Rabbits will take a bite of a new hosta planting in their home ground then leave it alone. Don't worry!

Get some Liquid Fence.....works for both deer and rabbits here in Minnetonka!

Or make your own using one of the copy-cat recipes that you can find using the search function (I vary mine by what I have in the house at the time)...but make sure to leave the cooking oil out of the recipe. I've recently been whining about my suspicions that the oil was damaging the wax bloom on my blue hostas and had it confirmed by several others here on the forum.

I spray my tulips with the smelly mix in the spring to keep the rabbits off. They come through the picket fence and eat the tulip flowers and buds in my backyard. I spray the emerging hostas, just in case. No problems so far.

And thank you Digs for the warning about the wax bloom on yellows like Zounds. My current mix with a small bit of oil will have to be used only on the deer net and shrubs. Time to blend another batch of eggs, cayenne, hot sauce, garlic, milk, etc., to put in a lidded kitty litter pail in the sun to putrify. What I won't do for my beloved hostas!

~Bunnycat

I have had rabbits repeatedly eat some hosta to the ground....as soon as it puts out new leaves they are gone....and eventually the hosta fails to recover. Seems they have a "trail" and anything in their path will get eaten...rose bushes, hosta....whatever.
Blood meal tossed around and reapplied every 5 days or after every rain will keep them away.
I was sitting on the deck with a friend last night about 10 and listening to the hoots of the owls.....and blessing them for their hungry brood and their diet of rabbits and voles!
Linda C

I still swear by domestic rabbit droppings. You only need apply two or three times all season and it deters 100% on ALL wild rabbits. I would stay away from blood meal. As we are seeing in the paper the FDA has been very lax in testing products from other countries. Diseases of all kinds spread through blood. It is only logical that blood meal would be suspect.

Definitely make your own Liquid Fence/Deer Off. SOOO much cheaper and just as effective. I got this recipe from Caliloo:

4 eggs
2 Tablespoons garlic powder
2 Tablespoons Cayenne
1/4 cup Wilt Pruf (optional - I don't use it because it's too darned hot here, and I think you're not supposed to use it after nice Spring temps.)

Put everything in a blender with some water. Pour into a gallon jug, then add more water to fill. Put outside in a nice sunny location to ferment. It takes a few days or so. Pour into a spray bottle and apply weekly. If you get a big rain, reapply.

Not only does it repel rabbits, but if used consistently, they seem to remember and not even bother coming into your yard. Another thing that I have found this year is that I have no slug damage. Might be some kind of coincidence, but I ain't arguing!

Forgot to say - my experience is that rabbits WILL continue to eat hosta, Opal. At my house, they will eat the leaves to the ground just like deer. This year I also had some strange rabbits that will only eat the stems. I would find a pile of just the leaves on the ground, and all the stems are gone. I know it's rabbits because I witnessed it one morning. That's when I got really vigilant with the homemade liquid fence.

I figured out how to get rabbits to leave my hostas alone: I put out carrots for them to eat instead.
Now I have happy hostas and happy rabbits.
Michele

Sheesh, watch out or you will have thousands of happy rabbits!

Don't you know what rabbits do when they are not eating?

A word of caution: don't use WiltPruf or any other oil on blue hostas if you like them BLUE, because the oil will dissolve the glaucous bloom and they'll turn a nice shiny GREEN for the rest of the season. BTDT.

Instead of cutting scapes to the ground, I've been leaving a few inches sticking up over the winter. Not only does it help remind me where to look for new growth in the spring, the bunnies appear to leave those alone . . . I won't promise it's foolproof, but this year, none of the hostas with scapes suffered early rabbit nibbles.

I've been considering getting a package of wooden shish-ka-bob holders and making my own scapes for those hostas that didn't bloom!