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Rabbit-proofing requires a few tricks

Question: Do you have any solutions for keeping rabbits from eating plants? I live in Sun City Anthem, and they are a real problem. I just planted some lovely gerbera daisies, and they’ve eaten the plants to the ground.

There are two solutions as far as I know. One is to put in plants resistant to rabbits, or the other is to exclude them with fencing that keeps them away from the plants. If rabbits are terribly hungry, garlic or pepper sprays don’t seem to help much. Hunger overrides fear of getting caught.

Usually one-inch mesh chicken wire will work as long as it is about 24 inches high and buried a few inches below the soil surface so they cannot get their nose under it or dig.

If rabbits have other food choices, they may not damage your plants so much. Encourage your neighbors to plant carrots!

Bob Morris is a professor emeritus in horticulture with the University of Nevada and can be reached at extremehort@aol.com. Visit his blog at xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com.

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