Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Buckthorn, bunnies and blue pee
Years ago, I lived on 5 acres in Lakeville, MN. While wandering through the woods, I discovered smurf blue stains in the snow! The property had been a “farm dump”.
After cleaning up a bunch of barbed wire, old farm implements and plastic toys, that blue stain was worrisome. I knew it wasn’t mouthwash that I’d spit out or what I called “Blue Juice” back in my traffic reporting days, out in the woods. What on earth could have done that?
After searching through books (this WAS 2008), I went to the internet. Still, there wasn’t much information at the time. In fact, nearly none except for a few odd references and perhaps people with a very vivid imagination!
However, determination won out and I found some interesting information. Buckthorn and bunnies equals blue pee.
When the rabbits eat the bark and twigs of the buckthorn, it passes through them and, a phytochemical in the buckthorn plant, turns their pee smurf blue when sunlight hits it!
Buckthorn, being an invasive alien plant, is not a favorite of our native rabbit population. They have to be driven to eat it. This winter of 2022/23 is a perfect example. Very cold and a lot of snowfall!
Additional information I found here.