So how to keep squirrels and rabbits out of the garden? How about those other rodents, such as voles…? Rabbits are not rodents, and while cute and sweet, you may want to swear instead of coo when they demolish your dinner.
Squirrels, rabbits, lagomorphs and insectivores… garden pests are plentiful, and while we love animals, we don’t love it if they decimate our precious garden. The good news is that there are natural solutions to keep squirrels and rabbits out of the garden.
Rabbits are lagomorphs not rodents. Shrews, moles, and hedgehogs are also not rodents, they are classified as insectivores.
Check this out if you need information on deer deterrents.
Cute Little Devils!
The idea of squirrels scampering up nearby trees and playing in the limbs, or little bunnies hopping through your garden can be sweet and fun to watch. But those cute critters are opportunistic feeders. When the squirrels take a few bites from each of the ripest tomatoes—like our squirrels did—or rabbits munch away your garden greens, they’re not so cute anymore.
Voles, woodchucks, squirrels, gophers, mice, moles, and other little creatures can wreak havoc on the garden. So what are you peaceful, animal-loving gardeners to do when Peter Cotton-Tail comes thumping through your vegetable patch, or worse, voles tunnel below ground to feast on your roots?
Stick with us. There are a number of solutions to consider. But first, we need to identify what’s eating your garden plants.
What’s Eating My Garden?!?
If you’ve ever found a garden plant shriveled up for no apparent reason, press upon the soil with your toe, only to have the plant drop into a tunnel below, you’ll agree these harmless critters aren’t so harmless.
Assessing What’s Eating Your Plants
If you don’t already know what kind of animal is disrupting your garden, finding out should be your first step. If you identify the creature you can learn more about their habits and behavior so that you can find the best solution to protect your garden.
Knowing what these creatures eat (insects, plants, whatever) can guide you to taking the more appropriate action. Both moles and voles may occupy tunnels but vary in their feeding habits, so the plant damage is different. [1]https://extension.psu.edu/natural-resources/wildlife/faqs/nuisance-damage/identifying-moles-voles-and-shrews
We’ve covered moles extensively in this article on how to get rid of moles, and more on voles here so for this article we’re starting with rabbits.
Signs of Rabbit Damage to Plants
What Does Rabbit Damage to Plants Look Like?
- Clean angled cuts on plant stems and shoots
- Plants may be eaten to the ground (although deer do this too)
- Leafy greens like lettuce eaten to the ground
- Rings of bark eaten around the first 2.5 feet of trees
To confirm your suspicions, look around for the ubiquitous 1⁄4 to 1⁄2-inch round fecal pellets that rabbits seem to drop constantly. The presence of their characteristic footprints, consisting of an alternating pattern of small front feet and large back feet, is another clue to the identity of the culprit.[2]https://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/4816/keeping-rabbits-out-of-the-kitchen-garden
Next is a video on installing a garden fence.
Garden Pest Solutions
- Fencing
- Kill them and eat them
- Liquid fence
Barrier Fencing
Picket fences have that country charm, but these may only keep the dogs out. If you have cats or other creatures prowling, crawling, scampering or digging about, you need something more heavy duty.
Taking the time to create the proper fencing barrier up front will save you a lot of grief in the long run, and once it’s up, it should last awhile.
TIP: Don’t Use Rabbit Fencing
In our sleuthing of fencing products, rabbits can easily squeeze through those 2 by 3 inch holes. Some “rabbit fencing” has a lower section with tighter mesh but according to customers, the rabbits just jump through the upper section with the larger openings. It pays to read the reviews before buying a product.
Most of the so called “rabbit fencing” is ineffective against rabbits.
The 6-minute video clip below by Kenny Pointe offers a quick and concise how-to tutorial.
Use Chicken Wire Fencing to Deter Rabbits
For garden fencing, here again, chicken wire is a relatively inexpensive option. Stretching woven wire fencing between posts (using a strand of wire to tension the bottom or forming an “L” and burying as such like the gentleman does in the above video) can discourage garden raiders from burrowing under your fence.
Cottage Picket and Rustic Wood Fences
Cute but Functional: you can choose a cottage picket fence or rustic wood fence and just use the wire to line the lower section, up to as high as you need it on the inside.
If you’re near woods, you can even use sticks from branches for a real country feel. Sure, these won’t last and they will rot, but they will hold up for awhile, especially if you anchor them with some solid posts. Then it’s relative easy to replace pieces as they wear out.
The example in the rustic stick picket fence below are just decorative “place holders” for stapling the mesh, which is actually keeping the rabbits out the garden.
Building Your Own Fence
If you decide to build your fencing, your local home improvement store can be your best bet for all your materials.
TIP: If time is an issue, order what you need ahead of time and they’ll have it ready for pick up.
You can save a lot of time by ordering your supplies online via your local home improvement store. Some of the local home stores such as Lowe’s and Home Depot in our area, will shop your list for you. (And this was a “thing” even before Covid!
Just fax, call or submit your supplies list online and let them shop for you for free. Then stop by to pick up your order.
The larger home stores often have calculators specifically for assessing project needs and are glad to create one for you for free. They have a vested interest in getting it right because if they sell you too much they’d have to take back the excess via a return.
So measure your perimeter, decide the type of materials you want to use, then just tell them your project and the area you need to cover and they can calculate it and even pull it for you, ready to pick up.
TIP: Save time by letting your home store calculate materials and shop it for you to pick up, (usually a free service).
Protecting Individual Plants from Rabbits
Fencing Around Plants and Trees
For individual plants, it should deter rabbits by place chicken wire around the plants you want to protect. You will need to bury a bowl-shaped piece of hardware cloth 6 -10 inches under the plant’s main root system to thwart burrowing animals.
It’s not the most attractive option and it takes more work but it works for those few special plants under attack.
TIP: Surround your trees with chicken wire fencing that’s fine enough to deter rabbits and deer.
Tree Sleeves to Protect Trees from Rabbits
GardensAll reader, Robert Newton, shared his experience:
The rabbits did chew up the bark around the base of my apple trees. I saw one of the rabbits out there running so I am pretty sure it was the rabbits. There are these tubes that you can put around the base of your trees to stop rabbits from chewing on them. I am getting those now. I will get a 12-pack of them.
First it was a moose that chewed on the upper tips of the trees.
So I built fence squares around them with t-posts, green vinyl fencing and zip ties. That did appear to stop the moose. The trees tried to regrow from the bottom, but then the rabbits chewed up the new growth over winter and stripped the bark at the bottom first foot of every tree.
I am not sure if they survived, but if they did, they should bud here very soon. The tubes are called tree guard. I do have 2 new apple trees to plant.
This time I will do it right and put the tree guard on them before planting. I’ll put 2 vinyl fences on each t-post square so that it covers from top to bottom. I’ll do the same to the rest if they survived. Eventually, I’ll fence off the property line.
Will Fencing Work to Deter Squirrels?
Squirrels deserve their own heading. Cute little bushy tailed bright-eyed, fun to watch… until they raid your tomato patch.
To witness these darlings nip off the largest, almost ready, prized, best tomatoes and suddenly, they’re transformed into conniving, bandits dubbed limb rats. Grrrrrr!
While fences may be ideal to deter deer and rabbits, it won’t keep squirrels out. Unless you have a roof mesh ceiling on your enclosure as well as a fence, squirrels can — and will — climb anything but the slickest pole if they detect a reward on the other side.
Trapping, AirSoft “tapping”, tangle foot, pepper coating, fake raptors and snakes, urine products, used cat litter, motion activated sprinklers… we’ve been through all of these with some