Sevin and Copper Fungicide

[ninnymary]

Steve, after having Benjamin Bunny for so many years, aren't you getting at least alittle attached to him? Please don't put hot peppers on his young bean plants. Pretty Please.

Mary

 

[seedcorn]

Mary, odds are in Hawks (or coyote) favor that bunny in year 2 is not same bunny of year 1.

 

[digitS']

I'm always cheering for the coyote but I have no livestock there. I do worry a little about the neighbors' dogs and cats.

I wish that the coyote would come through early even if it is just to push the rabbit back to the junipers on the lawns. I think Benjamin's mother nests often in the neighbor's raspberry jungle. I bet Br'er Rabbit would get no protection from Wiley in those raspberries.

Steve

in my garden, October 2011

 

[Smart Red]

I'm with digitS'. As Gypsy would say after seeing rabbit damage in her food, "Call Uncle Frank and have him kill Peter Rabbit." She and I don't take kindly to such vermin, although, we will do whatever we can to keep them out in the first place and have a wildlife friendly environment elsewhere on the property.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If it's critters eating critters, I'm OK with that. Non-poisonous snakes are fine as long as they are not eating eggs or chicks. They are even welcomed. Rabbits get a pass as long as they are not in the garden, though I'm sometimes not sure that is wise. I probably should extend that "no rabbit" perimeter to include around the garden. Raccoons, groundhogs, and skunks are considered legitimate targets anytime I see them. Too much potential for mischief there. My chickens are in electric netting so foxes, coyotes, and stray/feral dogs are not especially targeted, they eat critters, though if I determine a dog has been abandoned I will probably take it to the pound instead of letting it die in the wild.

I've never had to deal with ground squirrels so I don't have any great ideas. I once read that if you mix Plaster of Paris with grain they'd eat that and get a fatal intestinal blockage, but I later found a study where that idea was actually tested. Did not work according to that test. If I remember right, a university tested it.

I got some coyote urine at the hardware store. Looked like it was mixed in sawdust. The local hardware store owner said fox urine worked on rabbits in his garden. I've tried it on groundhogs with extremely limited success. It seems to work a day or two, then they ignore it although the smell lingers. For an organic ground squirrel solution you might consider trying bobcat or fox urine. Maybe it will work, I don't know.

 

[digitS']

My garden is wildlife friendly!

The chipping sparrows have been showing up now the sunflowers have ripened seed, chickadees have been there regularly along with the goldfinchs. Song sparrows are in that raspberry jungle all summer and work their way through the garden, often.

The sharp-shinned hawk will show up now and then to harrass them but I think he rarely catches anything. I saw an owl the other day when I came especially early. Redtails circle overhead and seem to be nesting in the nearby pines. I've learned to work around the yellow jackets, celebrate the ladybugs, all range on the flowers for drying which are sprayed with nothing ...

I'm not interested in making a home for rodents or plant eating insects. They won't sign non-competition contracts.

Steve

 

[ninnymary]

Mary, odds are in Hawks (or coyote) favor that bunny in year 2 is not same bunny of year 1.

Seedcorn, please let me live in my disillusional world. I'm sure that's Peter Rabbit and that's that!

Mary

 

[bobm]

Seedcorn, please let me live in my disillusional world. I'm sure that's Peter Rabbit and that's that!

Mary

Sorry Mary, but that is Petra... and she is PREGNANT !

 

[Smart Red]

@bobm knows his rabbits! Better listen to him Mary.

 

[seedcorn]

Seedcorn, please let me live in my disillusional world. I'm sure that's Peter Rabbit and that's that!

Mary

I'm sure that is the same rabbit-I was just jesting before. She is the Winner of Hunger Games.