Tulip buds eaten! ;-( will they regrow?

[chelle]

Hi everyone

Note sure if I should be putting this question in general chat or diet.

I planted some tuli bulbs in some pots before christmas ready for spring...with the weather being so mild they are all budding...and my bunnies have eaten some of the buds!

What I want to know is are the tulips ruined or will they still grow?

The buds have been eaten down to the soil level and were about 3 cms high...they looked great... :-(

Gutted if they have decmated them...but there is time to plant more ...I have moved the pots and meshed over them for now.

 

[Sarah1991]

In all honesty I don't want to cause any panic or anything but it would be the bunnies I would be worried about!

I'm sure tulips are toxic to rabbits. :shock:

 

[parsnipbun]

It depends whether they ate all of the growing art including what was the flower stem - or whether they just ate the leaves.

If all the growing part I am afraid the bulbs probably wont flower this year. They are not like grass that keeps growing direct from the root etc.

The bulbs are toxic to buns and supposedly all parts but I have had buns munch on tulips to no ill effect and in many large gardens they have to net the growing bulbs because rabbits and squirrels will decimate them - with no seeming ill effects.

Just keep an extra special eye on the buns

 

[chelle]

Thanks Parsnip Bun...looks like they ate the whole lot....well - I presume the flower stem would be in the bunch of small leaves forming the bub.....so maybe no flowers....cannot believe the bunnies did that - honestly....I should have know.

Yes - i am very much aware that bulbs plant families are "toxic" to rabbits squirrels and I dont feed them to them specifically....the rabbits have eaten the leaves/ flowers from daffodils, tulips, snowdrops, those small purple hyacinth ones all growing in the garden - there is no way i can stop them as unfortunately we have bulbs that we have tried to remove but cant. The rabbits dont seem to have any ill effect from them however it does worry me abit & I keep an eye on their health of course.

I did read somewhere that apparently deer & rabbits LOVE tulips...lol...so maybe thats why the rabbits have chomped the buds of the tulips more so than the other bulbs in the garden.

The rabbits are 6/7 years old and also help themselves to pyracantha berries/leaves and another yellow/green evergreen bush I have. Which I was also worried about...but they seem fine - mind you we can make jam from the pyracantha berries.

They free range alot and I cant stop them from eating everything as much as i try...their health is of course a priority and if they ever have any gut issues I ensure foraged herbs and high fibre foods are given...seems like only one of my rabbits is prone to this.
If I see them eating any plants i dont want them to I chase them onto something else....but obviously they came back - sneaky bunnies! I think the grass is just so short right now they moved onto plants.

 

[chelle]

In all honesty I don't want to cause any panic or anything but it would be the bunnies I would be worried about!

I'm sure tulips are toxic to rabbits. :shock:

They supposed to not eat anything form the bulb family...whether thats the bulb itself or the leaves i dont know but yes I am aware of this and they are fine - done it for years but I rather they wouldnt and do chase them on or cover what I can. It is something I wonder about...they even try to eat our rhubard - which is a bulb...so i usually cover that but when the leaves get massive they can reach those too.

I appreciate you saying it though - I might not have know.

 

[Omi]

A link to an interesting article regarding toxicity:

https://www.harcourt-brown.co.uk/ar...rabbits/plant-toxicity-the-problem-with-lists

 

[parsnipbun]

Yes I have chatted with Frances about toxins - we came down to the basic belief that not everything that is toxic to other animals appears to be toxic to buns BUT as no-one really knows to what extant that might be true one has to bear in mind the warnings.

It to do with the complex gut of the rabbit mainly - but there are some plants like foxgloves for example which would still be deadly.

 

[Omi]

Yes I have chatted with Frances about toxins - we came down to the basic belief that not everything that is toxic to other animals appears to be toxic to buns BUT as no-one really knows to what extant that might be true one has to bear in mind the warnings.

It to do with the complex gut of the rabbit mainly - but there are some plants like foxgloves for example which would still be deadly.

Absolutely agree. It just makes me feel slightly more relaxed when the rabbits nibble things that they are not supposed to be eating. For example, we unfortunately inherited Hyacinthoides hispanica in our current garden, which we are trying to get rid of. Some of the bulbs come up close to the rabbit run and if I'm not quick, those that can be accessed through the wire are nibbled. Some things though like Oak leaves, which blow into the run, are completely ignored

 

[chelle]

A link to an interesting article regarding toxicity:

https://www.harcourt-brown.co.uk/ar...rabbits/plant-toxicity-the-problem-with-lists

Thanks- thats very interesting.

 

[chelle]

Yes I have chatted with Frances about toxins - we came down to the basic belief that not everything that is toxic to other animals appears to be toxic to buns BUT as no-one really knows to what extant that might be true one has to bear in mind the warnings.

It to do with the complex gut of the rabbit mainly - but there are some plants like foxgloves for example which would still be deadly.

Thanks.....wow - i would love to talk to Francis...or more listen to her with her knowledge.
Yeas - I agree the warnings are def to be minded....and I do find it very interesting...in the wild rabbits would wander far & wide eating so many varieties of plants....makes me feel quite bad that i dont supply loads of them..lol....I am sure that the rabbits would eat less un-appetising plants left in our gardens if they had a more wild variety.