Re: deer and daylilies
- Subject: Re: deer and daylilies
- From: M*@aol.com
- Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 04:23:05 EDT
In a message dated 9/1/2003 2:18:50 AM Central Daylight Time, mtalt@hort.net
writes:
> They
> never ate my junipers (too much else to choose from), but I have read
> that they will do this. Can't imagine chomping down on that prickly,
> stickly foliage, myself, but when they are hungry, they will eat
> anything.
>
The reason that plants have those thorns is because browsing animals, like
deer, love to eat them. So any time I see a plants with thorns I know its going
to be something the deer want to eat or try.
Last year the deer made off with all the green leaves on our arbovity up to
height of five feet.
I have two types of fences to keep the deer away from my pots. A brush pile
that is 4 to 6 feet tall and 4 to 8 feet wide. This works well but must be
tended to often as the brush rots away and openings develop-deer are good at
finding a way in any small hole. They don't jump it coming into the growing area
but will jump it when they leave (especially when they see me with a large
stick)
The other fence is an electric wire that is a little over 3 feet off the
ground. This goes around the house-the deer like to walk up into the street and
come down the sidewalk to bypass the brush pile- So the electric fence is
needed to keep them away.
I have the worst problems in the spring and fall, so in the summer the
electric fence is not "up and running"
Its cooled off and its been dry-so the deer are back and have been eating
some of my Phlox and Malva. So its time to put the fence back up- I find that you
want to have the wire about chest high on the deer so they can walk into it.
I try to use a thin wire so they cannot see it. The deer come around at
night and run into the wire and after a few shocks thay stay away. They can't
jump the wire at night becasue they can not see it. Its also very hard to see in
the day, but on very over cast, rainy days they have been know to jump it.
When its overcast the wire is easy to see.
My poor plants are less than 20 yards away from the deer trail down to the
lake, were they drink water every evening, and we have some large deer -- it
sounds like an elephant in the woods sometimes, and the bucks are always
snorting.
Paul
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