The war on shrub-eating rabbits

11 years ago

The war is on.
In 2012, I planted roughly 100 north privet shrubs. Yes, it was intentional. No, they are not invasive in my area.

Last winter, we discovered that the rabbits like to munch on the young stems. In fact, by March of 2014, they had chewed probably 70% of the shrubs down to about 4" height.
The only good side to their pruning was that it encouraged more bushy growth. However, most of the shrubs made it only to the height they had reached before that winter.
Since I don't want to start at square one every spring and want the shrubs to gain height, I've begun treating them with Liquid Fence.

We're now in the thick of winter, and I am not certain how effective the Liquid Fence is going to be. I am still seeing evidence of chewing. Now that snow is on the ground, there are obvious areas where the rabbits are sitting to munch. One particular area is near our raised sunroom. Obviously, they're living under there and the nearby shrubs=the pizza joint around the corner. I will devise a plan to block off that area once warm weather comes.

As far as application goes, I have been applying the Liquid Fence every 2 weeks. The bottle says that in time, the rabbits will learn to stay away from the area, but I've yet to see that.

I will not kill them, so that is out of the question. Motion-activated sprinklers are obviously not going to work right now (plus we're talking 200 lineal feet of hedge).
I really don't want to chicken wire the whole area, but I might have to next season.

Are there any other suggestions?

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Comments (10)

Sara
11 years ago
I don't have any suggestions on what to do at the moment, but, I am a big fan of chicken wire caging. It doesn't look very nice, but, I'd rather use that for protection for a few years until plants are established rather than risk losing them. I have a bunch of cages up now on shrubs, maples and conifers for winter protection - some of them may not even be attractive to rabbits or deer, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Before doing my protective cage maneuvers, I lost a few expensive plants so I'm trying to be more careful and diligent about critter protection. Just be sure to get a good pair of wire cutters :) Hopefully others have suggestions or ideas for what you can do currently this winter.

Sara
Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
11 years ago
I need to get a Have-a-Heart trap soon too!
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laceyvail 6A, WV
11 years ago
Black mesh works great. I've done it every winter for almost 20 years. You can attach it to the shrubs with wooden clothespins.
laceyvail 6A, WV
11 years ago
Black mesh works great. I've done it every winter for almost 20 years. You can attach it to the shrubs with wooden clothespins.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years ago
However, most of the shrubs made it only to the height they had reached before that winter.

==>>> vigor will increase.. as the root mass matures ....you should be very happy with what you got.. on recent transplants ...

ken
idloveamocha
Original Author
11 years ago
Ken, I was definitely pleased with the growth, especially this last growing season. That was why I was so bent on protecting the shrubs this time around.
It won't be as big of a deal once they are larger/stems are thicker. However, I fear they'll never get to that stage!

They like to chew on other shrubs as well, like my rose of Sharon, viburnum and burning bush. Those are large and well-established, though, so they can take some light pruning/bark chewing.
mikebotann
11 years ago
Why can't you block them from getting under your sunroom now?
I know that's not the final solution, but it's a start. Why wait for Spring?
Mike
Rebecca Goff
3 years ago
Well you could always view them as little defenseless living babies. the earth is everyones land and we took over nature and built our houses and etc and the bunnies are simple trying to survive. what choices do they have to eat? you say you wont kill them but starving to death is killing them. buy a bunch of fresh cilantro-its about 29 cent per bundle from walmart and lay it out every evening around 6pm. they will love you and forget the shrubs. be kind guys this world is theirs too and they have families and kids to raise. let the creatures eat. if you give me your address i will personally send you fresh herbs/veggies weekly for them.
idloveamocha
Original Author
3 years ago
Not sure if you happened to notice that the original thread is 7 years old? The issue has rectified itself. The shrubs in question are over 10 feet tall now and the rabbits can chew away without issue. By the way, not being able to chew on one particular shrub isn't going to cause them to starve to death over the winter as there are a variety of plantings in my yard (if you would have read down thread, you would have noticed that). Even if I had no other plantings in my yard...everyone else around me does. Evidently there is no population/starvation issue considering the number of rabbits we see in our yard on a regular basis and have seen on a regular basis over the last 15 years that we've lived here. I get the impression that you think I don't care for wild animals and frankly, that is insulting.
charles kidder
3 years ago
Not to mention feeding wild animals is a sure fire way for them to overproduce for a given area and may end up causing a lot more to starve than would otherwise.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.