They seem to prefer tender young shoots of small hosta leaves. Once the hosta are fully leafed out, much less problem. Also like Tiarella, Heuchera and Heucherellas.

Later they like the clover in my yard.

Sorry no pic.

Paul

In my garden,the only time a rabbit ate any hosta,it was the new shoots,and never the leaves. After the hostas leaf out,they leave them alone. I actually had a baby bunny hang out in my garden a couple years ago. I would stand there,and watch it,and it only ate weeds at any one time. The baby bunny got so used to seing me,he would walk right up to my feet. After that year,I have never actually seen a rabbit in my garden. Around here,they tend to be nocturnal eaters,and the last two years,have chewed off new eyes right to the ground,but only the hostas near the paths,never deeper in the garden. The hostas rebound,and one of mine grew back completely. The others that were eaten,had only minimal damage,and leafed out so you couldn't even tell that it even happened. I don't consider them much of a problem,and we have lots of cottontails in these woods! Phil

I've seen the bunnies chop down hosta leaves and scapes all spring. I imagine it's hard being so much shorter than your prey, because they often abandon their work on the ground around the plants when the results don't match expectations.

Early in the spring, they ate ALL my crocus foliage. Then they moved on to young hostas, before devouring the Asiatic lilies. Lately they've been eating violets and the creeping bellflower that I hadn't weeded. Hosta vandalism has thankfully slowed, but I still find casualties every week.

Rabbits ate crocuses and probably the hosta pips in my garden.Someone ate h.'Raspberry Sorbet' to the ground, but it came back small. I know I have rabbits, because I saw them and just caught one. I also lost parts of hosta leaves, but never saw a rabbit do it. I think rabbits do not need to eat hosta leaves because when hosta leaves appear there seems to be better food around for them in a less dangerous environment. Though they dared to come into my garden to get all the young beans! But one got caught there.

I believe I never lost bell flowers and lilies to rabbits. I once had bell flowers mowed to the ground when a woodchuck was around.
Bernd

This post was edited by berndnyz5 on Tue, Jul 16, 13 at 19:05

Rabbits ate three of my lancifolias to the ground last year. All three came back but at about 1/3 of the size they were last year. They were also very fond of my Stargazer Asiatic lily. And green bean seedlings. Not much problem w/ bunnies this year...hard winter and a lot of fox in the neighborhood.

Anyone with a picture? Bueller? Anyone?

Steve

I didn't get a picture, but last night a rabbit was sitting there cutting off some newly transplanted Golden Tiaras !! Right out in the front yard. Sitting there on his butt staring right at me !!! Quite a few were cut, there were NO leaves on the ground, I think they only eat small tender leaves...

We have a rabbit who makes daily visits to our yard, but I've only ever seen him munching the plantain weeds and clover, never the veggie garden or hostas. I figure its a trick...I'll let my guard down, then he'll devour the whole garden in three days flat.

pics, no,... but there's a rabbit I've watched feast in my buffet more than once.

Dang dogs were oblivious.

"Do Rabbits Eat Hosta Leaves?"

Do bears eating Catholic popes in the woods make a sound?

Is that how that famous rhetorical question goes?

tj

Might be a bit late but certainly rabbits eat hostas,my pet rabbits reguarly raid the hostas,all parts of it.If you need photo evidence still I can submit an image of them at it

If you have time to wait... I can put game cams out in the spring. Of course at the risk it may make me the talk of the town, and I may be dubbed the crazy hosta lady.

Daily - I have both little babies eating Chinese Sunrise through the fence - see them do it, can send photos of the damage but not that impressive and then the larger bunnies eat bloom stalks standing on their legs, just to prove who can bite the highest up on a scape.

Most leaf damage is from the babies - worst damage is when you are weeding or walking and the little sucker bolts out form under your hands or feet and scares you!

I have no visual evidence, but I am sure that rabbits eat hosta. Three problems here, Rabbits, deer and turkeys. Rabbits nibble, deer devour and turkey rip at leaves as the hunt for bugs. My dog Shasta is a hunter and has killed 4 baby rabbits and one bird while on a leash. Another bird on the deck. A groundhog the other day, a large rabbit one day and a small squirrel once while on a run. She used to play with snakes all the time and not kill them (not tasty it seems). One bit her on the nose when it was cornered and now snakes get summarily shaken, killed and discarded. If she could run loose I would never have to buy dog food.

Since killing a few babies and Shasta being a few years old the rabbits seem to have decided to move away as Shasta will patrol their dens when we go for walks. Deer seem to stay away now that there is plenty of forage in the woods, but they will certainly be back in the Fall. Shasta would certainly like to take on the turkeys, but hasn't had the chance.

I need a Shasta! It is so frustrating to wait for a favorite perennial to bloom only to have a rabbit bite off the stalk and then spit it out cuz they decided they didn't like how it tastes!

Sorry Deb, she can be a pain in the butt and is spoiled rotten, but she's my baby.

Who else would eat hostas, except deer. We have no deer in our developed area. I have a 4 ft high chain link fence in the back and only small openings where baby rabbits could enter the hostas area. Every year some animal grazed off to the ground hosta 'Raspberry Sorbet', no other hosta. I have no pictures, but I bet it was a bunny. This year I sprayed several times with Liquid Fence, and so far nobody has eaten it off.

Jon, she is so cute!!! How can she be a pain in the butt?!

- She often barks at me to get me to go into another room.

- She demands 1 1/2 to 2 mile walks 3-4 times a day.

- She will hold out for days to get the food she wants.

- Last Fall she dragged me downhill into a tree (squirrel) and my knee was swollen and numb for three months.

- If there is a fly in the house she runs after it and onto furniture (no, no) and barks so the lamps vibrate until either she or I kill it.

- Frightens the neighbors or passersby by barking at them. If they come over she licks them. If they keep going she keeps barking.

- She wakes me up at 5:30 or 6 every morning.

- She barks, if that doesn't work then talks to me and as a last resort comes over and puts her head on my lap and looks up at me until she gets exactly what she wants.

- She will come and sit at attention just out of reach to make me lean toward her and then she turns and heads off leading me to what she wants. Look at her dish....food. Stop short of the door, look for leash....walk. Nose up to the door...wants out on the deck. Front door....open it to look out of the storm door and guard the house. Finished her water and wants more.

- Berserk....squirrel, raccoon, turkey, groundhog (especially), cat, dog, bike, bee, snake.......

Should I go on?

She's just a dog...being a dog. lol

I've been an eyewitness to rabbits eating at my Hosta breakfast bar on more occasions than I can count. I sit right by my window and watch mama bring her babies out for breakfast. If they start mowing down a plant I love I just pop it up and move it to a bed by the house that they leave alone. If I'm really ambitious and they're being really destructive I'll spray the Hosta with 50/50 hot sauce and water. They don't care for that condiment with their Hosta it seems.

Busted at the hosta buffet!

I was complaining a couple of years back to an old gardening guru who lived down the street from me about bunnies (and squirrels) which I had seen, just gnaw off a leaf or two, without eating the leaf. She told me that this sometimes happens when there is little rain or standing water. Apparently, they can extract water this way (and don't have to bother with this when there is other water around. Has anyone else ever heard this?

Interestingly, a couple of weeks back, I watched a baltimore oriole (which I have never seen anywhere near my peonies, tear apart a large flower. I wondered what this was about, too. I know they look for protein for their young when they are nesting, and there are ants on the peonies, but in all the years I have been gardening, I have never seen this, and it looked like the bird was interested in the moisture at the base of the flower. Weird!

I've noticed attacks on my hostas coincide with low rain fall. My area is teeming with rabbits and squirrels. Before we got all the rain this weekend my Golden Tiara was being destroyed. Only 1/2 the plant is left now :/ hopefully with all this rain, they'll leave it alone.

I splurged and bought Liquid Fence this year and have applied it several times. Many leaves of the hostas have chunks out of them still. The other night, my DH caught a bunny in the act of stripping the leaves off my phlox which is about to bloom. It has also ate all the leaves off of my zinneas -- they look ridiculous now, they are a stalk with a flower at the top and no leaves...

I have always wondered who or what snaps the scape off the hostas and then just leaves it there on the ground. I thought I saw a Robin do it -- is that crazy or do the rabbits do that to (and why do they do that???!!!).