Irish Spring - I think this might actually work!

[l008com]

I don't think those are really a good fit for sunflowers. Once the plant is big enough for that to work, its likely big enough that rabbits aren't going to just knaw on the bark in the first place. Its the small ones that are the real problem.

 

[Martin Mikulcik]

This raises a question, how tall and how thick does a sunflower stem have to be, for the rabbits to leave it alone?

In my experience somewhere around 3ft tall

A chicken wire loop works well but tedious and if you plant enough sunflowers they can't eat them all

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Guess adult sunflowers don't taste good, the little devils would take all the bark off a three or four foot fruit tree without protection. Surely you can get them to three foot before planting out, I use buckets with holes drilled for cheap pots. Make a stand out of 2" x1" timber to put them out of reach until they have grown a bit.

A chicken wire loop works well but tedious and if you plant enough sunflowers they can't eat them all

The wire, yes, but rabbits have big appetites, and breed like rabbits.

You could try fencing the garden and getting a kennel and a small terrier.

 

[l008com]

No new plant deaths after the first one.
Yesterday I put a fresh chunk of soap next to each of the 8 plants that are unscreened. Maybe this will work after all. 90% success rate is good enough.

 

[Meadowlark]

Heck yes I'd take 90% all day.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Heck yes I'd take 90% all day.

Alright for one day, let's hope it stays that way. Losing ten percent one day, fine; losing ten percent a day for eight or nine days ...

 

[l008com]

Well I'm 4 or 5 days in at this point I think.
I'm hoping the one that got eaten still manages to sprout a couple of new leaves from its stem.

 

[Meadowlark]

Most people would call that a success!

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Sounds promising.

 

[l008com]

Status report. Still have 9 growing. No further rabbit attacks. They really seem to dislike soap! The larger ones I planted seem to be growing well, gaining inches. The smaller ones seem to be struggling to gain any height. Hopefully they start moving (up) soon.