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You are here: Home / Gardening / How to Make Rabbit Repellent

How to Make Rabbit Repellent

June 6, 2013 by Alea Milham 82 Comments

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how to make organic rabbit repellent at home

If you need a way to deter rabbits from eating your flowers, try this organic rabbit repellent recipe. It uses garlic and red peppers to repel the rabbits naturally without damaging your plants.

How to make your own rabbit repellent - frugal, DIY treatment

If you have had any contact with me in the last three years, you know that I struggle with rabbits. I have annuals hanging in baskets far out of reach of the rabbits and my vegetables growing safely behind chicken wire, but I really wanted to see some bulbs come up out of the ground unobstructed. When I found bulbs on sale for $1.00 a bag at Walmart last fall I decided to give them a try. As you can see from the picture below, it didn’t start out so well! Then I discovered how to make a natural rabbit repellent at home using common household ingredients.

How to Make Rabbit Repellent

You just need a couple of items to make this DIY rabbit repellent: garlic, peppers, and dish soap and an empty milk jug. Use this organic rabbit repellent recipe to deter rabbits from eating your flowers. Reapply after a rain.

DIY Rabbit Repellent Recipe

Items needed:

  • empty milk jug
  • 5 garlic cloves
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red peppers
  • 1-gallon water
  • 1 tablespoon dish soap

Directions:

  1. To make the repellent fill an old milk jug with water, add 5 crushed garlic cloves, a teaspoon of crushed red peppers (you can save a packet from the pizza delivery for this) and 1 tablespoon of dish soap.
  2. Shake well; then let it sit in the sun for a day or two to make sure the water is saturated with the flavors and smells.
  3. Shake well, then spray or pour on the plants that you don’t want the rabbits to eat.

I had to reapply the rabbit repellent once a week for a couple of weeks to convince the rabbits that my tulips were never going to taste good again. With my other bulbs, I sprayed them with the natural rabbit repellent as soon as they started to poke through the ground and then reapplied the repellent once a week and after it rains.

Flowers before I started applying my homemade rabbit repellent:

How to make your own rabbit repellent

Flowers that were treated with the homemade rabbit repellent:

How to make your own rabbit repellentThe tulips that have been treated with the homemade rabbit repellent survived unscathed!
I have even had to treat flowers like marigolds and sunflowers that rabbits are not supposed to like with my homemade rabbit repellent. I find that I have to reapply this homemade rabbit repellent a couple of times each spring. Once the rabbits get a taste of this spicy hot rabbit deterrent, they stick to the grass for the rest of the year. Since this natural rabbit repellent isn’t made with harsh chemicals I feel comfortable reapplying it several times each spring. Here are more natural ways to repel rabbits from your garden.
how to make organic rabbit repellent at home

More Frugal Gardening Tips:

How to Make a Frugal Cloche

How to Make Raised Garden Beds

How to Extend a Short Growing Season

How to Make a Planter Out of a Tree Stump

How to Make a Mini-Greenhouse with Recycled Items

How to Make Fast and Easy Compost Pile Using Hay Bales

How to Extend Your Growing Season with a Container Garden

How to Get More from Your Square Foot Garden with Succession Planting

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About Alea Milham

Alea Milham is the owner of Premeditated Leftovers and the author of Prep-Ahead Meals from Scatch. She shares her tips for saving money and time while reducing waste in her home. Her favorite hobby, gardening, is a frugal source of organic produce for her recipes. She believes it is possible to live fully and eat well while spending less.

Comments

  1. Karin says

    June 8, 2022 at 8:32 pm

    Can I use this on my green beans?

    Reply
  2. Willette says

    July 30, 2021 at 2:48 pm

    Can this be used on my lawn?

    Reply
    • Alea Milham says

      August 2, 2021 at 10:27 am

      Yes, it can. However, it will need to be reapplied after watering or rain.

      Reply
  3. DIANE E says

    May 24, 2021 at 4:40 am

    Can you put this on vegetables

    Reply
    • Jill says

      July 20, 2021 at 12:29 pm

      Can you spray this on vegetable plants? Rabbits are eating my green bean plants also my lilies.

      Reply
      • Debra Alexander says

        May 19, 2022 at 10:33 am

        Will this hurt my vegetable plants.

        Reply
      • Karin says

        June 8, 2022 at 8:26 pm

        Can I use this on my vegetables in the garden

        Reply
  4. Terri Bechard says

    June 18, 2020 at 7:19 am

    I am trying the water, minced garlic, red pepper flakes and dish liquid to deter rabbits. I sprayed all of the leaves and tried not to spray the new buds. I hope it works. I am just afraid the mixture might ruin the plants. Has anyone tried this and ruined their plants? I hope I didn’t spray too much on them.

    Reply
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Welcome. I'm Alea!

On Premeditated Leftovers I share simple recipes made with whole foods, practical shopping tips, time saving techniques, and meal planning strategies. I also share tips for minimizing food waste, so more of the food that is purchased ends up on the table.

While volunteering as a budget counselor, I realized that food is the element of most people’s budgets where they have the greatest control. I set out to develop low-cost recipes from scratch to prove it’s possible to create delicious meals on a limited budget. Eating well while spending less is about more than just creating recipes using inexpensive ingredients; it’s about creatively combining ingredients so you don’t feel deprived and are inspired to stick to your budget.

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