The Problem Index → Critters
Rabbits are mowing down my seedlings
A clean 45-degree cut like pruners is a rabbit. The fence is cheap and low — the detail that decides whether it works is the mesh size, and almost everybody gets it wrong.
What actually works
◆ Proven
Hardware cloth, not chicken wire
1-inch mesh, not 2-inch. A juvenile cottontail goes straight through 2-inch mesh as though it weren't there.
About double — and it is the best money on this page◆ Proven
The floppy-top fence for groundhogs
Same build handles groundhogs too — buried L-apron and an unattached top foot.
A roll of welded wire, and one thing you deliberately don't do◆ Proven
2 ft tall, buried 6 inches
That's the whole specification. Rabbits don't climb; they go under.
◆ Proven
Winter trunk guards above the SNOW line
Snow is a ladder. A rabbit on three feet of drift girdles a young tree well above where your summer guard ends.
Also searched as
keep rabbits out of garden · rabbit fence · bunnies eating plants · clean 45 degree cut on stems · rabbit damage · chicken wire for rabbits