yard pest help... moles rabbits deer?

Question

we live in the country and have moles deer and rabbits they eat our newly planted trees and bulbs this yr we want to grow a garden too
the cats only get so many but i dont want to go on a pest kill either they belong out here just like we do what can i do or plant to keep them out of my flowers trees and garden and still have them in the yard

Answer 1

I grow organic vegetables on my farm. I plant garlic, and onions. the smell from these bulb plants deter rabbits and deer.

Answer 2

Hi,

I live way out in the country also and we have deer and rabbits. So far there haven't been any moles, knock on wood...

I garden all the time and here's my formula for keeping the deer and rabbits from eating my plants.

Trees - saplings and small trees I encircle with 4 foot tall green vinyl coated fencing from our local hardware store. It comes in 50 foot long rolls which I cut into five 10-foot-long sections and I bring the short ends of each section together to make a circular cage which is 4 foot tall and about 3 foot in diameter. I then stake it to the ground around the newly planted tree with 3 evenly spaced T-posts (also from the hardware store). This has been VERY effective in keeping the deer (and rabbits) from eating down my new fruit trees, and I have almost 30 new trees which are 3 1/2 years old now. I'll probably keep the cages around them for another 2 years and then see if I can take them off a few at a time without the deer eating them. One of my neighbors had planted 50 pecan trees without protecting any of them and the deer ate them all....he says he's going to try my method now.

And, as for the other plants, I've planted mostly herbs, and onions....things that deer and rabbits find too bitter to eat. The only thing I've planted that the deer and rabbits will eat is blackberries, and I've planted them closest to the house so that they are more wary about getting close enough to eat them. Only one of my blackberry plants has been nibbled on so far. A deer stripped the leaves and tip off of a 5 foot length of one of the canes....it regrew with a vengeance, and even branched, so I wasn't upset.

I guess the toughest decision I had to make was, if I couldn't protect it from the animals, then I had to be happy with planting things they didn't like to eat. It wasn't too hard to figure out enough plants that fit this category to keep me busy gardening, so I don't mind it so much now.

I don't have any experience with moles, though, sorry!

Answer 3

My apologies, this is a bit long.

The only certain way to deter deer from shrubbery or trees is to surround the plant with tall fencing or chicken wire. This is a must for a veggie garden and they like to eat roses, flowers, etc.

There are other home remedies on the internet, chunk of soap (irish spring) tied around the thing, etc., check out a gardening web site regarding animal pests. I know that deer do not like daffodills.

Moles do not eat bulbs, they eat worms and such, but they make the tunnels that other critters such as voles or shrews like to run in and they are probably the culprits. Moles can and will creaet a mess in gardens. I have many moles (I live on a acre) and after much research, decided they can just do what they do in the lawn area. And put up with it. The only sure method of eliminating moles is expensive and ghastly and needs to be repeated.

You can learn to or have a pro place traps in certain locations around your yard. This gets a little complicated as there are several types of mole runs serving various purposes at varying depths. Moles have about 3 pups a year, they disperse after some time and the cycle continues.

The traps are ghastly, contain spikes, and I will leave the rest to your imagination.

Rabbits, again, if they are a real problem, the only non toxic, humane solution is to fence your property burying the fence at least a foot deep.

Live traps would be okay, then relocating the bunny, however, you just create a problem for someone else. We do this with raccoons, but release them in a forest. If you have lots of bunnies - not very practical.

The woman who previously owned my home was said to have wandered around the yard with a shotgun shooting the bunnies. Not very sporting - but we have not seen a bunny here for over 15 years.

No pepper please dry or liquid! The pepper can get on critters paws, goes around their mouth and eyes. Squirrels and such may scratch their eyes out to obtain relief.

On the brighter side, sounds like a lovely environment.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Remember, you live in their habitat and they were probaly there first. Research through the 'net' or garden catalogs or your local nursery for plants that the critters don't like..there are a lot... otherwise, I have good luck making a 'soup' of garlic and red pepper to spray on plants to repel rabbits and squirrles or any mammal, then plant extra in the vegetable garden, 1/3 for the critters, 1/3 for the bugs and 1/3 for you...less stress and you get to enjoy the little buggers.

Answer 5

Safely & Permanently Remove Moles, Warts and Skin Blemishes

Answer 6

you live in their habitat. Expect them to eat your stuff. If you don't like them eating your things, find plants they don't like. There are lots of plants that taste bad to deer and rabbits..

you can put up chicken wire cages for the plants you want to protect, but they're not very nice looking...

You can get sprays that repel wildlife. they smell/taste bad. (I wish I could remember what it was called. If I do.. I'll edit this answer..

Answer 7

well a humane way would be to serach oin the internet and find plants they dont like and then put those plants in and also just becasue animals dont like them doesnt mean they cant be pretty but you might wanna consider planting native plants and not foreign one as to not disturbe the ecosystem in your area and hurt the animals that live there that arnt pest such as birds and spiders and other stuff like squirrels

Answer 8

rabbits and deer are easily controlled by several means very easy to find.. you will NEVER get rid of moles without killing them.. if you think one of the 'repelers' worked, just wait and you will see them back soon.. you will have to trap or poison them or you will not get rid of them unless your cats do it for you.. that said, i would trap rather than poison cause of the cats.. even though i hate cats.. i have heard though, that you can put juicy fruit gum in their tunnels and they eat it and it messes up there guts and kills them... or same with a chocolate laxative.. or extract of pepermint oil on a cotton ball in their holes repels them (smell).. or sprinkle cayene pepper all over to repel.. and spray mix of water and castor oil every two weeks til two weeks after they leave.. gotta go.. i have a.d.d.

Answer 9

I would try to find a granulated form of Castor Oil and spread it out in your yard to get rid of the moles and possibly rabbits. Then to get rid of the deer and definetly any other critters, sprinkle cayenne pepper and black pepper around your yard's perimeter. The Pepper combo will totally keep them out.

BTW thanks.. You got me to Five Thousand... Woo Hoooo!!!!!!!