Re: deer problems....
- To:
- Subject: Re: deer problems....
- From: M* T*
- Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 02:06:46 -0400
The only thing, other than a loose, large, fierce dog, that distracts deer
from munching garden plants is an 8 to 10 foot fence. A six foot solid wood
fence will also do the trick because they can't see over it to see a clear
landing place, so won't jump. Of course, if they are in a panic, they will
jump anything and up to 10 feet high just like it wasn't there.
They have leather mouths and will eat just about anything; they adore roses
- the thorns just add a bit of spice to the treat. Different herds in
different parts of the country eat different plants. The same herd may
change its tastes and eat plants one year that it's left alone for 10
years. For years, my heard left my ajuga and lunaria alone. Two winters
ago, I fenced in all my yews and azaleas and they couldn't get to them
(garden looked rather like a concentration camp); that year, they ate all
the leaves from the lunaria and all the ajuga they could find - decided
they liked it and had it again this winter, despite my not fencing
individual shrubs. Thought I could fence them out of the garden by using
6' heavy plastic mesh with brushpiles for 5' on the outside. Ha! They
showed me! Back to the winter concentration camp look this fall.
IMHO, no list of plants deer don't like is going to be 100% right in every
local.
That said, they generally don't eat my junipers, daffodils, pachysandra,
euphorbia, digitalis, ornamental grasses, prickly hollies (they love the
Japanese kind with no prickles), leland cypress, chamaecyparis, lamiastrium
galeobdolon and ferns. But, this is probably because they are already full
of yew, ivy, tulips, lilies, hosta, azalea, astilbe, geraniums and other
goodies.
I have heard it said, but have no proof, that they don't like the tall
ornimental grasses, like miscanthus. Guess they just go around mine. But
the theory was that they can't see beyond them and it makes them nervous.
Could be a hopeful old wives tale.
I have tried just about every product on the market - most work for a
while; all have to be resprayed or reapplied after every rain; all the
sprays are incredibly expensive for large areas. I have tried soap....had
clean plants eaten by deer. I have tried bloodmeal - had eaten plants also
dug out by local carnivores looking for that tasty bit they were certain
must be buried there. I have tried human hair....had hairy munched plants.
I have heard of using predator urine, but have also read that unless the
deer consider that particular predator one of theirs, they ignore
it....most suburban deer have never run into a cougar or a wolf. Dogs,
unless loose, don't bother them at all because they know there is no
danger. People are an annoyance to my herd, who look up with that "who,
me" expression and then casually move off as I yell at the top of my lungs
at them.
I have had (knock on wood) semi-decent luck using Milorganite, a sewage
sludge fertilizer used extensively on golf courses and for lawns. I fling
it with abandon. If I do this rigorously before they start heavy munching,
it seems to deter them. OTOH, others have tried it with no success with
their local herds.
Electric fences seem to work for those with the kind of garden that is
easily fenced by same. Seems you spread peanut butter on bits of aluminum
foil and wrap it around the hot wire every few feet. Once tasted, they
will leave the fence alone - only has to be three strands of wire about 5'
high, I believe. But, you have to keep the hot wires away from all plants
as they can short them out - an impossibility in my wooded garden, but very
possible where there are wide open spaces. I have read posts from people
who use the elec. fence/peanut butter method and say you only have to turn
the fence on once a year after they've had their initial shock - to teach
the new babies about it....
Gardening is a constant battle of the wits with bambi...current score:
bambi 9; Marge 3
Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor: Gardening in Shade
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----------
> From: kswingle@inet.guthrie.org
> Date: Monday, April 19, 1999 11:02 AM
>
>
> My mother-in-law is having white-tailed deer problems....basically they
> eat everything! She was wondering if there is something other than
Cleome
> that they are distracted by that would grow in Zone 5, Pennsylvania-
> northeast. Thanks! Kim
>
> Kimberly Swingle MS, MT(ASCP)
> Guthrie Laboratory
> Sayre, Pa
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