Gardening with Rabbit Manure

Branching Out said:
Last year I tried popping a few rabbit pellets in the container when I was bumping up miniscule Lisianthus seedlings, and they seemed to respond really well to it. This year I am adding rabbit poop to most of my transplants when I bump them up-- except for vegetables like lettuce and mustard greens, that will be harvested immediately. I have very few houseplants, but when I refreshed their potting soil I added rabbit manure to those containers too. It seems like such an easy way to provide slow-release food for the microbes in the soil.
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Why have I not thought of this before? Brilliant. Thanks!!
 
Composting it may well be the best approach of all-- and if collecting manure from wild rabbits I would definitely compost it before using it on my garden just in case there could be diseases lurking in it.
I made a couple of 'mini-composters' by drilling some holes in the bottom of plastic buckets. I create layers with garden soil, rabbit poop and hay, a bit of half-finished compost, coffee grounds, eggs shells, and whatever else I have hanging around. When it is full I water it a bit, put a lid on it and let it sit in the sun for a few months. If it gets really dry I water it but otherwise I just leave it alone. The holes in the bottom provide drainage, and allow worms to enter the bucket; the worms do most of the heavy lifting for me. Then when I am redoing flower containers or mixing up soil for transplants I add a bit of this nice rich mixture. I know many sources suggest top-dressing with compost, but I prefer to mix the compost in so I don't get weed seeds germinating on the surface.
 
Branching Out said:
Last year I tried popping a few rabbit pellets in the container when I was bumping up miniscule Lisianthus seedlings, and they seemed to respond really well to it. This year I am adding rabbit poop to most of my transplants when I bump them up-- except for vegetables like lettuce and mustard greens, that will be harvested immediately. I have very few houseplants, but when I refreshed their potting soil I added rabbit manure to those containers too. It seems like such an easy way to provide slow-release food for the microbes in the soil.

I also like to add quite a bit when I prep my garlic planting site in the fall. My thinking is that it will start to break down over the winter, feed the garlic come spring, and then keep on giving for the growing seasons that follow. Given that I rotate my garlic planting site, over time rabbit manure will eventually be added to each section of the garden. One rabbit produces a LOT of manure though, so I have buckets full that are layered in the compost bin on a regular basis too. Bunny poop is the gift that keeps on giving!
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I did that a couple of years ago, put rabbit put in my potting soil for my houseplant. It did really well and I need to re-pot that plant and I need to start a few more houseplants. I also used rabbit manure in my garlic bed in the fall. I think it helped, but really the bulbs were not bigger than usual. I put rabbit manure in an onion area one year and next to it I had peas. The onion tops and the peas were so tall they all fell over. I had plenty of nitrogen I guess. LOL
 
Branching Out said:
Composting it may well be the best approach of all-- and if collecting manure from wild rabbits I would definitely compost it before using it on my garden just in case there could be diseases lurking in it.
I made a couple of 'mini-composters' by drilling some holes in the bottom of plastic buckets. I create layers with garden soil, rabbit poop and hay, a bit of half-finished compost, coffee grounds, eggs shells, and whatever else I have hanging around. When it is full I water it a bit, put a lid on it and let it sit in the sun for a few months. If it gets really dry I water it but otherwise I just leave it alone. The holes in the bottom provide drainage, and allow worms to enter the bucket; the worms do most of the heavy lifting for me. Then when I am redoing flower containers or mixing up soil for transplants I add a bit of this nice rich mixture. I know many sources suggest top-dressing with compost, but I prefer to mix the compost in so I don't get weed seeds germinating on the surface.
Click to expand...
DH used to make compost for me and we had 10 rabbits then. DH is not here to do that now and I have just been dumping rabbit bedding and manure in big barrels to compost down, but I like this little bucket idea. I am going to have DS put holes in a few buckets for me and keep them beside the hutch. I only have 2 rabbits now, but I am going to do this. Actually, I could put them under the hutch where rain could not get in and put worms in there when I find them in the garden or would the lids on and sitting in the sun be better?
 
I think as long as the worms can get in there they will do a lot of the composting for you. My preference is to place it in the sun so it heats up the eggshells and whatever else I have in there. You really can't go wrong.

Now you got me thinking about my sweet peas. I just read an article that suggests adding 'lots of manure'-- but I think I will go easy on the manure with them. I want to make sure I get lots of flowers instead of lots of leaves! And if they get too tall it is hard to pick the flowers. This is of course assuming that we get flowers; last spring was such a bust around here I hardly got any sweet peas. The poor seedlings just rotted in the cold and the wet.

In another couple of months I will start setting rabbit manure aside in order to have some to put in the bottom of each tomato planting hole. Last year I gave my gardening friend a bucket of rabbit manure too. She was so touched, she almost got a tear in her eye. 🤣
 
Yesterday we were very concerned about our pet bunny, who appeared to be passing blood in her urine or stool. Then my husband and I compared notes, and we figured out that each of us had given her a few of the first ripe red raspberries of the season. From what I have read intensely red pigmented foods can result in a red colouration like this. Has anyone ever seen something like this before? The bunny just loves raspberries.
 
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