Do Rabbits Eat Tulips?

Tulip is a term derived from genus Tulipa which had over 100 different species of spring-blooming popular perennial herbaceous ornamental plants. These bulbiferous plants have warm-colored bell-shaped flowers especially those that are red, pink, white or yellow in color. However, there are other colors apart from only true blue.

Besides being ornamental plants both for landscaping, garden and indoors, they are also used for medicinal purposes, aromatherapy (using their essential oil), among other uses.

Can Rabbits eat tulips

If you happen to be growing them, you deserve to know that rabbits will eat your tulips, their buds, and leaves. They are not harmful or poisonous to these pets and they will particularly enjoy their tender leaves and young buds.

In fact, most landscape professional often discourages the planting of any of the Tulipa sp. if you are in an area that has a lot of wild bunnies. They will cause a lot of damage to them. Instead, consider flowers that these animals do not like, i.e., resistant ones.

Notwithstanding, do not forget that your house rabbit will also eat these ornamental plants too. You can also feed your bunnies these plants including the flowers, stems, and leaves. However, it is unlikely you will want to do so to these beautiful flowering plants.

Why not give them other veggies they eat such as kale, spinach, collard greens, basil, cilantro, celery, Brussel sprouts, carrot tops or leaves of raspberries, blackberries, roses, and so on. They will enjoy them too. Nevertheless, ensure your fluffy friends have their right diet in its right amounts.

How to keep rabbits from eating tulips

If they are part of your landscape or garden flowers, you should consider various ways to prevent or stop rabbits from eating your tulips. There are various ways you can go for to keep bunnies from these plants. Some of these ways including:

• Fencing around them – Consider exclusion where you will fence your garden or wherever you have planted them. Use a 1-inch chicken mesh wire. It should be at least 3 feet high and bury it for about 10 inches into the ground to prevent bunnies tunneling into your garden.
• Use repellents – Go for both commercial and homemade bunny repellents. You need to spray on these plants to keep bunnies from nibbling them. You will find commercial ones in your local pet stores. At home, cayenne pepper sprays, garlic sprays, and so on will deter these animals.
• Intercrop with deterring plants – Onions, garlic, daffodil, snowflakes, crown imperials are known to deter these pets. Consider intercropping them with your tulips.
• Other ornamental plants – If you live in areas where there is a high wild rabbit population, go for alternative landscape and garden ornamental plants such as Siberian squills, snowdrops, crocuses, and so on that bunnies don’t like.

These are not the only ways to keep bunnies off any of your plants, you can also have a dog, use scares traps, destroy nearby warrens, and so on. Ensure the method you use is safe to any other pets you may be having.

Conclusion

Before you draw a conclusion that it is bunnies eating your tulips, you need to know other animals including the deer can eat them too. Investigate before implementing the various methods we have looked at.