Released Dec. 6, 2007
MANHATTAN, Kan. - To rabbits and mice, certain landscape plants look like a winter stash.
Roses, apple trees and young saplings with smooth bark tend to be most at risk for winter feeding damage. But, red cedars and junipers are the only ornamentals the critters actually seem to dislike, said Ward Upham, horticulturist with Kansas State University Research and Extension.
"Mice even like to hide in the mulch or vegetation close to an emergency food supply. If snow comes, they can just tunnel near the soil surface and feed on the lower trunk and roots," Upham said.
Because cottontails and jackrabbits are larger, they can clip off stems, buds and small branches. Snow just extends their possibilities. They´ll reach higher by standing on their hind legs on top of drifts. "The greatest danger with mice and rabbits is that they´ll nibble all the way around and girdle a trunk," Upham said. "Girdling kills trees and shrubs by interrupting their flow of water and nutrients."
From poison baits to hunting, most rabbit and mouse controls are either illegal within city limits or ineffective outdoors during winter, the horticulturist said.
"This early in the winter, though, you still can try to prevent damage before it occurs," Upham said. "The best approach is usually to try exclusion."
Chicken-wire trunk wraps or temporary fencing will only exclude rabbits, he added. But, hardware cloth with a one-fourth-inch mesh can exclude both mice and rabbits. Flexible plastic drain piping, split down one side, makes a good protective wrap for individual trunks.
To stop tunneling mice, this protection must extend down 2 to 3 inches below ground level. To be a barrier for rabbits, it must extend up 18 to 24 inches above the expected snow line.
"You´ll still need to check about once a week, to see if something has dug under or been trapped inside the protective barrier," Upham said. "You also can check for mice by placing baited traps in sections of PVC pipe near vulnerable plants, inserting the traps far enough that pets can´t reach them."
-30—
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/news/
Contact: Mary Lou Peter-Blecha, mlpeter@ksu.edu
