Author Topic: Do tin pans really work? (Read 2064 times)

DalesCarpentry · « **on:** August 05, 2008, 11:39:13 AM »

Well I went down to the garden again this morning and the rabbits have eaten about 40 more of my green bean plants. They even ate through the shoots that go up the trellis a few feet. They are destroying my beans. They have now eaten about a third of my beans. My wife gave me some tin pie pans to hang out there on a string. Do you really think this is going to help? Dale

Graybeard · « **Reply #1 on:** August 05, 2008, 11:41:55 AM »

Nope. Lead works pretty good tho.

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #2 on:** August 05, 2008, 11:54:07 AM »

I have to do something and fast. I found this on a web site. Maybe I will try this. Dale
Mix a rabbit repellent tea. Homemade, organic mixtures that can be sprayed onto the surface of plants is often helpful. Place 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper and 2 tablespoons of garlic powder into a coffee filter and twist it closed. Place this makeshift teabag into a jug or pitcher and pour about 32 ounces of warm water over it. Allow the mixture to steep overnight. It may be preferable to allow the mixture to steep outdoors, as it has a potent smell! Squeeze the filter gently when removing it from the water, being careful not to rip or tear it. Pour the resulting brew into a spray bottle, adding a squirt of dish soap, which allows the spray to adhere to plant's leaves. Spray the concoction liberally onto the plants that are most targeted by rabbits. This mixture will need to be reapplied following a heavy rain.

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #3 on:** August 05, 2008, 02:26:11 PM »

I read that sprinkling kitty litter in the garden will also keep the rabbits out. I have no shortage of that so a little while ago I went down and sprinkled used kitty litter in the garden. It sure does stink down there now. If you guys have any other ideas let me know. Dale

torpedoman · « **Reply #4 on:** August 05, 2008, 03:25:15 PM »

if your near a zoo and can get some big cat dung it works real good and will even keep deer out. on the Cayenne pepper mix don't use too much pepper as it will burn up the plants (don't ask how i found this out)

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #5 on:** August 05, 2008, 03:39:32 PM »

Quote from: torpedoman on August 05, 2008, 03:25:15 PM

if your near a zoo and can get some big cat dung it works real good and will even keep deer out. on the Cayenne pepper mix don't use too much pepper as it will burn up the plants (don't ask how i found this out)

Thanks that is good to know because if the steps I have allready taken today do not work that is my next course of action. Dale

Old Syko · « **Reply #6 on:** August 05, 2008, 05:59:36 PM »

I'd be interested in how you come out teaching them rabbits to eat out of those tin pans.

I'd just as soon plow the whole thing under as to have it smell like cat waste.

Trap them or shoot them and be done with it. Same with the cats.

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #7 on:** August 05, 2008, 06:40:39 PM »

I have never put this much work into a garden in my life as I did this year. I am about willing to try anything to get rid of the rabbits and I will be damned if I plow it under after what I have gone through this year. Dale

jvs · « **Reply #8 on:** August 05, 2008, 08:19:36 PM »

Plastic Owls, Rubber Snakes, Dried Blood Meal or a .22. One, or a combination of all of them will work.

Hopefully, you placed that dirty, used Cat Litter around the Perimeter of your Garden, and not in it. Cat Litter is mostly an absorbant Clay.

Maybe you could teach your cats to use your garden.

ms · « **Reply #9 on:** August 06, 2008, 12:37:01 AM »

Tin pans make a great hat!

Old Syko · « **Reply #10 on:** August 06, 2008, 02:27:22 AM »

Quote

Hopefully, you placed that dirty, used Cat Litter around the Perimeter of your Garden, and not in it.

I do hope you are aware of the different diseases and parasites that are transferable to humans by way of cat waste. Plain and simple, don't put that crap anywhere that may allow human contact and certainly not around a food source.

jvs · « **Reply #11 on:** August 06, 2008, 10:40:08 AM »

Old Soyko,

If you were refering to my post... yes, I am aware of what diseases can be in untreated waste from meat eaters. That is why I suggested Dale only spread litter around the perimeter and not in the garden itself. And that should only be done very sparingly, if at all. Cat Crap is NOT my idea of Manure.

I personally would not be using cat litter to keep rabbits away from the garden. Amazingly, I have a vegetable garden, and I have quite a few wild rabbits on the property. So far the Rabbits have kept a respectable distance from the garden without any input from me at all.

As I suggested, Plastic Owls, Rubber Snakes, and Dried Blood, are all tried and true methods of keeping rabbits out of the garden. Rabbits and Deer will totally shy away from the smell of blood, hence the use of Dried Blood from the Plant Nursery.

Dale,

To answer your original question...

My experience is that Pie Pans work pretty well to keep Birds out of the Garden. I use them, and I have them out there now. I tie them up with fishing line. If they work on rabbits, I have not witnessed it.

You may want to make sure it is the Rabbits doing the damage because it sounds to me like you have a Deer or a Crow problem.

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #12 on:** August 06, 2008, 10:49:34 AM »

Well there was no damage to the garden last night. I don't think it is deer because there are no tracks in the garden. Dale

TribReady · « **Reply #13 on:** August 06, 2008, 10:59:23 AM »

Tin pans work for sighting in your favorite .22 or pellet gun.

I agree with GB, you need to change the rabbits diet...from beans to a pure lead diet.

I've tried all the other methods in the past, none work like the "dietary supplementation" mentioned above

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #14 on:** August 06, 2008, 11:09:16 AM »

My wife and daughter are dead set against me shooting the rabbits. I am trying these things first. If they fail to work they will get that lead diet you speak of. Dale

TribReady · « **Reply #15 on:** August 06, 2008, 11:14:49 AM »

How about some live traps? Of course, don't know how effective they'll be on rabbits, especially since they have ample food around the trap itself. Probably wouldn't work

You'll just have to wait it out and then convince the family that those vicious killer rabbits must be eliminated

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #16 on:** August 06, 2008, 11:18:34 AM »

The first time I cut the grass this year I ran over a nest. I killed a couple little bunnies. I kind of felt bad at the time but not now.

Dale

TribReady · « **Reply #17 on:** August 06, 2008, 11:25:13 AM »

I've done that a few times too. I know they need to go, but that isn't easy for me to do. They are so little and all. That's one of those things you just don't mention to your wife or daughter

Of course, in a few weeks, they're grown and shooting out their own babies. Much easier in my mind to "eliminate" at that point.

Old Syko · « **Reply #18 on:** August 06, 2008, 12:24:07 PM »

jvs I apologize for my poor format of using a quote from you to hopefully advise Dale of the pitfalls of using such things around his food source. I'm satisfied you understand the problems. I just wanted to warn others.

Some years back we had a lady not too far from here that began showing some strange symptoms that took medical personnel quite some time to resolve. Turns out her neighbors multitude of cats had been using her garden, that she tended religiously, as a crapper, where they deposited a parasite that attacks the human liver. In the long run it turned out to be a very expensive and painful ordeal.

ihuntbucks · « **Reply #19 on:** August 06, 2008, 02:37:49 PM »

Two Dobermans work real well in my yard and garden.Never seen a rabbit in my yard.It must work Dale

......Rick

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #20 on:** August 06, 2008, 02:42:14 PM »

Quote from: ihuntbucks on August 06, 2008, 02:37:49 PM

Two Dobermans work real well in my yard and garden.Never seen a rabbit in my yard.It must work Dale ......Rick

I bet that would work well. LOL!!!!!!!!!!

Dale

nodlenor · « **Reply #21 on:** August 07, 2008, 03:27:57 AM »

Sprinkle blood meal around your plants and there will be no more rabbits eating there. I tried it and it works! You will have to reapply it after a rain but it will put a stop to the rabbit problem.

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #22 on:** August 07, 2008, 04:46:08 AM »

What is Blood meal and where do you get it? Is it expensive? Thanks Dale

nodlenor · « **Reply #23 on:** August 08, 2008, 02:42:53 AM »

I was told that blood meal is made from (or with) dried blood. It can be purchased from most lawn & garden centers. It works because rabbits are a prey animal and do not like the smell of blood. At least that's what I was told. I know it works because I've used it around beets and beans in my garden. I live in a small town and there is an empty lot next to my garden which doesn't get mowed. Rabbits love it (the empty lot) and because I live in town I would rather not shoot at them. Give it a try, it's not expensive.

Now give me some ideas on keeping blackbirds out of my sweet corn.

Ranger J · « **Reply #24 on:** August 11, 2008, 05:56:43 AM »

Only two things have worked for me. If I want to put enough work and cash into it a three foot tall chicken wire fence completely around the beans or as Graybeard suggests a good load of lead works wonders. If you live where neighbors object to gunshots a pellet guns works well. I have a deer stand in a tree close to my backyard garden and I have sent a number of groundhogs, rabbits, squirrels ad one armadillo to that great garden in the sky this year already. Of course I live so far back in the boondocks that I have to have my own tom cat.

RJ

flintlock · « **Reply #25 on:** August 11, 2008, 06:08:46 AM »

Make you some rabbit boxes and trap them...

Rabbit goes good with grean beans...

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #26 on:** August 11, 2008, 06:54:17 AM »

Well guys it has been 6 days since I put the tin pans and the cat litter around the garden. I am happy to report that the rabbits have not been back. Dale