The Kitchen Essential That Doubles As A Natural Rabbit Repellent

To quote Elmer Fudd, "Wascally wabbits!" Rabbits are cute little animals that, due to their prolific reproduction, are a common sight in our yards. For those of us with flowers, vegetable gardens, or special landscaping plants, they no longer represent cute little mammals, but horrible threats to our plants. When it comes to managing garden pests, there is nothing funny about the damage that rabbits cause to our yards and landscaping, and the question is how to prevent that damage. Most of us prefer to keep rabbits out of the yard with human techniques. While there are scads and scads of commercially made repellents on the market, you likely have a powerful, natural rabbit repellent in your kitchen: vinegar.

Rabbits have very sensitive sniffers, and some claim their sense of smell is up to 100-times more powerful than ours. The pungent and frankly offensive smell of vinegar (have you cleaned a coffee maker with it?) is irritating to the rabbit's sense of smell and to their respiratory system. Using it as a barrier around the plants you wish to protect can be an effective, safe, and non-lethal method. So, what is the best way to use this kitchen essential rabbit repellent?

There are scores of articles and videos proposing techniques using vinegar to repel rabbits, but some of their advice would actually harm plants. Never spray vinegar directly on the plants you wish to protect. Vinegar is often used as an herbicide, so keep it from touching your plants. In the same way, advice telling you to apply vinegar to the soil around your garden, while potentially less dangerous, may still harm any plants it gets to close to.

The safest way to use vinegar in your garden is soaking cotton balls in the vinegar and putting them in small containers open to the air. Place the vinegar-soaked cotton ball containers around your garden. You'll need to refresh the vinegar regularly as it evaporates, sending the strong odor into the air.

No method of rabbit control is 100% effective, but there is one powerful additional step you could take would make the vinegar method even more effective. In addition to planting flowers rabbits will not eat, remove areas where rabbits can hide and feel safe. So many predators prey on rabbits that they need weedy, leafy, and thick brush to hide in. Remove their hiding places and you will have fewer rabbits. Combined with your vinegar repellent, your gardening success will certainly increase.