I am so sad to see what the damn rabbits have done to your plants. To me they are cute "bunnies" until they cross that hosta line, then it's war! There is plenty for them to eat without going on a hosta fest. There is a sheltered space at my neighbours where they live. I have to slam the gate behind me to ensure it's closed when I use it, otherwise they set up home in my yard.

I even nailed left-over boards at the bottom because those little buggers don't need much of a hole to get through...and they are great diggers!:(

My neighbour is a bachelor, doesn't garden so if they get into my space, they would never leave - my plants can feed an army of rabbits! Yikes!

So sorry, MK, really disappointing and frustrating to wait so long to see those beautiful plants unfurl, then to have them bitten off. Aargh!

Windymess, let comments like that roll off your shoulders. Don't assume it personally - everyone has an opinion but you don't have to own it. Slather all the cayenne you want - do you think for one moment that rodent is going to be discerning when digging in your pots? Ha! You do what you feel necessary to deal with the chipmunk/squirrel issues in your yard - and don't feel guilty about it. There are people who kill them. Your method is by far just a mere preventive.

These creatures are cute - except when they start destroying. My clematis is a gorgeous, mature burgundy-red one - I barely have a shoot left from the digging around the roots by those very "cuties". I have a love/hate relationship with them...same with rabbits - they are very busy now.

deer bites more likely?

What Bruce said is kinda what I was thinking...

What a shame and unfortunately they'll be back, so do what you need to to repel them!

I have no deer here and some of mine look the same. Blood Meal has since deterred the fur rats.

tj

TJ, that's the stuff I used to use many years back!!! Forgot all about it! That is a good recommendation you made! :)

So sorry! That is a real shame. The bunnies are only cute when they are not eating anything in your garden. I do hope your hostas can come back and look decent this season. I hope you can do something to protect them and any other plants you have.

I can understand your frustration!

My wife informed me yesterday that she'd seen deer in our area. Been there... know what it means when they come snacking! So... even in the gathering dusk, I whipped up some Liquid Fence (from concentrate) and gave a quick spray round the outside edges (hoping it will deter them from venturing inside).

Last year, not a single leaf was munched by their menacing chompers... but the year before... that's another story! Some did put out new leaves (Fragrant Bouquet/family in particular) a few weeks after the main feast. Whilst all the hostas came back the next year, some were smaller.

Which brings me back to where I began... I feel your pain!

BC

Thank you all for commiserating with me. I went around and sprayed everything else with the rest of Deer Off I had and tomorrow morning I will go put deer netting on everything. It could definitely be deer, I'm not sure. I just started seeing bunnies around and that's the first thing I thought of. But we have a creek and woody area about a mile away and I've only seen deer in my backyard once in the last 6 years so didn't think it was them. But who knows what they do while we are sleeping. I love all of my wildlife that I have but when they eat my hostas, I draw the line!

mkpearce:

If it makes you feel any better, my cat killed a baby bunny yesterday and another this morning.

My bunnies never touched hosta and generations have been raised in my yard. Last year, the deer ventured into my yard for the first time.....it looked a lot like that.

we are all aware ... as the leaf out.. they will look and be fine.. right???

ken

I've been fighting those little devils for years and I have finally come up with a combo that has worked the last 2 years. Liquid fence, blood meal, milorganic, and bamboo skewers. I put the sharp end pointing out, around the most susceptible ones. The bunnies are still around, I see 3-5 every morning, but they munching on the clover I let grow in the back yard. This year I've only had 2 out of over 200 nibbled on.

Heartbreaking news for sure. I have no bunnies as the foxes have decimated the population. But deer is another story. Deer Out works for me. Nice minty scent as compared to Liquid Fence that smells like urine.

I used to make up my own concoctions of egg, vegetable oil, pepper etc.. They work, but became too much of a pain and I now use Liquid Fence which works very well. It is putified egg product and other ingredients including 'something' that allows it to cling to plants.

It smells awful (Pew) when sprayed, but doesn't when it dries. It can stand some rain, but I don't think it will last the 3 months they claim it might. Concentrate is the way to go.

Jon

DD, it smells like really rotten eggs to me, that sulfur smell. University studies have found that a rotten egg smell mimics the smell of a well fed wolf, which frightens deer and rabbits away (duh)...now how do you know what wolf urine smells like?

I can empathize with you MK. Every year i get some of the same. I think I have 4 or 5 so far this year that have the pips nibbled off. As Ken said, usually they look OK by mid summer and new leaves have come out, but as the nibbled pips open up the leaves will be somewhat ragged. If real bad, I will pull them off or just chalk it up as collateral damage.

I have used and still use most all of the deterrents mentioned and all work about equally well. I think my best results have been granular deer and rabbit repellent by Liquid Fence and applied when the pips first emerge. Then one of the liquid repellents as they start to leaf out. The problem is getting it on timely and reapplying after rains.

IMHO, any deterrent is OK to use. This won't make me to popular but I am one of those that josephine referred to, I sometimes resort to a .22 deterrent. I really do like wildlife but won't tolerate them destroying my hard work and expenses however possible. I enjoy the "fur babies" many ways, fried, baked or grilled and don't apologize to anyone for it.

mkpearse, I'm sorry to see this damage. It is maddening. I always thought it'd be great to see cute rabbits around, but when I see what they do to gardens, I count myself lucky that we don't have them here.

windymess, if anything I said on another thread made you feel bad, that wasn't my intention. I understand that we're all trying to find ways to deal with whatever we have going on in our neck of the woods. No firestorm, just opinions. Like Jo said it's nothing personal.

sandyslopes - no worries...

That.'s a reason I let so many volunteers grow. They are mostly smaller and leaf out earlier. I've got a bunch of rabbit bites on volunteers, not so many on hostas I've actually planted. You just have to outnumber them, grow more hostas than they can eat.

So sorry mk. The fact that new leaves will cover most of the damage is not much compensation now. I can really empathize.

Generally rabbits don't have much interest in hostas. Usually
they will just nip the tips of shoots or cut leaves off and leave them lying
there uneaten. Occasionally they will start eating hostas for whatever reason.
The best way I've found to deter them is just to scatter moth ball flakes in the
area where they are a problem. Rabbits have about 100 times our sense of smell
and they won't hang around. The flakes only last 10 days or so, but are cheap,
easily available, and approved by the EPA for outdoor use.

If there is anyway you can have a cat that has access to your yard it will help. I looked on Craigslist for a few days until I found a young female that was NOT litter trained because she lived in a barn, but she had been handled a lot by the daughter of the farmer. She knew how to hunt already and was grateful to be brought into the house. She uses the cat door to go in and out and except for bringing her excess catches into the house for the lazy neutered tomcats we have, she has very good manners.

Sorry for your damaged hosta. There are so many pests/threats out there!

I live in MI too -- just ventured out to backyard (kind of swampy right now) and I am noticing nibbling on several of the 18 hostas I have emerging. I bought that expensive Liquid Fence at HD last night. Gotta try it -- spent way too much $$ on this landscaping to not enjoy it this year.

My neighbor has a crappy lawn with lots of clover (we have no fences) -- I think that attracts them.

I don't have deer thankgoodness (since I live in the middle of suburbia).