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Can trees and shrubs survive winter rabbit attacks?
Winter-feeding rabbits cause millions in landscape damage by stripping bark and foliage from trees and shrubs, often leading to permanent harm especially on evergreens like arborvitae.
- Across residential landscapes in the Upper Midwest, rabbits cause millions of dollars in damage to trees and shrubs, with many arborvitae showing past bark damage, reader photos confirm.
- In winter, when other food is scarce, rabbits sustain themselves on the bark and twigs of apple trees, roses, euonymus, and on evergreen arborvitae while winter snow depth allows access to higher branches and then lower ones.
- Gnawing removes bark and exposes the cambium, damaging branches and trunks; if girdling occurs, everything above the injury typically dies.
- Homeowners often find replacement preferable after severe bark stripping, as nursing damaged plants consumes years and arborvitae with lost lower foliage likely remain barren for life.
- Preventing damage is preferred, with fencing or exclusion as the surest approach and repellents like Liquid Fence and Plantskydd recommended; assess recovery in late May.
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15 Articles
Duluth News Tribune+14 Reposted by 14 other sources
Can trees and shrubs survive winter rabbit attacks?
Did you hear about the guy who tried a new repellent to keep rabbits out of his garden? It was hare spray. Rabbits are fluffy and cute, but I stopped falling for that masquerade years ago. They cause millions of dollars in damage to trees, shrubs and landscapes in the Upper Midwest every winter, leaving dead and damaged plants in their wake. In spring and summer, when vegetation is plentiful, rabbits have a wider buffet, including lawn grass, cl…
·Cherokee County, United States
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Total News Sources15
Leaning Left0Leaning Right7Center4Last UpdatedBias Distribution64% Right
Bias Distribution
- 64% of the sources lean Right
64% Right
C 36%
R 64%
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