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San Diego

My new patch is 20 by 20 and I'm pretty excited about it. One of the new foes I have to deal with is rabbits in this area. So my plan is to put a 1" mesh chicken wire around the the 20 by 20 area. From anyone with rabbit experience, here is my question. How high does the chicken wire need to be so they don't jump over, and how deep does it have to be buried in the ground so they don't dig under or get under it? MY idea was to bury the chicken wire 6 inches and have it stakep up by rebarb steel posts. This would give the chicken wire a 2 and a half foot height above the ground. Any suggestions? Just trying to have a simple easy solution. Thanks Jimmy

1/6/2005 5:57:38 PM

Montoursville, PA

Jimmy,

All puns aside. Rabbits are so prolific you will fence ten in while you attempt to fence ten out.

Don't know what others will say but I have never had any rabbit damage in the pumpkin patch. They just sit in the shade and eat weeds.

They eat the heck out of anything they can get their teeth on in winter. They will ring a newly planted tree only surpassed by the mice doing the same thing under the snow.

1/6/2005 6:05:40 PM

Key West, FL

rabits never harmed my pumpkin plants, they'd rather eat the weeds. Once the plants are out of the hoophouse the rabbits should leave them alone...

I still chase them around with a pitch fork though when they get inside my fence. :)

1/6/2005 6:27:58 PM

[email protected]

Plant Impatiens & Clover & such some distance away from the patch. They love to eat the flowers of these plants.

1/6/2005 7:23:10 PM

San Diego

I had a friend close by lose all of her plants when they were all about 200 sq foot each. The rabbits just came out and munched them to death! So that scares me hehehe:) Jimmy

1/6/2005 7:25:46 PM

Garden

Better put a tennis ball or something over the rebar- dont want a law suit :)
Maybe put up a fake owl haha

1/6/2005 7:36:59 PM

Cincinnati,OH

I know they can clear a 2' fence so I would say at least 3'.
I would say the greatest danger of rabbit damage is in the spring when the rabbits are hungry and the pumpkin vine is tender. I would think a 6' in diameter fenced area would be more than enough, by the time the plant reaches it you should be safe to remove it. If there are enough rabbits to eat a 200 sq plant though, you might have to go "Nesbitt" and fence the entire area. Electrify the fence and hire guards with shotguns. You do know that rabbits sit beside the road and call the deer across into your car don't you? HEHEHE

1/6/2005 7:53:10 PM

Lloydminster/AB

Rabbits ate my pumpkins,cords,hoses,weeds and any thing that was yellow! All patches are now fenced with chicken wire but the odd one can jump over a 3 foot fence. note to self.... forget gopher hunting.....find that mutant bunny!

1/6/2005 8:04:08 PM

Mn

Generely rabitts never bother pumpkin plants because they are kind of spiky. If they do just put some Blood Meal on your plants and they shouldn't bother you. We have the ultimate weapon at our house, two dogs, four house cats, two cugars (motain Lions), and one bobcat. Even though my patch is a couple hundred yards away from the cugars, it still scares the deer and rabbits away. It also helps if you have your dogs running loose. I still have a problem with one gholper though. Seems nothin scares them.

1/6/2005 9:27:50 PM

San Diego, CA

Rabbits most certainly will eat vines & chew on pumpkins - a 2 ft fence kept them out of my corn/pumpkin patch last year. I put a little compost around the edges to discourage digging. I plan to put a 3 ft fence around my growing area this year to keep the dogs & sheep out, though, & attach the 2 ft chicken wire to that.

1/6/2005 9:35:04 PM

San Diego, CA

Hmmnn... looking at these responses, I'm thinking that our San Diego rabbits are a bit more desperate than those in other areas!

1/6/2005 9:40:24 PM

Commack, NY

i placed some blood meal around the border of the patch this year, and they didnt mess with my plants one bit.

1/6/2005 9:43:20 PM

[email protected]

Blood Meal is a pretty good animal repellent. Works well for dogs too.

1/6/2005 10:14:33 PM

Mn

One year a laddy asked for some of our cogars poop te repell critters. I'm guessing that big pretter poop must repell small animals.

1/6/2005 10:23:10 PM

[email protected]

Never had problem with rabbits and pumpkins but they sure go after garden plants here.
If your neibors are not too close, tie an aluminum pie plate to the rebar with about a 6-10 inch string, whenever you have any breeze at all the plates make a noise hitting the rebar and scares them off. works really well for birds too.
Eddy

1/6/2005 10:25:07 PM

Hobbiton New Zealand

I lost a couple of silver beet plnts to a rabbit a few days ago I saw the rabbit in the garden and got out the shot gun 1 shell= one rabbit and two plants but i thouht it was worth it

1/6/2005 10:26:25 PM

Woodburn, Indiana

Check my 2003 Diary, I had rabbits thinking an 800+ pumpkin is the biggest carrot it has ever seen. I used moth balls and they never returned.

1/6/2005 10:35:39 PM

San Diego

Thanks for all of the replies everyone, very good info. Maybe southern california rabbits are more nasty than the average with less rain and therefore less food here, they aren't so picky on what they eat. I forgot to say I had another friend have his seedlings wiped out by rabbits too. I'm probably gonna go with 4 foot chicken wire, maybe blood meal too, I would love to shoot my gun but not a good idea in a neighborhood here:) Jimmy

1/6/2005 10:51:15 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

Do you have rabbits or hares?

1/6/2005 11:30:26 PM

NEPA [email protected] KB3QKV

I don't have any hair on my head hahaha I have plenty of rabbits. Only problem that I had last year was slugs. Someone suggested using beer on a tin plate. Well, I tried it but drank the beer instead. I believe that rabbits will go to the area of least resistance for food. Why fight for pumpkin plants when clover and other delicious plants are available in the garden. Like bulbs! carrots! beans! But no problem this year, we have a cat. haha

1/7/2005 7:56:55 AM

Itzetown City

BeerMaker, using beer against slugs is an "urban legend". It´s true slugs like beer, but feed them with beer is only you invite all the slugs of the whole neighborhood to a party in your patch. Rabbit and cat is another thing, Sara got a rabbit that shows our cat the way along. LOL
To prevent rabbits or hares going into your plot you need at least 7 feet high chicken wire and dont forget to put the wire at least also 1 foot in the earth.

1/7/2005 8:49:23 AM

NEPA [email protected] KB3QKV

boehnke, I would never share my beer with slugs. Only family and friends. I would comsume too much beer if I ever made it at home. That is why we stick to making only rootbeer and wine. I never did believe to put beer on a plate and set it for the slugs. Let them go and buy the beer just like we have to. Our cat is only 8 weeks old so I do not think that he is a hunter yet. Just wish that he could always make it to the litter box in time haha. Like I said we never had problems in the pumpkin patch, just the rest of the garden. We have moved last November closer to the rabbit population so we shall see what will happen.

1/7/2005 9:05:08 AM

Follansbee, Wv

Actually, I have used beer to capture and kill slugs. It works very well, if done properly. I use small tin cans (like a cat food can). You have to bury the can so the top is even with the soil. Then fill the can only half full with beer. As the slugs crawl in, they become trapped and drown.
We have rabbits all around here. I have an electric fence that I put up at planting time, and never have any rabbits in the garden. Of course, the garden is in a field and the neighbors yard has lot's of clover in it. There is plenty of good stuff for them to eat without getting shocked.

1/7/2005 12:05:33 PM

San Diego, CA

Variations on a theme - my mom was having problems with those big brown snails eating her flowers, so I suggested she try the beer in a saucer thing - she didn't have any beer handy, but there was some old red wine in the back of her fridge. I put that out in some shallow bowls - gobs of drowned snails the next morning!

1/7/2005 11:08:02 PM

Pumpkintown, SC

My eyes over the years have informed me that MY rabbits eat my weeds while MY groundhogs(quite possibly YOUR rabbits) eat my plants. However, I believe you have "Jack" rabbits out there which are considerably larger and possibly less discriminating when feeding vs our "Cottontails." BF

1/9/2005 2:09:00 AM