15 Easy Ways to Get Rid of Rabbits in the Garden/Yard!

Here in this article, we will discuss different natural ways to get rid of rabbits in the garden/yard.

Rabbits are cute and lovable animals, they also want food, water, and shelter. When you find them in your garden, it means they are looking for their free meal.

The worst comes when you have spent season harvesting the garden, and you find the rabbit’s holes start popping everywhere in the garden.

Rabbits like to eat young tender plants in comparison to their older tougher counterparts. Like, when you are ready to pick up the harvest, you see the half-eaten vegetables.

Can we use natural ways to get rid of rabbits in the garden without killing them?

Yes, you can get rid of rabbits in the garden naturally by taking effective measures to curb this problem. You can mow the garden, seal any extra holes, fencing the garden, rabbit deterring trees or plants, fertilizers, commercial repellants, or other organic repellants.

You can also use traps or other house pets to scare the rabbits.

These precautions should be taken to get rid of the furry rabbits naturally by taking preventive measures.

Table of Contents

Natural Ways to Get Rid of Rabbits In The Garden/Yard

Rabbits are omnivorous animals; they wander around in search of food. Their burrows and holes cause a lot of damage to the garden or backyard.

Rabbits live in both urban and suburban areas. They live under the burrows or make holes near the areas where they can easily get through their food.

Thus, these animals are harmless but can be trouble for someone when their population explodes.

When this thing happens, they can ruin the gardens, landscaping, berry plants, trees, or even grasses also. Garden plants that are mostly ruined by rabbits are carrots, lettuce, peas, beets, and even beans.

Even the ornamental bushes and trees even get damaged when rabbits start eating or chewing these barks. They even strip them as a whole also.

A problem arises when the rabbit is infested by the bite of some infected tick or deerfly, which can be harmful to both humans and other animals which can get infected.

Some rabbits live under the holes or some make homes above the ground like in the thick bushes or vegetation or with a lot of debris to be colonized.

There are many natural ways to get rid of rabbits in the garden instead of using any gun or any lethal traps.

Some organic and commercial repellents are also used to get rid of these rabbits without harming them.

These simple home remedies could save a lot of the rabbit community from dying and can help you to get rabbits away from your garden.

There are many handpicked home remedies to get rid of the rabbits naturally away from the garden without destroying your vegetation.

Some of the ways are listed below how you can use the things and materials to get rabbits away from your garden naturally.

Mowing the Lawn to Get Rid of Rabbits

Some people have unnecessary tall grasses, bushes, or small shrubs in their garden. These tall grasses and bushes make the perfect hiding or living places for the rabbits.

If you want to keep your bushes and shrubs, then you have to get rid of these extra-long grasses or bushes.

Trim the grass and low hangings bushes branches as they are the cover for the rabbits to hide.

Clean up all the plant debris from the garden on a daily basis. As this can be the cover for the rabbits.

Thus, a neat and clean garden will not be attractive for the rabbits to cover and it will protect the garden from extra damage.

Also read: Does Rabbit Poop Kill Grass?

Seal the Extra Holes

Rabbits dig holes or burrows under the stairs, decks, or sheds.

If you find any extra holes in your place seal the burrows or holes.

You can use any insulating foam seal to get fill the holes.

You can also use chicken wire or rocks or boards to cover the holes completely.

Check all the coverings and spaces for the holes. Cover the entire rabbit’s holes to stop the rabbits from entering the property.

Check and make sure all the seals are at their places; so that rabbits do not find alternative ways to enter the garden.

Remove the Water Sources to Keep Rabbits Away

Rabbits will invade that place where there is a supply of water, food, and shelter.

If you have land near the pond or stream, then definitely rabbits will form their habitat near the stream.

If you have to keep the rabbits away from the land, then you have to remove the rabbit’s access to the water resources.

Securing the water sources by the fence can be a beneficial and most convenient method to get rid of the rabbit naturally without using any harmful things.

Burring the fence at least six inches deep can stop the rabbits from concealing under ensure it must be two to three feet high.

Sometimes, due to poor maintenance rabbits find weak places to get into it. So, maintenance is much important to keep the rabbits away.

Plant More Trees

Rabbit deterring trees can be used, if you think your garden needs more trees than the plants, then rabbit deterring trees could be helpful.

Planting the birch and rabbits deterring trees might be helpful to get rid of rabbits naturally.

Rabbits also have taste buds like everyone else, they also do not eat anything found in the garden.

So, you can use this home remedy to get rid of rabbits away from your garden by planting the plants that rabbits do not like to eat.

There are a few of the plants that are unappealing for the rabbits to eat and which keep them away from the garden. You can train rabbits and hamsters together in the garden.

Rabbits do not care for plants that have a strong odor or are prickly. Thus, planting or growing these unwanted plants can help you to get rid of the rabbits naturally at home.

The plants that could be unappealing for the rabbits are goat weed, verbena, asparagus, mint, daffodils, rosemary, onion, English ivy, lavender, bee balm, and bougainvillea.

You can also use toxic species of plants to get rid of rabbits naturally by this home remedy. These plants look beautiful and attractive in the garden.

Thus, planting rabbit-resistant plants is usually an unreliable solution, and requires either replacing all the tasty and precious plants and growing these rabbit-resistant plants. This is among the best natural ways to get rid of rabbits in the garden.

Also read: 11 Natural Rabbit Repellents for Garden (that work)

Fencing the Garden

Rabbits make their homes under the sheds and decks. If their majority increases, it becomes difficult to get rid of them.

To keep the rabbits away under the sheds and decks, the best method is to use the fencing to keep them out of the garden.

But also, keep in mind that rabbits can fit through small holes so make fence holes always tiny.

You can also use it to keep the rabbits away from the lawn and also from digging under the shed.

You can make a small trench outside the shed or deck. For this purpose, you can use a wire fence at least 2-3 feet high, and a mesh diameter of 1 inch can be effective.

As deeper the trench, the better it will be. The trench should be a foot deep and half of the foot wide.

You can also use this chicken wire available on Amazon throughout the trench. Make sure to place the bottom of the wire fence under the bottom of the trench.

You have to bend this wire under and bury the fence in the ground at a depth of at least 6 inches to keep rabbits away from digging the holes.

It is important to use flashing at the bottom of the gates to keep the rabbits away from entering the underneath.

Landscape Trunk and Vine Guards

If your landscape has grapevines or tender young trees, then you can repel rabbits by shielding the plants. These methods will keep rabbits away from your garden.

You can use the trunk guards for all the newly planted young trees and grapevines. You can easily make the vine guards at home.

Sometimes, rabbits stand to reach the plants, trunk, and vine guard should be at least 2 ½ feet high to prevent the rabbits from reaching the vine.

Use Motion Sprinklers to Get Rid of Rabbits in the Garden

With the growing technology, now there are automatic motion-activated water sprinklers to get rid of rabbits and keep rabbits away from the garden.

These automated sprinklers have sensors, when the rabbit comes into the sensor range they sprinkle the water.

There are also sound-emitting sprinklers that can be easily installed and work as the standard water sprinklers.

These automatic motion-activated sprinklers are environment-friendly and you can buy them easily from any hardware store or even online.

Keep Other House Pets

Keeping house pets such as dogs and cats can help you a lot to keep the rabbits away from your garden.

Rabbits are afraid of cats and dogs. Both animals love to hunt rabbits for fun and play, so rabbits avoid such places where cats and dogs are present.

Small territories can be best for the dogs to catch the rabbits with more speed and agility.

Cat is also the predator for the rabbits, but sometimes they lose their quarry.

If you want to get rid of rabbits but do not want the other animals to kill them, then attach a bell to their collar, so when cats run to chase the rabbits they know it’s a warning.

Set Traps to Catch Rabbits:

If fences do not work, then you can use this trap to catch the rabbits by using humane methods at home.

You can use the live traps instead of killing to catch the rabbits, as it is one of the beneficial home remedies to get rid of rabbits from the garden.

You can take the wire live traps in the locations where the rabbits are present.

Move the trap on a weekly basis, if it fails to capture the rabbit at that place and check it every 12 hours.

You can place the good baits in the trap like carrots, apples, cabbage, lettuce, berries, and corn to catch the rabbits.

If you catch the rabbit, then release it at a place that is a mile away from your property so that the rabbit could not come again.

You have to wear gloves and take other safety precautions, as the rabbit can be diseased.

Use Hardware Cloth

Hardware cloth could be used to wrap it around the bases of trees and shrubs to get rabbits away from digging the holes.

Hardware cloth is a small, sturdy mesh-sized product, available in rolls at the local hardware stores.

They are made of metal or plastic and can be easily cut to use as a DIY around the house.

Rabbits chew the barks of trees, ornamental plants, and shrubs.

It causes a lot of damage, so to prevent them from being eaten, it is better to prevent the damage in the first place.

Wrap this hardware cloth around the bases of the trees and shrubs to protect them from being attacked by the rabbits.

As hardware cloth is a galvanized wire screen that cannot easily gnaw or chew by the rabbits and protect the plants, shrubs, and trees from the attack of the rabbits.

Use of Commercial Repellents

Commercial repellents are used by many of the farmers on their property to get rid of rabbits.

These repellents are expensive and include dangerous chemicals which are harmful to the rabbits and destroy them.

There are a variety of commercial repellents. There is not a single repellent that works on all the rabbits to get them away.

You have to use a variety of commercial repellents to see which suits the best to get rid of rabbits.

To deter the rabbits, it is important to keep in mind that choose those repellents which can be effective for the future perspective also.

There is a different type of repellents available in the market to use for deterring the rabbit’s community.

Commercial repellents like ammonium soap can be used, as it can deter the rabbits but it might damage the plants.

Before buying any commercial repellent it is important to read the ingredients as they might not cause damage to your plants and trees.

You can also use blood or bone meal fertilizer; it is an organic fertilizer that is meant for the garden.

Blood meal fertilizer is actually the dried blood of animals, and when it is dried, it comes in powder form.

It also has many benefits in the soil. It raises nitrogen and acid level in the soil.

Thus, due to much addition of blood meal in the soil can be dangerous for the surrounding plants.

Always follow the instructions labeled, and lower the risk of burning and killing the surrounding plants.

This repellant will keep the rabbits away from the garden as rabbits are herbivores and do not like this repellent.

Use Household Repellents

You can make a homemade repellent if the commercial repellent is costly for you. This is not much complicated to make a repellent at home.

Some easy steps are involved through which one can make a repellent and using natural ways can get rid of rabbits in the garden.

Pour water in the container:

Take about a gallon or 4 liters of the container, and add warm water in the container, as warm water mix with the repellent well.

You can also use cold water, but it does not mix appropriately with repellent.

Add dish soap:

You have to add little dish soap to the water about 1 tbsp. This will cause the repellent to mix well with the water, instead of floating on its top layer.

Dish soap will let the repellent stick to the plants.

Add hot sauce or crushed red pepper:

Add about 1 tbsp of hot sauce if you have a gallon or 4 liters of the container. If the container is less than 1 gallon then add 1 tsp of hot sauce to the mixture of soap and water.

Close the cap and shake the mixture well.

Add garlic cloves:

Now add 4-5 crushed garlic cloves to the mixture and leave the bottle in the sun to speed up the mixing process.

The garlic cloves will act as an astringent for the rabbits as they do not like the garlic smell and keep them away from your place.

Add mixture to a spray bottle:

If you have a small garden, then any spray bottle could help for spraying on the plants.

If you have a large garden, then you have to buy a large garden sprayer from any gardening store or the home improvement store.

Be cautious while using the commercial spraying bottles again for spraying on the plants. Do not use it, if it has a label of not reusing again. This can harm the rabbits, plants, and people eating those plants.

Apply spray regularly:

Spray the plants on a regular basis or again every two to three days. Spray again if rainfall or heavy dew washes off the spray mixture.

Once you notice that there are no bite marks of rabbits on the plants, the rabbits have learned their lesson and you can stop spraying the plants. This will take a few weeks, but in the meantime, rabbits should not be eating the plants to cause damage.

If the rabbit is still biting, then adjusts your recipe to be more potent by adding more garlic. Do not add dish soap again, as this causes damage to the plants.

Use Of Organic Repellents

Organic repellents can be helpful in getting the rabbits away from the garden. Some of the organic repellents are listed below:

Consider Using Raw Eggs

Rabbits do not like the smell of raw eggs, so you can use it to get rid of rabbits from the garden, although they can get used to it over time.

Mix the raw egg in the spray bottle and shake it well, now spray it on the plants and on the border of the garden.

This can attract the ants but keep the rabbits away.

Use Of Spicy Materials

You can also use spicy materials to keep the rabbits away.

You can use vinegar, hot chili pepper, black pepper, capsaicin, garlic as bitter substances to discourage the rabbits and other animals.

Always dilute these substances with soapy water to minimize the harm, and let the repellent stick on the plants.

Buy Predator Urine

Spraying the predator urine in the garden can keep the rabbits and other prey animals away.

How effectively do these works depend upon the predator species, rabbit species, on a diet of predators, and other great variables?

Most probably coyote and fox urine is used to keep the rabbits away from the garden.

Final words

In this topic, we have discussed many natural ways to get rid of rabbits from the garden without killing them.

Rabbits love eating, and even a single tiny rabbit can destroy dozens of large trees. They cause damage to your property if they are not eradicated.

Rabbits breed faster, they make hiding places in places where they can get through their food easily.

So to save the garden from these tiny animals destroying you must have to take several precautions to save the garden.

There are many natural ways like mowing the lawn, cleaning the plants deter, closing the rabbit hiding places, and using fences and traps to get rid of them.

Rabbit deterring plants and trees are also used in the garden which keeps the rabbits away due to their scent and bitter taste.

While commercial and other organic repellents as described above are also used to get rid of rabbits from the home garden or any property area.

Other articles you may also like: