Deer in My Garden!
A few weeks ago you spent some time tilling your garden spot and planted a large crop of peas and beans. Last year you remember that just before they started to blossom deer came into your garden and ate all your nice succulent, tender young peas and bean plants leaving you empty handed. What can you do to prevent this from happening this year as you look out through the kitchen window at a herd of five deer waiting at the garden’s edge for the plants to get big enough for them to eat?
Fences
Although building a fence isn't always feasible, fences are the best deer deterrent. Many kinds of fences have been designed to exclude deer and each has advantages and disadvantages. Factors to consider include cost, appearance, the size of the area to be enclosed and the degree of control required. Few are 100 percent effective.
For a small garden patch, a four-foot high fence, or snow fence will work because deer avoid small, fenced-in areas. For a larger lawn or garden, a fence made of wire angled away from the yard creates both a psychological and physical barrier. Deer hesitate to jump over something in which they fear they may become entangled. The fence should be six feet high and have a 30 degree angle to be effective. Also, wire mesh fence with 6” X 6” openings (used in cement floors) laid on the ground around a garden can deter deer again for fear of getting their feet entangled in the wire.
Electric fencing with a low impedance charger is used frequently by vegetable, small fruit and tree fruit growers. Strips of aluminum foil smeared with peanut butter affixed to electric fencing lure deer to the fence where they lick the peanut butter and get a shock. Electric fences attached to a higher voltage charger can deter deer because they can hear the hum of the charge through the wires without touching them. However, electric fences may not be suitable for all areas, especially when children are present.
Check this link for a
discussion of several kinds of electric fence and how to build them.
http://www.agcom.purdue.edu/AgCom/Pubs/FNR/FNR-136.html
Repellents
Some people claim to get good results with repellents. But there are many kinds of repellents and results seem to vary from place to place and from year to year. Contact repellents are applied to the plants, causing them to taste bad. Some repellents are simply placed in the problem area where their foul odor has a repellent effect. Six repellents were tested in a recent Connecticut study. Generally, repellents were more effective on less preferred plants. Here are the findings:
· Big Game Repellent also known as Deer Away, made from putrescent (rotten) whole egg solids was 46 percent effective.
· Hinder, made from ammonium soaps of higher fatty acids was 43 percent effective.
· Thiram, a bitter tasting fungicide, now commonly used in repellents, was 43 percent effective.
· Mesh bags of human hair, collected from hair styling shops, was found to be 34 percent effective. (Hair should be dirty, not collected after a shampoo.)
· Magic Circle deer repellent, a bone tar oil which was soaked into 10 by 30 cm. burlap pieces, was 18 percent effective.
· Miller Hot Sauce, containing capsicum, an extract of hot peppers, was 15 percent effective.
· Repellex is another recently introduced deer repellent for ornamental plants. It comes in two forms. One is a liquid which is sprayed on the foliage. The other is a dry product with a fertilizer analysis of 14-2-2. This form is a systemic repellent. It is worked into the soil surface and then watered in. The plants absorb the repellent, and one treatment is said to be effective for up to two years.
Some people believe that blood meal deters deer. Others claim to get results by tying pieces of deodorant soap on the branches of trees. A large bar is cut into about six pieces and each piece is placed in a mesh bag. Heavily perfumed soap is preferred. Non-deodorant soap does not seem to work as well. Predator urine and manure are sometimes used to deter deer.
Here is a home made repellent to try: Blend two eggs and a cup or two of cold water at
high speed. Add this mixture to a gallon of water and let it stand for 24 hours. Then spray the mixture on foliage. The egg mixture does not wash off the foliage easily, but re-application two or three times a season may be needed. (For a larger quantity, blend a dozen eggs into 5 gallons of water.) This mix is also said to repel rabbits.
Scare tactics
The effectiveness of light and noise scare tactics are usually temporary, but some people vouch for the "scarecrow" brand sprinkler which uses a motion detector to blast intruders (anything moving) with water. It costs $80-$100, depending on the source.
Hunting
Hunting is the primary means of controlling Maine's deer population as a whole. If you are not a deer hunter yourself and you live in a rural area let the local game warden know you are having problems with deer and they can direct hunters to your area during deer season to help reduce the population of deer.
Deer resistant plants
People often ask for lists of plants that deer will not eat. There are many such lists, but they are not entirely reliable because deer eat almost any plants when they are hungry enough. Here are some links to lists of "deer resistant" plants: http://njaes.rutgers.edu/deerresistance/
Source: Ask a Master Gardener, University of Minnesota Cooperative Extension, http://www.extension.umn.edu/projects/yardandgarden/AAMG/wildlife/deer.html