Plant marigolds around the hosta. Rabbits dont like the smell.

Walmart carries "Animal Stopper". I use it on my commercial plantings...where the flower beds are vulnerable to deer, pocket gophers and tons of rabbits....even Elk. It smells like mint & charcoal to me....not bad.....OH....and....I put Cayenne pepper under the plants...dig a little in around the top soil. Dollar Tree has it for $1.25 a jar.

Oh, ded! Rabbits at my house LOVE marigolds -- I had several six-packs of different ones waiting to be planted. Guess what?! Every single little baby marigold was chomped down to the soil level by these blasted furry creatures. Over several days. The very pretty newer one ("Strawberry Blonde") , a pale lemon one and deeper yellow ones - all gone. Grrrr!

Then the furballs moved on to my baby cosmos and they are gone as well... and they also "trimmed" a lot of verbenas just to be helpful. Ackkk.

I have so many as-yet-unplanted pots of flowers and every morning, I go out to see what has survived. I have resorted to lifting up 10 trays of assorted plants on top of folding tables to foil the rabbits (so far, so good). And I have a critter repellant similar to what nicole posted above to use when I get my act together, hopefully in this lifetime. =)

So, in my experience, rabbits adore marigolds! They are very welcome to all the clover that is in abundance but they don't seem to be interested in that as much at this time...

Off to survey this morning's damage.

Satine ~ So sorry your daughters' efforts were thwarted. The hostas will likely survive -- it's difficult to actually kill them (!) unless they are expensive special ones, lol. Good luck!

I use Deer-Off, which keeps both the rabbits and deer away from my hostas. Hostas are very forgiving, and if they don't keep getting chomped will sprout new growth, so don't despair!

I have good results not with a household product but with Bobbex for deer. A spray lasts 6 or so weeks but if your plant has put out a flush of growth it does need to be reapplied sooner. Roses are one that will catch me off guard and if I'm not paying attention the deer have spoiled the new growth and new flower buds.

They make a formula for smaller animals too and rabbits are shown on the container.

I have an acre so buy the concentrate and mix my own but they offer a ready-to-use spray too.

Deer also love hosta - I don't need one more fav to spray so haven't planted any here,

Deer are especially fond of new growth on Japanese maples and i seem to have stayed ahead of them with the spraying for the first time in two years of many distractions - my trees looking pretty good so far this year 😊

When the kids were little they composed a little song: ”Bunnies, bunnies, eating our hostas! We shoulda told them not ta, not ta!” (not to)

We looked up homemade deterrents, they mostly include cayenne. or peppermint oil, that kind if thing.

Years ago I read the book Rabbit Hill. IIRC, the homeowners have a garden for the rabbits and one for themselves, and all is well. Yeah sure!

I use dried blood or blood meal. Adds a bit of nitrogen as a bonus.

tj

FWIW, I saw a simple method for deer long ago on a gardening show - lay chicken wire or wire fencing flat on the ground around the area you want to protect, since they do not like walking on it.

Rabbits are another story, I'm guessing...

I put small wire cages around mine when they first sprout. I leave them on until the hostas are topping the cage then remove. Bunnies don't bother them much after that point. You can get the cages at the big A

Another vote for deer off. It's safe to use around kids and pets. It's very effective.

You kters always come to the rescue. Thank you for all the ideas. I have put cayenne pepper down so hopefully that will do it until I can get out to buy a commercial product. Hope all are having a wonder holiday.

I'm glad to see this addressed. I'll just add what *didn't* work for me: Coffee grounds. Blood meal. Peppermint oil.

I'll try the Deer-Off. I wouldn't have thought of that. We had deer twenty years ago, but have not for at least five years, despite there being a deerpath along our creek. We do have coyotes, but evidently not enough to balance the rabbit population.

Thanks for all the info and feedback. II mayI may tryI may try to getI may try to get some deerI may try to get some deer off.

I slso need something (peppermint) to spray in and around engine compartments of cars. MICE!

I have said to DH that we should never eat in the cars. not candy wrappers of soda cups either.

I just shot one of those cute little bunny Rabbits an hour ago with a BB gun. This how you deal with rabbits.

Deer Off works for me. I also hang bars of Irish Spring soap in my Japanese Acuba and holly as a back-up.

We never had deer problems while our dog was alive. I guess her scent kept them away. Maggie was an English Lab with lots of hair so when I brushed her I'd take handfulls of hair and stick it in and around my hosta. Worked great.

Save yourine $$$, human pee works just as good as deer off.

Kevin, I hope you are kidding.

I have foxes, which are a great deterrent and beautiful to boot! Please don’t use cayenne, it is animal cruelty and torture. Can you imagine getting a mouthful of hot pepper and not being able to get any relief? I just can’t believe anyone thinks it is okay to use on helpless animals.

No, I'm not kidding Satine100. Rabbits drop 3 to 5 litters with 4 to 12 babies in each litter every year. When Rabbit populations are high any kind of repellent has little effect on them, and right now the population is very high here and a major pest to me. An individual rabbit becomes persistent when they find a yummy food source and return every night so those are the ones I will shoot, not out of sport. From the first rabbit litter this spring I had baby bunnies getting in and eating all my broccoli seedlings, ire!

Had a rabbit addicted to my Cayenne pepper plant one year and with 30 other pepper plants to choose from it only ate off the Cayenne. I couldn't get a pepper from the plant until late season after I shot it. So these persistent individuals are the ones I shoot and lay them in a field to feed the rabbit's natural predators.

Three weeks ago I watched a bald Eagle drop high from the sky to pick up one of my dead rabbits, and in all cases the rabbits are gone in a day. Rabbits are at the bottom of the food chain for carnivores so I just make life a little easier for them with a free meal. Had a lot of red fox controlling the rabbit population until human development brought city people afraid of them, or wanting backyard chickens not knowing how to protect chickens and then shooting the foxes, or the increased traffic running them over until they all vanished. I loved my Foxes, I love my Eagles, hawks, Owls, and I'd love to see a bobcat getting one of the rabbits because that is what rabbits are for.

If you can't beat them join them, Hostas are editable and rich in fiber and minerals. Hosta recipe link.

I used to have a pairs of hawks circling high above but the last couple years, no more sights of them, so the rabbit population is exploding. With nearly half an acre of flower and vegetable plantings, I need to get a live trap. I nearly ran over the little bunnies with the lawn mower when they nested near the edge of the lawn and a rose bed recently. As they say, breed like rabbits. Being cute and destructive, they should be kept under control by predators or be relocated from the gardens.

Kevin -- I'm on your side with this. Curious about the pepper-eating varmint. Protection against ticks, maybe?

I did take exception to the neighbor who brought his two grammar school age boys along on his pre-dawn patrols to shoot coyotes IN our town -- when *he* decided they (the coyotes, not his kids) were a nuisance.

“I just shot one of those cute little bunny Rabbits an hour ago with a BB gun. This how you deal with rabbits.”

Can a BB gun kill a rabbit? Are they accurate enough?

Grow clover instead of grass and the rabbits will be content eating that. At least in my experience here.

Roxsol, doubtful a bb gun unless you are a crack shot. Better choice would be a pellet gun.

Exactly, ci lantro. I think even a crackshot would have a difficult time killing a rabbit with a BB gun. It definitely could cause unnecessary suffering, though. 🙁

Agree with LoneJack, if there are rabbits they will stick with the clover in the lawn and with the wild "lawn" that we have there's plenty of clover to go around. I used to shoot them too but with a high powered pellet gun which is quicker. I catch and release them in the country now if they become more interested in the garden. So far I just have one little bunny but I'm keeping an eye on it. We also have red foxes here (on night cam) so this bunny may not be around much longer.

vgkg, I just enjoy watching them out in the clover, too.

Rosol, a cheap regular Crossman pumpmaster BB rifle will drop a rabbit at 50 ft and was my range yesterday. I've killed one from 75 ft. and lucky to hit it at all because of the inaccuracy of a BB flying through the air from that range.
I have on loan a Gama whisper .177 cal pellet rifle made for general vermin control with the velocity of a 22 rifle that can kill a rabbit at 200 ft. if I'm lucky enough to hit it. The accuracy starts dropping off after 150 ft and you have a 80% chance of hitting anything at that range. It's what I borrowed to get the smart little cayenne eating rabbit who would run if I got within a 100 ft.
I've used the BB gun with just a few pumps to scare off rabbits with a sting to their butt and one way to repel a rabbit without killing it. They have a strong memory and recall and will avoid the area in the future.

A very small electric fence charger ($20) and a one ribbon string of wire at rabbit level will also deter a rabbit from ever coming back because of their strong memory an recall. I mentioned ribbon wire because the thin Stainless Steel wire strands are embedded in a 1/2" up to 1" ribbon for temporary fences. They last and I've got 15 years on my ribbon wires so far and not anything as intrusive as a fence. It's 100% effective and doesn't wear off and then one day you find your flowers or hostas or what ever eaten to a stub.

There is a spot on Vancouver Island, the freeway going into Victoria, where they have had to post a sign prohibiting rabbit dropoffs. The story that I was told is that commuters, while stuck in traffic going into Victoria would spot the rabbits playing on this grass. They thought that it seemed like a wonderful spot to drop off their trapped and even unwanted pet rabbits. It eventually became over run with rabbits. Plus, people making a quick stop on the freeway became a hazard.

I did a driveby shooting 📷 of the sign in 2016.

I like my rabbits. They eat my clover and violets in the ”lawn”.

ETA: If you shoot them you need to eat them.

To be more blunt, if you choose to kill something, anything, you need to eat it.

Do you eat a mosquito or a fly after you swat it? Yum!

Yikes! Or a mouse in a mousetrap?

Sorry but I just can't kill a living thing. The exception being flies, ants or mice if they are in my home. To each their own.

Someone long ago dropped off rabbits on San Juan Island in Puget Sound. They prospered. So some one up valley from here got some of those rabbits and let them go at a place called Clarks Cabins. They have really prospered. They are every where. Something must eat them as you arent knee deep. They also feed hummingbirds and it is like being in a bee hive. Fun place to visit and good food. I suppose it is the same. I havent stopped in in a while.

Our rabbits are not native, they are all introduced. The owls are ok with imported food. Weasels which we have a couple of types will also eat rabbit. Amazing as it seems a little weasel can take down a full grown rabbit without breaking stride and haul it away.

patriciae

I'm not sure why we were assigned "The Yearling" in grammar school. I know I failed to understand the message. Maybe 'city kids' can't.

Another product that seems to work is Plantskydd. You can order from Amazing. I’ve been fighting the deer for years, not so much the rabbits, although every now and then one will appear and one can chew everything it seems in one night! Usually the coyotes or maybe a fox or hawk will get them. Anyway, for the first time in a couple of years I actually have some daylily blooms. After 20+ years the deer suddenly discovered them and decided to eat the blooms a couple of years ago. Now I’m fighting back.

Took me too many days to realize this thread isn’t about June 1.

Well Im here to tell you that cayenne pepper doesn't work.