Question of the Week 05/19/2018

With the extremely dry weather we are having and with no moisture in sight, we are seeing some odd things happening!

Question of the week:

Q: I have moonshine yarrow in my yard and the rabbits are eating it. I thought yarrow is rabbit resistant? What should I do?

A: You are correct, Moonshine yarrow is rabbit resistant, however with the drought Santa Fe is in if they are hungry enough they will eat whatever they can.

I have also seen them eat Chamisa and four-winged saltbush.

What should you do?

A couple of options - you can be like Elmer Fudd and shoot that silly wabbit (although he always misses Bugs Bunny so maybe not a good idea), or you can spray rabbit/deer repellent which can be purchased at your favorite greenhouse or home improvement store. You can also make your own repellent.

A couple that works:

Ground Pepper: Since rabbits are constantly sniffing around, they tend to inhale whatever they come in contact with. You can repel rabbits by using red pepper, black pepper, cayenne or paprika that is spread around your garden. Once they take in the offensive pepper, they will certainly think twice about pestering your plants.

Kitty Litter: Rabbits can't stand cats. Hungry rabbits will usually keep away if there's a feline roaming around.

If you don't have a cat you, can use cat droppings as well as kitty litter to keep them away. Just sprinkle around plants that they are eating.

Marigolds: Since rabbits aren't too fond of marigolds, plant a few in your garden to discourage their presence.

Metal Wire Cage: If the rabbit has eaten a plant, don't worry, most likely it did not kill it. Just put a metal wire cage around the plant to allow it time to regrow.

Let us know how things turn out! Good luck.