knows that hares can do much more harm than a few carrots eaten. These long-eared animals have a huge appetite for all types of fresh vegetation - woody annual and perennial plants, vegetables and berries. In fact, the menu of their favorite “dishes” is so extensive that it is easier to name a few plants that they don’t like. Uzians have an extremely high reproductive potential, so letting them live side by side without hindrance is a threat of a real invasion of your garden. Zayaihi bring up to 3 litters of 6 hares per year in the north and up to 6 litters of 3 cubs in the south. Reproduction lasts all year round, and the gestation period takes 29 days.
More than 2 dozen predators hunt the Fold, so the main opportunity your yard gives him is to eat and not be eaten. For this reason, eating your petunias is not a carefree animal outing, but a dangerous mission. However, if the neighbor hare can get through the fence to your yard, he will be safe.
You can study our advice on protecting plants from hares, but try to treat them like an English writer Beatrice Potter - as an integral part of a peaceful country life. So you can protect the plants that you and the hares love, and you don’t have to worry about the rest.
How to understand that hares come to your garden
Of the nine species of North American Florida hares is the most common and annoying. Its habitat is almost the entire territory of the United States and southern Mexico. It is rarely found in forests, preferring to live in fenced fields, under fences and in the back yards of houses. His love of flowers, vegetables, bark and bulbs often leads to pruning of pepper and cosmee.
Despite the fact that the animal is affectionately called the hare and fluffy, and you probably want to make friends with him as soon as you see these cute ears, the East Florida hare can become a pesky pest. The safest shelters for the pest are heaps of branches and leaves, as well as holes left by other animals. Unlike their European counterparts, these hares do not dig their own holes, preferring to find ready-made ones.
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Eared rarely leave their homes during the day, preferring early morning or twilight. Like other animals, they are sensitive to changes in day length in spring. For the bias it is a signal to 2 things: the breeding season and feeding.
As a voracious animal, hares leave a clean, even cut on your plants. Check the leaves and stems for such damage. After insects and other pests are usually gnawed uneven edges on broken plants. An even hare cut is often seen on stalks near the ground, pests like to eat tasty green shoots of tulips and other flowers.
Fluffy guests smell the first tender young shoots and gnaw them clean. They love to chew clover, peas, lettuce, beans and many other plants. Groundhogs also love this delicacy, so that, before making a decision about the presence of hares, check the garden for the presence of holes. As a rule, when plants pass the seedling stage, they cease to interest rodents.
Although hares gnaw anything and everyone at any time of the year, they are especially active in early spring, mercilessly eating young shoots. One gardener from Connecticut complained: “My tulips were just breaking through the snow as they were eaten right down to the root. There were a lot of hare prints around, so the culprit is obvious. ”
How to get rid of wild rabbits
Although we talked mainly about the East Florida hare, our tips are suitable for any type of eared pests:
- Get a dog. Yes, these are certain expenses and responsibilities, but this is the best way to keep rabbits away from the plot.
- The hare's nose is constantly on the move, sniffing space. Sprinkle dry sulfur around the plants and on the leaves. He also does not like the smell of onions, so plant him around the perimeter of the garden to drive away the pest in the future.
- You can sprinkle the plants with talcum powder or red pepper powder to ward off hares.
- Make an anti-cocktail and spray the plants after the rain. To do this, combine 3 hot peppers, 3 large onions and a bunch of garlic. Then fill with water, leave in a closed container at night, and strain in the morning. After that, pour 5 liters of water and the mixture is ready.
- Sprinkle your plants with a mixture of 1 tsp. Lysol 5 liters of water.
- Some people protect plants with "collars" from cans or screens to allow plantings to reach a less vulnerable size. Install such structures around each stem.
- Use wire mesh cylinders to protect the bark of fruit trees. Cylinders must be high so that the animal cannot climb over them, standing on its hind legs, and the distance to the tree trunk is at least 5 cm.
- Some people say that repellents against deer based on dried bovine blood and garlic are suitable for scaring wild rabbits.
- There is a belief that hares are afraid of their reflection, so put more glass jars in different parts of the garden. The stores sell ready-made reflectors and other toys such as artificial snakes and mechanical owls designed to scare off pests.
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Sometimes, the best remedy is humane traps. If you do not want to buy one, you can do it yourself. Place the trap where you saw the eared feeding and cover it with a cloth. From above, place the vegetables and fruit as bait. Regularly check caught hares and release to freedom a few kilometers from your home.
How to keep hares away from the site
The best way to keep eared pests away from the site is to start spraying and other manipulations that hares do not like from early spring, and then consistently perform them throughout the growing season.
In order to keep obliques from entering your garden, begin to scatter dried pig blood and human hair around the plants at the beginning of the season as early as possible. Repeat the procedure after each heavy rain.
If you have a dog, this method does not fit, the smell attracts it, causing it to dig the ground in the landing area.
Do not rely entirely on repellents. The most effective way to keep wild rabbits out is a wire mesh fence. Install a fence about 120 cm high and dig it into the ground by 15 cm. Bend the upper edge of the fence horizontally in the direction from the garden. Due to this, the hares will not be able to climb and climb over the obstacle.
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Eared pests do not like to leave their shelters, so reduce all possible options for arranging their homes. Remove all the piles of branches and leaves, fill the existing hole. If the hare has no place to live, he will most likely leave your site. In addition, animals breed best in comfortable living conditions, so this is another reason not to give them such a chance.
What plants do not like wild rabbits
According to scientists, hares' preferences in food are based on its nutritional value, the presence of poison or spines and accessibility. Their tastes may vary depending on the region and season, so not all plants are suitable for them. Be smarter and plant plants that hares are not very fond of.
Eared avoid the same plants as deer, as well as Japanese beetles. If you want to control all these pests, check out the list of crops not loved by Japanese beetles and deer. Choose forsythia, marigold, zinnia, lavender and snapdragon against hares. This will help reduce the likelihood of their arrival, but does not give a 100% guarantee, hungry hares will eat absolutely everything. And yet your garden will become less attractive to them than someone else’s.
Here are some more species of plants that hares do not like:
- peonies;
- perennial sage;
- Veronica;
- creeping phlox;
- lamb ear;
- Azalea;
- rhododendron;
- boxwood;
- geranium;
- marigold;
- marigold;
- waxed begonia;
- Narcissus;
- Hyacinth;
- Persian Bow;
- asparagus;
- onion and leek;
- potatoes;
- rhubarb;
- tomatoes;
- Basil;
- Oregano;
- parsley;
- wormwood.
Harm from hares at their summer cottage - video
