Ugh! Went out back today and already lost 4 in 48 hours (rabbits!). All that remain are a inch stub. Sprayed Deer Scram on them and all around them. I hate fighting this battle every spring.

We live in a rural area with lots of deer and, during deer season, lots of deer hunters. We have an abundance of native plants in the area, in great variety, and apparently the deer prefer some of the native plants to our gardens. I do see the occasional deep deer tracks in the garden, but apparently they are just passing through.

Did you see any deer tracks? Occasionally slugs will eat a zinnia plant down to a stub. You can check for slugs at night with a flashlight.

ZM

No deer here -- I live right smack in suburbia. Plenty of rabbits though. Last year I planted zinnia (which were blooming) from a local nursery. Rabbit ate the leaves off all the plants. They looked so ridiculous -- a stalk with a flower on top and no leaves. I almost pulled them. Good thing I didn't; they came roaring back in a few weeks and looked great.

The rabbits also love to eat my hostas (as they are emerging) and my phlox. Heartbreaking to 5 weeks growing something in your house and then have rabbits destroy them in 48 hours!

Gotta keep up with the spray and hope for the best.

Hi Stir Fry,

" No deer here -- I live right smack in suburbia. "

You fooled me with the Deer Scram. We also have rabbits, and they will eat several vegetables, including kohlrabi (a favorite of mine), lettuce, probably carrots, etc. They don't bother my zinnias because apparently there are several native plants that taste better to them.

The only way I can have kohlrabi is to put a short fence around it. Chicken wire comes in several widths, and it turns out that a 2-foot high fence of 2-inch-spaced chicken wire does the job nicely. (It is also available in 1-inch spaced form, but our rabbits will not crawl through a 2-inch chicken-wire hole, although some of the baby ones probably could.) The chicken wire is lightweight and easy to handle.

For "posts" you can use short stakes of any kind -- I usually use short pieces of half-inch rebar. Chicken wire is galvanized, to make it rust resistant, so it is not quite "invisible". If you sprayed it with black paint, it would be essentially invisible in the landscape.

I think there is available some "decorative" wire fencing for use in the landscape that you could use instead of chicken wire. A rabbit can jump several feet in the air if attacked, but our local rabbits respect the 2-foot chicken wire fences. They might respect shorter ones. Oddly, our guineas also respect the 2-foot chicken wire fences, even though they are birds and could fly over any conceivable fence.

Just a suggestion. Short fences in case the Deer Scram doesn't work.

ZM

Hello,

This is after-the-fact, so I'm hoping those zinnia are looking lovely by now for you. I have an old-timers' solution for the rabbit nibbling: Put mothballs near the base of your plants. This discourages rabbits and chipmunks, both of which proliferate in my Maryland yard. The main ingredient in mothballs is also found in snake repellent...and mothballs are cheaper. I can't say how mothballs affect the soil or environment, and of course I use them only when necessary. I've seen no obvious negative effects from their use, and they've saved many a plant for me. I put one right next to each plant.

The population of rabbits and chipmunks exploded after my outside cat died years ago, but my love of bird-watching now takes precedence, so...no more outside predators on my watch. My favorite zinnias this year are "Apricot Profusion." I just planted 12 more!

Good luck.

Nice tip lilyred! One of my Dahlias grown from seed just got eaten down to a stick last night, I can't wait to try this.

I have to use the mothballs too around my front tree that I have built up and planted. The squirrels and the bunnies get to my flowers as soon as i plant if I don't use them. I also use the critter-ridder granules for my pots closer to my house so I don't have to smell those awful mothballs.

While mothballs might be very effective, they are not good for the soil or the air, because they are poison. They are meant to kill moths that might lay eggs on clothes hung in storage, and then the larvae eat holes in the garments or fabrics. They smell strongly, because the chemicals they contain are extremely volatile, meaning they evaporate easily into the air. They will also dissolve in rain, and seep into the ground.

As much as we would all like to be able grow every beautiful plant we see in our very own yards, I would suggest doing reasearch to find plants that are resistant to nibbling by whatever particular critters you are dealing with. We could start a new thread, but there are many already here or in other forums, such as the perennials or cottage garden forums. Good luck.

Martha

When you are smelling mothballs, you are inhaling poison.

I am not a fan of moth balls (yuck!). Anyhow, I am having pretty good luck with the wabbits this year (knock on wood). I have a cinnamon smelling spray that I use occasionally as well.

Just as Zen_man predicted by late June, my zinnias are starting to bloom. Very excited to see all the different colors peeking thru.

I have removed all the mothballs that I put around my flowers. I will never use them again. I didn't know they were so poisonous. I bought some more granules to sprinkle around my flowers The bunnies don't seem to bother my plants in my back yard only not ones in the front of the house. I hope they don't find my zinnia.

Stir fry- you say that you are having a party next year. Remember that different flowers grow differently depending on the weather from year to year. Some summers are just awful for certain flowers and great for others.