You can see that a fair amount of the brown has been improved, especially on the left side, but the right side has a lot of little brown sprinkled throughout. Things look a lot better from this far away angle. The picture is also deceiving, because if you look at it after a week of growth the left half of the yard is way taller than the right. I’ve been hoping that this was all because I started off with more of a problem on the right. There were a fair amount more bare patches than on the left side, so maybe it’s just taking longer to ‘catch up’ on the right side?
Lately, I’ve started to wonder about another issue. Rabbits. I see rabbits on my lawn pretty much every evening and morning, and always on that right side. A web search suggests they could be problematic, and difficult to keep away. Here are a few links talking about Bermuda and Rabbits, and how they can be problematic. Here are a few links.
There are some natural repellents that people seem to have mixed results with. They don’t harm the animals but would potentially make my lawn less attractive as a feeding area. I’m thinking of giving it a shot, but am wondering what opinions or experience others here might have. Thanks!!
I hesitate buying one because it is my front lawn. I see it freaking out neighbors, potentially false triggering with car traffic, and eventually getting stolen. It might work well for your back yard. The reviews for it are just as good, if not better, than the liquid and granular natural repellents.
Gotcha. I was just curious because of the steel cover on your meter box. Can’t believe your area still does manual meter reading. I work with the manufacturer that makes those boxes here in town.
@tmcgahey We’ve been in this home when it was built in '94. I never thought much about the meter reading being automatic. I remember seeing the guys come around to take readings, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen them around.
This year we have a bumper crop of rabbits. Good luck keeping them out of your yard. We put a salad bowl out and expect them not to stop by and chow down. They know a good meal when they see it. Worst of all, they spread the word about the neighborhood cafeteria and invite their buddies.
The desert cottontail loves mesquite beans and their diet consists of grasses, leaves and seeds. I have watched them nibble my Peruvian tree cactus. They love to eat the flowers on my lantana for desert.
It seems to work, but it doesn’t cover a very large area. So I put it in one spot, the waskly wabbits go to another, I move it there . . . I think they are laughing at my attempts to keep them out.
The repellents that come in a spray bottle stink to high heaven! It smells like very strong garlic mixed with who-knows-what. The neighbors will not appreciate your attempt at rodent control. It needs to be reapplied frequently. I give it a D-.
This year–rabbits, next year–coyotes. At least they don’t eat my landscape,
That stinky rabbit repel stuff does work though. They could care less about my lawn, but they love my balloon flowers and my rudbeckia. Just like candy for them. I find that I can use it once a week for 2-3 weeks in a row, and then they must decide that it tastes/smells too bad and they leave things alone for the summer.
@sunny Yeah, I’m not at all interested in regular application of this stuff, but it @Linn gives me hope. My thought was to use it a while, let me grass recover, and hopefully by then they’ve found something more tasty and forget about my lawn for a while.
They are tricky little buggers. I don’t think there is one right way to get rid of them. You can try rabbit repellant plants and sprays. You can hire an exterminator. Or there is always the old-fashioned way of placing traps or hunting the rabbits.
My suggestion see if you can find a motion detecting sprinkler and set that up hopefully that will scare them away and help keep your yard nice and green.
Thanks for all of the great ideas. I ordered some natural repellents and will give it a go for a while to see if they go elsewhere and forget about my yard. I’ve been in this home for 22 years and hadn’t had this problem, so I figure that there’s hope.
If you are so inclined…you probably could use a combination of a z-wave motion detector and Wink hub to create a “robot” that when motion is detected, it kicks the Rachio zone on…
Good idea @tmcgahey. I have a bunch of z-wave already, but my controller is a 2-GIG alarm.com panel. I don’t think they do IFTTT yet but I’ll keep my eye on it. It would be interesting to track how much something like that would trigger over the course of an evening.
They know a good meal when they see it. Worst of all, they spread the word about the neighborhood cafeteria and invite their buddies.