Re: plants deer LOVE
- To:
- Subject: Re: plants deer LOVE
- From: M* T*
- Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 01:08:50 -0500
Well, Bill, imagine that if the see-through fence were chain link, it
might stop them at 10' height unless they were in a panic when they
will sail over the moon. What they do is go right through finer
wire, plastic mesh...that kind of thing - full grown deer are fairly
hefty and can pull metal fence posts right out of the ground if they
decide to go through instead of over. 6' is a step-over for them
unless they can't see. And, they really can't see over a 6' tall
fence unless they are uphill of it - another story altogether. They
are careful where they place their feet as they know a broken leg
means death to them. Crafty isn't the word for deer:-)
If you use the 8' tall black plastic mesh around a relatively small
area they will stay out. I think a lot of it has to do with how much
running space they have to clear heights. They can't jump 8' from a
standing start. If they can see that they might get trapped inside
an area, they won't enter it, even if there is some favored delicacy
staring at them.
Am finally going to have 3 rhodies bloom in newish woodland garden
area about 20 x 20 that I enclosed in that mesh this winter - now a 3
year old garden and buds and leaves have been munched since planting.
Of course, I now need to get in there for maintenance and it keeps
me out, too....too early to remove it for the summer and a real royal
pain to take down enough to get in and back out.
Have also discovered that bottom and top of fencing have to be
secured to something stiff - bamboo once again works for me - or they
will push until they break it down and get in. Bamboo poles laced to
the fencing seem to offer enough initial resistance that they decide
they can't get in most of the time.
They tend to drift on their feeding forays and will flow in the path
of least resistance - most of the time, but not all. They also
develop habitual paths and stopping them from using those is a *real*
challenge....I'm thinking razor wire :-> (not really, wouldn't hurt
them except in my dreams of vengeance after they've devoured some
favorite I've been nursing).
Read the other day that angling out poles about 5' from a 5' tall
post and stringing wire strands between will stop them - something
about their depth perception getting messed up with the angle. Also
read in an ad for the black plastic mesh deer fence that it works
best allowed to swing loose and had to laugh...they would crawl right
under it. They go under just as easily as over if there is a space
more than 1' tall....have seen them do it.
My latest try is cutting mature bamboo canes, leaving the foliage and
branches on and angling them outward along the fence...heh,
heh...bamboo is quite sharp and pointy when it dries and grows quite
tall - like 15' or so...so far, that seems to help in a couple of
places where my fencing might just as well have not been there at
all, but still have quite a bit of fence line to go here. Have a
*lot* of bamboo, so mean to make a bamboo Maginot line here - not
really decorative, either, but am beyond 'decorative':-)
Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor: Gardening in Shade
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> From: Blee811@aol.com
> Date: Tuesday, March 28, 2000 12:34 AM
>
> I have some of that too, Marge. It is not a pretty sight.
Interesting
> observation on seeing through fencing. Conventional wisdom is that
a 10-foot
> fence works and a 6-foot does not. But those wise guys never tell
you that
> the fence has to be solid.
>
> Bill Lee
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