[garddwr]

I went to the plot earlier today to see how everything is doing and realised that the strawberries planted  on Sunday have been chewed down to the floor.
Should I leave them and is it possible to get a crop this year ?
Thanks

[compostqueen]

rabbits eat most things and it's no good getting angry. You just have to get busy - covering everything

Plant extras to allow for losses. Sad but true. 

An old planting poem -

"one to rot and one to grow,
One for the pigeon, one for the crow" 

[hindy]

We have the same problem on our site. I went up there tonight and must have seen about 20 of the bu**ers. 
Most of our tennants have put chicken wire around their plots, but there are those that have'nt and me being warden they are coming to me complaining.
I made a trap recently which seems to be working but only 1 by 1. Took one of them out of the trap today and that will be in the pot very soon 
Good luck with what ever you decide to do. If you need a copy of plans to make a live trap let me know.

[garddwr]

Thanks for you replies. I like that saying compostqueen and I have heard it before.

What do you think will happen to my strawberries ?

[compostqueen]

Well, my strawbs were depleted by rabbits but some have come back so despite a serious munching they may yet recover, but get them rabbit-proofed somehow    Rabbits have eaten my leeks down to stumps but seem to leave the lettuces and kales alone thank goodness. I've lost a pear tree as well which has been completely stripped of its bark 

[Trillium]

There's a good chance the strawberry plants will recover but iffy whether or not they'll crop this year. You can only wait and see.

[Trebor]

I had exactly this happen to me about 8 weeks ago. I got the strawberries through the post early in the year and planted them straight out. The bunnies munched them down to a stump. In the following couple of weeks I made wire cages and covered the strawberries up. They are all now healthy with perfect new leaves. In short they are tough plants and if you cover them then they should come back. Only exception I am told is if the growing crown has been nibbled rather than just the foliage, then it will be a bit more down to chance.

[Limey153]

Those of you that have chicken wire around your plots, do you find that the rabbits just burrow underneath? I am currently in the process of rabbit-proofing my plot and am wondering if I need to go a little bit below ground level with the wire.

[Sweet Pea 2]

I am no expert but I read somewhere that they should be one foot underground and the wire should be bent slightly outwards.  I have bought my wire but no chance yet to put the fence up.

[Trebor]

I have one of these as a pet so can tell you they can burrow AND can jump over a barrier up to 4ft high if they wish! That said any protection will deter them and to add to my earlier post, the cages I built around the strawberries are not buried, only resting on the ground and there is no evidence of a burrowing break in attempt so far.

[Dominic]

They may just be making the perfectly rational decision of eating the unprotected stuff next door rather digging for yours

[muddywellies]

Limey, when we made our rabbit fence we bent it into an 'L' shape and buried it. The horizontal bit of the 'L' (as it were) was about 30cm and was buried about 8cm deep. We lifted up turfs, laid the fence under them and then flipped them back over the fence. The grass soon knitted back together to give a neat look. We've not had a single bit of bunny grief although we see loads of them on the 'outside' and lots of their little 'bumbles' too!  It was a heck of a lot of work and cost quite a bit for all the posts, wires and rabbit mesh but was definitely worth it. Everybody at our allotment uses a similar system as the rabbit problem is so severe.

[woodburner]

The fencing I bought is specifically for use against b*n***s. It's 3' 6", 6" to be buried under ground, 3ft above, and holes are 1 1/4" to be too small for little ones to squeeze through, but large enough to deter climbing.
Rabbits are a known problem at our site too, that's why I got the stuff, (lamp spikes and netting). I had a few old 3 by 3 posts lying around to use at corners and for gates top and bottom.

[David.]

I was surprised when rabbits nibbled my stawberries down to the ground several years ago, but yhat made me realise you have to fence everything, because if they don't eat it, they will scratch it out or burrow into your crops.

So I use the BTCV method http://handbooks.btcv.org.uk/handbooks/content/section/3315

Don't leave anything stacked near the fences or the rabbits will use it to jump in.

Instead of fancy gate designs through your rabbit fencing (for rotorvator access), if you take the mesh inside of a corner post and support it either side on wires (not stapled to the post), so you can undo the wires, and simply drop the entire corner section of fencing inwards and push the rotorvator through over a section of timber board on top of the lowered mesh........... This is what I'm doing at the moment so if you want a pic ask.