it well.
I have found that a 30 grain CCI HP is extremely effective against rabbits that trespass into my garden. And they are cheap, about 45 cents per application.
What is CCI HP?
David….it’s a rifle
30 grain CCI HP?
I wanted to avoid that. After all, my nickname for my wife is “bunny”, and for my daugter is “little bunny”. But these rabbits are DESTROYING our rose bushes that we spent many $$ and hours planting and cultivating. My wife says “let the cute animals eat”! No! I want to exclaim. I am beginning to wonder, is there a silent version of the CCI HP “treatment”?