Re: CULT: Deer tactics

Hi,

At our local hardware store I obtain a bio degradable spray that you spray
on the ground around whatever you want to keep the deer away from.  $11.
Stinks like H____ but the deer left my yard and have not yet returned.  That
was two months ago.

Char
----- Original Message -----
From: "laurief" <laurief@paulbunyan.net>
To: <iris@hort.net>
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2003 5:46 PM
Subject: [iris] CULT: Deer tactics


> Hi Everyone,
>
> Well, it's happening again. The deer are once again invading my iris
> beds, and I'm once again trying to figure out why. I can understand their
> early spring invasions. At that time of year, local deer are near
> starvation, and their natural browse typically doesn't leaf out until
> after the irises have already begun rapid growth. Starving deer will eat
> anything, including relatively unpalatable irises. Right now, however,
> the deer still have plenty of grazing available in the hayfields that
> surround my house and garden (though it is true that their preferred
> browse has now defoliated for winter). It does make me wonder if
> something else is enticing them into my iris beds - perhaps all the
> amendments I added when I reworked the beds this summer.
>
> Working on the assumption that the deer are being attracted by all the
> new mineral smells in my beds, I have placed several salt blocks waaaaay
> out in the hayfields to work as a diversion tactic, and it seems to be
> helping. Fewer deer seem interested in coming up to the house. I intend
> to call the feed store and see if they have any mineral blocks formulated
> for deer that might provide even more of what they could be seeking in my
> garden.
>
> I've also tried a new planting method this year that is having an
> unanticipated, positive effect on deer traffic in the beds. Most of my
> irises are planted in the main beds behind the house over the septic
> drainfield. In spite of the heavy clay surface soil, the slight grade and
> underlying sandy drainfield provide good drainage over that area, so I've
> never bothered to create raised planting rows back there. When I dug,
> tilled, and reamended those beds this summer, however, I decided to
> create raised windrows on top of which I replanted the irises. The
> windrows are both relatively narrow and closely set with narrow gulleys
> between them, but there is enough room to walk the gulleys if one has
> good balance.
>
> I am finding that the few deer who shove through the deer netting to
> invade those beds are making a point of staying in the gulleys and rarely
> stepping on the elevated windrows (windrows are only elevated about 4" or
> so). Because the windrows are narrow, deer seem inclined to step over
> them and travel gulley to gulley.  Thank goodness I'm not dealing with
> goats who will happily walk across a field to find a pebble on which to
> stand for even the slightest elevation.  ;-)
>
> Since I only had time and energy to renovate two of the four beds over
> the drainfield this summer, it's easy to compare the effects of deer
> traffic over the windrowed sections with the sections that are still
> planted level. The irises in the level beds are being badly trampled,
> while those in raised windrows are avoiding almost all hoof damage.
>
> Now I just have to see what sort of effect the raised windrows will have
> on winter survival. I expect the windrowed irises to be subjected to a
> lot more temperature fluctuations than those planted level, and that
> could stress them fatally. OTOH, the windrowed irises will have much
> better drainage away from the rhizomes, so that should cut down on soft
> rot susceptibility.
>
> And so the experiments continue ...
>
> Laurie
>
>
> -----------------
> laurief@paulbunyan.net
> http://www.geocities.com/lfandjg/
> http://www.angelfire.com/mn3/shadowood/irisintro.html
> USDA zone 3b, AHS zone 4 - northern MN
> acidic clay soil
>
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