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Except for a few plant nibbles and a nice burrowed home, rabbits are essentially harmless. However, that doesn’t mean their presence on your lawn isn’t infuriating. They love to feast on your carefully planted flowers and curated bushes, sometimes as much as a deer. So if you’ve been dealing with Thumper and his crew in your backyard, here are a few tips you can apply to your lawn care routine. Oh, and the best part? No trapping, shooting or inhumane practices will be necessary!
Pro tip: Dealing with deer as well? Here’s how to keep deer our of your yard.
Thanks to some nifty tips from the Farmer’s Almanac and a few tips from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, you’ll be saying goodbye to those rabbits in no time.
Keep the plants clean
With less weeds and extra leaves, there’s less for rabbits to feed on. Keep the plants trimmed up and you’ll avoid excess food that the rabbits will gravitate towards.
Mow often
Mowing will also help to get rid of excess weeds and leaves. Keep the lawn short to avoid giving rabbits even more of a food source.
Plant onions or garlic
Rabbits repel against these plants! The smell will lure them away. So if you have an inkling for growing some onions or garlic for the kitchen, now’s the time.
Sprinkle dried sulfur, powdered red pepper, or hair
Rabbits are also repulsed by sulfur and red pepper. By sprinkling a bit around your lawn or shrubs, the smell alone will help get rid of rabbits. You can also consider sprinkling some human hair as well. Hair looks similar to grass, so when Rabbits feast on it, they just find it to be a terrible tasting grass. Knowing that the “grass” is not what they want, they stop hopping over.
Use a reflector
Did you know that rabbits are actually afraid of their own reflection? Hence why you probably see fancy reflecting devices at stores like The Home Depot and Lowes. These reflectors (sometimes in the shape of cats, snakes or owls) will show the rabbit’s reflection, scare the critter away, and leave you with a nice piece of artwork on your lawn!
If you’d rather not have a small animal statue, you can also fill up a clear glass jar with water and place it near the rabbit’s favorite feeding spot instead. The water in the jar will show a reflection, scaring the rabbit away.
Get rid of shelters
Rabbits like to burrow, so if you have a rabbit problem, try finding the source. You can easily eliminate the rabbits by reducing their possibility of making a home in your yard. With fewer shelters available, the rabbits will soon leave for good.
Build a fence
The oldest and probably most reliable trick in the book is building a fence around the house. A fence will help keep our those rabbits, while also helping you to avoid other forest creatures such as deer. Just make sure there are no openings that they can squeeze through!
Are rabbits the least of your lawn critter worries? Maybe these human pest control tips for critter-proof gardens and planters will help!
