I've just recently had my weed-ridden and patchy lawn replaced with beautiful lush green turf. It's been down for over a week now and my (increasingly unhappy) buns are confined to barracks. It's been watered to hell and back each day and is visibly growing, but I haven't mowed it yet, it's too soon. I've no big problem with them going on on the lawn now and lightly grazing (they're not particularly diggers or burrowers), but do I need to keep them off until the grass has been cut as the turf will have had pesticides applied as part of the growing process. As I mentioned, it has been very well watered twice a day for 8 days now. Connie, Millie and George will be eagerly awaiting your response!
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Can I let my buns loose on newly laid turf yet - UPDATE WITH WORRYING QUESTION.....
- Thread starter pyates
- Start date
I'm afraid I would have to disappoint Connie, Millie and George. I would not knowingly let my bunnies eat any plants, which have been treated with a pesticide. It's supposed to be getting warmer next week, so hopefully the combination of heavy watering and sunshine should make the grass grow super quickly. Personally, I don't think it's worth the risk of the pesticide having a bad effect on them.
The roots really need a chance to get going, so I would wait until it's had a couple of light cuts before letting the rabbits graze. Dispose of those cuttings to make sure that the rabbits are not ingesting any herbicides, etc. which have been taken up into the new growth.
So I left the turf to do its thing for nearly 3 weeks, gave it a trim. It looks blummin' marvellous. Let them out and not overly impressed I have to say. They've had a few 10-15 minute grazing sessions but they're not filling their boots. I've just this minute looked at the grass mix in the turf I used and found it contains: 20% perennial ryegrass; 30% slender creeping red fescue; 40% strong creeping red fescue; 10% chewing's fescue. So that's 70% creeping red fescue, which when I google suggests may be toxic to animals, rabbits included. I'm distraught as I assumed all grass was perfectly ok for rabbits. Does anyone know if creeping red fescue is definitely not advised for rabbits? If so I may have to get the whole bloody lot dug out again and start from scratch!
Can you post the link from where you got this information.
As far as I am aware, it isn't the grass itself which is toxic. I have never seen any reports of any UK grass, which is toxic. I presume you have been reading about Ergot Alkaloids? This is a fungus, which can affect all grass species. It's possible that Red Fescue is more susceptible, but I wasn't aware of that. We certainly have Red Fescue within our grass species and have fed a mixture of all the species to our bunnies. I think that Creeping Red Fescue is a popular choice in grass seed mixes, as it is vigorous. Rye grass is also susceptible to the Ergot fungus, as are all grasses.
Ergot will mainly infect the seedheads of the grass. See here https://www.agproud.com/articles/49057-ergot-poisoning-in-cattle I have (very rarely) seen it on some of the seedheads of our grasses, but certainly not in huge numbers. But then our grass, which has seedheads, is the grass we leave to mature and then cut for hay. So I would suggest that if your grass is going to be cut fairly regularly and not left to produce seedheads, there will be no problem. It is fairly evident if a seedhead is infected and just like anything that I forage for the bunnies, if there is a suspicion of something not right, I don't feed it.
I will try to find time this evening to read some more about this, but my feeling at the moment is that I am not concerned about the issue.
I wouldn't be worried about the grass mix. Personally, I would rather my rabbits had a mix of varieties rather than just the one, as that's what they would eat in the wild.
My concerns would be about anything that was used to treat the seeds for storage or to promote growth. I would want to discard the first 2 or 3 cuts of the grass to make sure that nothing that had been taken up into the plant was going to be eaten. That would also give the grass time to improve its root system before a bunny onslaught.
My concerns would be about anything that was used to treat the seeds for storage or to promote growth. I would want to discard the first 2 or 3 cuts of the grass to make sure that nothing that had been taken up into the plant was going to be eaten. That would also give the grass time to improve its root system before a bunny onslaught.
They really don't like this grass. It looks fabulous but its also monotonous and a bit boring for them, a green desert, not a natural environment. This is what I'm looking to replace it with:
www.turfonline.co.uk
Its 80% lots of different grasses including timothy and meadow grass which they should love, and 20% wildflowers. Of the wildflowers, 23 types, I think the great majority are safe, except flax, and creeping buttercup - anything else stand out? I'm thinking that if only a couple of the 23 wildflowers (at 20% of the overall content) will be a very small amount in practice and therefore not an issue, is this a safe argument?
Meadowmat Species Rich
TurfOnline's Meadowmat Species Rich wildflower turf is hard-wearing, incredibly easy to care for and a real asset to biodiversity in your garden.
www.turfonline.co.uk
You could look at other options, such as just sowing some clover seed on top of your new grass, or leaving one area uncut to go wild on its own. It's still very early days. There's nothing wrong with 'just' grass. You will find that some species take over as they will suit your garden conditions better.
Your grass is a mix of different varieties. Although several are part of the Fescue family, each will taste different to your bunnies. So in my view there is nothing wrong with your grass mix. Are you intending the grass to provide a substantial part of your rabbits' diet, or do they also get lots of hay? Personally I think your rabbits will 'get used' to the new taste of the grass, which btw will vary throughout the growing period ie newly emerged grass will taste different to the same species when it is mature. Don't forget also that your set of grasses that you have currently will increase as other grasses move in, probably quite quickly.
We have a large square patch in the garden, which we leave to mature and seed every year. Have done this for around 20 years. All of it has arrived naturally ie we have not introduced any flower or grass seed, nor has it ever had pesticide or fertiliser. I developed an interest in grasses a few years ago, bought a field guide and attempted to identify all of the grasses in the hay patch, including their percentage. Looking at your Meadow mat, I reckon we have most if not all of the species mentioned. But, they are not in similar numbers. Certain species, probably the more vigorous, outnumber by far the rest. Our patch also contains a large variety of wildflowers, including I think most if not all of the ones listed in the Meadowmat. Again, it is very noticeable that some species will grow more vigorously and become 'bullies' to the rest.
I have looked at the description of the Meadowmat. I can't find any detail of the different percentage of both the grasses and the wildflowers, but possibly haven't been looking in the right place. There are also other wildflower species which I would not feed to my bunnies, including Black Medic and Selfheal, both of which are very vigorous here.
If this were my grass, I would leave it as it is and agree with the comments from Shimmer and Graciee. Not all of the species in the Meadowmat will be suited to your soil and where you live. That's why some of the more specialist wildflower seed companie will sell different mixes to take account of this. In my view it would be far better to develop a patch, which has been created with the seeds, currently in your soil, as they will grow more satisfactorily.
We have a large square patch in the garden, which we leave to mature and seed every year. Have done this for around 20 years. All of it has arrived naturally ie we have not introduced any flower or grass seed, nor has it ever had pesticide or fertiliser. I developed an interest in grasses a few years ago, bought a field guide and attempted to identify all of the grasses in the hay patch, including their percentage. Looking at your Meadow mat, I reckon we have most if not all of the species mentioned. But, they are not in similar numbers. Certain species, probably the more vigorous, outnumber by far the rest. Our patch also contains a large variety of wildflowers, including I think most if not all of the ones listed in the Meadowmat. Again, it is very noticeable that some species will grow more vigorously and become 'bullies' to the rest.
I have looked at the description of the Meadowmat. I can't find any detail of the different percentage of both the grasses and the wildflowers, but possibly haven't been looking in the right place. There are also other wildflower species which I would not feed to my bunnies, including Black Medic and Selfheal, both of which are very vigorous here.
If this were my grass, I would leave it as it is and agree with the comments from Shimmer and Graciee. Not all of the species in the Meadowmat will be suited to your soil and where you live. That's why some of the more specialist wildflower seed companie will sell different mixes to take account of this. In my view it would be far better to develop a patch, which has been created with the seeds, currently in your soil, as they will grow more satisfactorily.