Here are tips for identifying deer damage and keeping deer out of your garden. While deer may appear to be harmless, they can be quite a nuisance around your flowers.
Deer in the Garden
These super grazers leap over all but the tallest fences to devour the stems, leaves, and buds of many types of plants, including arborvitae, fir, alfalfa, and roses. They also eat fruits and vegetables.
Though pilfering is a problem in every season, spring is when deer are particularly destructive, devouring tasty new shoots with single-minded passion. At this time, the does are either pregnant or are nursing fawns, and the bucks are growing antlers (about half an inch each day) and trying to regain lost weight. To winter-weary deer, your borders and bed in the spring are like salad bars, temptingly full of tender fresh produce.
Deer are most comfortable feeding during the low-light hours—dawn and dusk—on the fringes of woods and in gardens that border dense trees. Deer are highly selective eaters, and they focus on whatever plants or plant parts are currently most nutritious. Especially in the spring, deer view gardens as ways to replace nutrients lost over a winter of eating twigs.
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Deer in the garden.
Effective fences need to be tall— maybe 8 foot. A less expensive effective repellent useful from frost to frost in zone 5 is a motion detector impact sprinkler. Repositioned every 2-3 weeks, it frightens deer, raccoons, and other uninvited guests. Mine can be set for night only, day only, on all the time and off. It can also deliver 30 minutes of watering with the push of a button. Runs on batteries—several 1.5 volt does the trick, and several can be run off the same single hose bib.
Controlling Deer
I have tried several concoctions of spray, soaps, odors, scarecrows etc. all with little or no success. The one item has give a fair amount of success is a fence made by stringing monofilament fishing line around the garden plot. String 30 to 50 pound test monofilament line from "T" type fence post which are located about every 20 or 30 feet. String about 4 or more lines about a foot apart. When the deer touch this invisible (at lest to them) line they tend to be spooked and run away. You might have to replace any broken lines but the monofilament is cheap less than $3 for a 300 foot roll at your favorite discount store. Deer have poor eyesight so they cannot see the monofilament line. If you like you could hang some of the other deterrents suggested in this site.
Do a search on using monofilament line. There are several good articles about its use.
VARMINT CONTROL
Electric fence ,one wire about six inches from the ground to keep out possums and coons out of your grapes.Second wire about three foot to keep the deer out.Coyotes ,deer and coons will destroy a watermelon patch..
Deer eat everything
The line "For your garden, choose flowers and shrubs that are unpalatable to deer, such as forsythia, lilac bush, marigolds" the deer here in central Ohio have eaten my lilac & forsythia bush & for 2 years they have eaten my marigolds.
Deer repellent
I know, it's gross. But shortly after moving to a deer infested area, an old timer told me that a sure proof method of keeping the deer from eating your flowers is to save your urine in a spray bottle and use it. It works!
I've had a huge problem with
I've had a huge problem with deer moving through my backyard this fall. I live just outside the city, and have a large garden, and a decorative pond in my yard. I'm not sure why this year, but the deer seem obsessed with drinking water from my pond. I'm losing up to 4 inches of water a night.
Im going to try the spray listed above to see if it works.
I'd consider another reason
I'd consider another reason for the water loss. 4" in even a small pond is a huge amount of water.
great way to deal with deer eating your garden
you could hunt them, after you take one or two the other deer will leave. If they are bothering you out of season, then talk to your conservation agent and they might give you a permit to hunt the pests out of season
Have tried many things and
Have tried many things and finally found the one and only thing that works: an eight foot high metal fence.
Well, I think I've almost got
Well, I think I've almost got the cure for deer. I purchased petticoat netting. Joann Fabric is the only place locally we can find it. Get on their mailing list and you will get sale notices and you can get 40% to 50% off the original price on one item. It runs around $1.50 when it's not on sale. Initial cost may seem pricey but so are the deer repellents. We saved last year's netting and is still in good condition and maybe for another year. It's time consuming but we cover everything every night and uncover as early as possible. We also had some orange fencing that's used at construction sites. (We were in construction before we retired.) It works also. Good luck to anyone who uses it.
You can also mix together one
You can also mix together one raw egg (beaten), 1/2 cup milk, 1 tbs cooking oil, 1 tbs dish detergent with a gallon of water. It smells horrible and will last for 3 months. Lightly spray the mixture over your greens and any other plants they are bothering. The deer will pass by, but not partake. Re-spray after a rain.