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RE: [GWL]: Recommending plant sources



Protecting 12 acres from deer should be an enormous and very difficult task.
In my work, I focus on the need to protect plants in an average home
landscape, under one quarter acre.  In that application the 8 foot deer
fence is seldom an option for aesthetic and access reasons.  Repellents will
work only if two or three different types are used on two to three week
cycles, and that workload is generally more than most yardeners can stand.
There is no such thing as a deer resistant plant if the deer are truly
hungry.  That leaves three tools I think will work in most home landscape
situations where you are trying to protect a limited area with vulnerable
plants on the property.  The electric spikes just put out by Woodstream I
think will work well if they are moved around frequently and if the
attractant scent is maintained according to instructions.  The water
spritzing ScareCrow device, now sold by Woodstream does work in most
situations but also needs to be moved around.  Finally there is an electric
fence system called Fi-Shock (see http://www.fishock.com) that runs off
regular batteries and is not shorted by weeds touching the wire.  This
system works best if you do the training bit with the peanut butter on the
end of streaming tin foil attached at 12 to 15 distances along the fence
perimeter.  They have not come up with an easy way to build a gate, which is
a problem in my view for most people.
That all gets us back to the electric stakes and the water spritzer as being
the best tools against deer on the market today; assuming we are living in a
home landscape that has occasional deer attacks.
Not only are more and more communities being hit with deer problems and
doing nothing to reduce the deer population, but more and more communities
in Michigan and Penna a struggling with black bears invading the home
landscape.  Now there is a challenge I don't even want to think about.

Later,

Jeff Ball

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