I rotate. I really like Deer Off (Amazon only?) which smells nice. Bobex smells like death and works well, too. I also have some granules that smell cloves that I sprinkle mostly in Spring.

I think rotating sprays and keeping up with new growth is important. To me, that means spraying quite often to avoid new leaves and especially tulip flowers being unsprayed. Tulips are a lot of work, to be honest.

I have tree lillies and daylillies and my rabbits don't bother them. They are completely unsprayed at the moment. I start spraying the buds for the deer, but the rabbits don't seem to care.

The emerging lilies (from bulbs) must taste like candy. I don't know whether the damage is from rabbits or squirrels. I tend to blame the squirrels just because I see so many of them, plus I know they dig up the lily or tulip bulbs unless I pin wire mesh over them after planting.

Neither bother my daylilies.

Another fan of Deer off. Available locally for me. I think there's a Rodent Off (or something like that) - but basically it's all the same. Does smell nice -- minty-fresh. I use both the spray and the granules; you can stretch the granules a lot farther, but sometimes I want to spray individual plants to be extra-sure. You could also try hot pepper spray on plants, I've heard that will work.

I sprinkle blood meal and bone meal close to my tulips to keep rabbits away. It has worked well for three years now.

mxk3, out of curiosity, what do they do?

They smell blood and they dig it up - plants and everything. Other predatory animals might do the same, but I'm not sure, my experience has been with cats.

Most of my tulips are planted under our lawn, maybe that’s why we haven’t had issues with digging.

I use hot pepper for deterring critters.

Nothing keeps the squirrels away here, the only squirrel damage is from them digging in potted plants. I used milorganite last season to keep the rabbits at bay, it worked well and I’m using it again this year. Used a hand spreader. The bonus is it’s a mild fertilizer and it’s cheap. It does need to be reapplied after heavy rain. One bag lasted all season.

Sherry

I buy hot pepper in bulk at a local asian grocery store. Also plant daffodils and nodding onion, so there are lots of bad tasting bulbs mixed in with the good ones.

Supposedly blood meal and bone meal attracts possums and raccoons. On the plus side, it is a fertilizer.

The best approach I have found, which was recommended to me in a landscaping class I took years ago, is to choose two or three and rotate between them regularly. For example, I use Repels-All and the Bonide deer & rabbit repellent spray, and switch them every few weeks. If you use the same one, the pests become "nose blind" to it over time. Also, if you are using spray, it must be re-applied regularly, especially after rain. The diligence of application has a lot to do with how effective it is.

Sherry, where do you find the milorganite? a regular big box store or home improvement store?

I should start keeping records of what I use and when I apply it. Like that's going to happen. I am sure the scattershot approach is at fault in part, but if something lasted longer that would give me more security. We've had 2-3 days of solid rain here. They are probably out there munching right now, before I can get out and reapply something.

The one I used a few days ago is called "Uncle Ian's". No idea where I picked this one up. Granules. Ingredients blood meal and hot pepper.

Linnea, we are both in Illinois, so, I get mine at Menard’s, Home Depot etc. probably carry it, my dad used to use it when I was a kid many moons ago. It was $7 for the bag.

Sherry

Several yeas ago I set up a motion sensor and irrigation spray for my amusement mostly but also, perhaps, just maybe, keep cats and kids out of my annuals.

It actually worked briefly. Then some kid moved the spray to a basement window and sat there playing with the sensor and spraying water into my basement.

I yell profanity at them when I see them near the patio lol, but they just shake their tails and chatter. Nasty things. I got some of those wireless pest repellent things that you stick in the ground. It seems to work. They stay in the hemlock trees where they belong. I've also tried the hot pepper and that helps too.

Milorganite is one of the oldest branded fertilizers on the market. It's composed of heat-dried microbes that have digested the organic matter in wastewater. Milorganite is manufactured by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.

Just sayin'.

Milorganite is a soil amendment, not, per se, a pest repellent. As Susan says, it's basically the by-product from the Milwaukee wastewater PTW!!

Milorganite keeps the rabbits at bay. Each to their own here, I’m using what has worked for me after trying those nasty, expensive sprays. I knew where milorganite came from, not much different than some of the treated manure that goes on some gardens. I suggest anyone who is interested in using Milorganite to do a search on the internet about its use as a repellent.

Sherry

It has 4 legs and is spelled dog.

Ditto flowergirl

just don’t plant sunchokes or potatoes or they will be dug up by those 4 legs.

I didn't spray the peonies as nothing eats them - usually. Something decide to give various plants a try today. Just bit them at the bottom and then walked on.

Yea, but sometimes dog do a heck of a lot of damage, too. I have a first-class digger on my hands, she'd dig to China if she could.