Originally Posted by jsn9333
I cannot use chicken wire because I start seedlings close to my house in an area that is not as hidden as I would like it to be, and I don't want to draw attention to it. So what works well for me is to keep my young plants each in their own two liter bottle with the top cut off filled with soil to within an inch or two of the top for each seedling. That way rabbits/and squirrels can't reach up and over to the young plant and eat the leaves off. Of course if your planting 100 plants in a field, this would be impractical.
In my experience rabbits and squirrels don't mess with bigger plants, only young ones... probably because the leaves are more tender. So once the plants have grown up (and they have plenty of room to grow in the two liter bottle) I transplant them. I actually put them in bigger pots, but you could put them into the ground at that point too b/c they are big enough to where rabbits wouldn't mess with them.
I've never had a problem with deer, but I think that is only because not even deer are crazy enough to wander into the snake, tick, and spider infested hell-swamp I do my grow in. :)