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We moved to a new home recently. The location’s great – out of the middle of the city, just the way I like it. There is just one problem – we have a ton of deer around. The other day, when I opened the garage door, I surprised three deer who were standing in front of the house.
The neighbors say that without a fence, the deer will decimate any garden planted. Is there any surefire way to keep deer out of a garden – without going to the expense and work of installing a fence?
Ohhh, you will get a lot of advice here, there are several threads going about this! I have tried it all, hair, dogs, coyote pee, soap, etc., but the only thing that works for me is spraying everything. It's time-consuming, you have to re-spray every month, but it works. I use Bobbex. I also tried another product last fall that worked very well (and I liked the sprayer that came with it), called Deer and Rabbit Solution.
Ohhh, you will get a lot of advice here, there are several threads going about this! I have tried it all, hair, dogs, coyote pee, soap, etc., but the only thing that works for me is spraying everything. It's time-consuming, you have to re-spray every month, but it works. I use Bobbex. I also tried another product last fall that worked very well (and I liked the sprayer that came with it), called Deer and Rabbit Solution.
The sprays work well, especially if you change them every other season. I get the best results switching off betweening Liquid Fence and Bobbex. If you use the same spray over and over the critters get used to it and start ignoring it.
The only guaranteed method to protect your garden from deer is to completely fence it in with a tall fence. There is nothing except dogs or a pet cougar that will keep the deer away. Besides, many people, me included, like the deer to come around and encourage them. But, we also like to grow vegetables.
Consider a community garden. You can always find some vacant land that the owner will let you grow on, and with a little effort, the materials to construct a deer proof fence can be found for free or donated, and the labor done by volunteers.
There are thousands of Community Gardens around the country and lots of info about how to organize one can be found on the Net.
I have no first hand knowledge of this, but my mom had a garden, and the deer were really giving her fits...my brother who was a game warden at the time told her to put up pie tins (hung them from trees, on stakes,etc)..just the cheap kind you have a ready bake pie in...worked for her!
I have weird deer. They DO NOT eat my garden. A hosta went missing...a few nibbles off a rose bush - but everything is still there and many plants are completely ignored. Oh, I take that back - one of the 7 regulars likes English Ivy. That's OK - my yard is covered in it.
I'm even going to plant some cheap roses FOR them. Already planted some crabapples...for them. Blueberries, for them.
(I'm weird, too.)
Last summer I broadcast some Whitetail chicory and winter hardy burdock for them but only the burdock came up. They have ignored that, too.
I'm buying a modest greenhouse for the stuff I'd rather not chance...my luck, they'll want the tomatoes.
I am doing a rasied bed for the first time this year, and from what I've seen and heard, deer and rabbits are going to be a problem.
I'm in a dense suburban area. The HOA covenants don't seem very specific regarding garden fences, but I've been thinking of some sort of portable, lightweight electric fence. There have been some great strides recently. "Hot tape" and mesh; really lightweight.
Then I was thinking that since the garden is in fairly close proximity to my back porch, that maybe I could rig up the porch light with a motion sensor. Researching those I found these. Solar, so I don't even need a source of electricity, I can just screw a couple of them on to the garden walls. Do you think that would be enough to scare them away?
I am doing a rasied bed for the first time this year, and from what I've seen and heard, deer and rabbits are going to be a problem.
I'm in a dense suburban area. The HOA covenants don't seem very specific regarding garden fences, but I've been thinking of some sort of portable, lightweight electric fence. There have been some great strides recently. "Hot tape" and mesh; really lightweight.
Then I was thinking that since the garden is in fairly close proximity to my back porch, that maybe I could rig up the porch light with a motion sensor. Researching those I found these. Solar, so I don't even need a source of electricity, I can just screw a couple of them on to the garden walls. Do you think that would be enough to scare them away?
Thanks so much for that link. We also have rabbit and deer issues, and I think that will be one weapon in my arsenal . My dh is building a pcv/wire screen that can be put on and taken off (like a cake cover). Hoping that will help too. And lots of anti deer spray, I think it's called pest be gone? I got it at lowe's and it does help.
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. My dh is building a pcv/wire screen that can be put on and taken off (like a cake cover). Hoping that will help too. And lots of anti deer spray, I think it's called pest be gone? I got it at lowe's and it does help.
