Due to the excessive snow and cold temperatures, many of our beautiful shrubs are not looking their best and little rabbits are to blame. Rabbit damage is now showing up in the country or in town.
Rabbit damage has been especially dramatic this winter because of the snow cover. Rabbits naturally have vegetation that they can feed on in the early spring, but this season they had no other option than to eat whatever they could to survive. Even plants that are not typically eaten by rabbits have damage. Most damage has occurred on Hawthorns, Crabapples, Burning Bush and Cotoneasters.
Because of the snow fall, the rabbits were able to get to higher areas on plant stems and trunks than they typically can reach. Winter rabbit damage can usually be identified in a few different ways. A few sure tell sign to know if a rabbit is to blame is to take a look base of your plants. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell, especially when they have been eaten completely to the ground. It will look as if they the plant were neatly pruned at a 45-degree angle just above the height of the snow.
Rabbits typically eat only what they can easily reach, so most damage occurs on the first 1-2 ft depending on the amount of snowfall in your area (the more snow, the higher up the rabbit damage). If the rabbit left the branches, bark is typically stripped away from the stems and trunk of the plant.
It is not too late to take preventative measures. For backyard bunny issues, exclusion is probably the best method for the winter remaining. Fencing around susceptible trees and shrubs is advised, but certainly not easy to do right now due to snow. Any screening or fencing needs to be pushed down to at least ground level, which will be difficult in 2 feet of snow. I like the plastic tree collars applied around the trunk of smaller trees which are more susceptible like apple and pear.
Scare tactics don’t always work well for rabbits. A dog might help while it is outside, but family pets should not be left out during the cold and especially not at night, which is when rabbits are most active.
I used taste repellents, however, they always need to be reapplied.