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Re: [SHADEGARDENS] deer and talk radio

In a message dated 98-01-19 09:01:07 EST, you write:

<< Kay:

 The deer will soon get used to the music/noise and will likely hum-along
 while they munch your garden.  Some areas close by have deer browsing
 within feet of a busy road with cars and trucks noisily zooming by and
 are unperturbed.  Good luck.

 Mark.  Woodstock, NY z5. >>

I agree with Mark on every point.  One can drive the I-90 any day and see deer
in the middle island oblivious to the the traffic. All the plant lists go
around with the deer question.  In the end an electric fence is necessary for
full protection.  If you are in open area, not joined gardens as suburbia, all
the more necessary.

I once wrote a list on the iris list of all the deterrents we had tried prior
to buying the fence, including radios.  In the end the deer win.  If one
person can be saved some trouble by this,  use the winter months to research
your fence needs.

Not only was our garden pillaged repeatedly, the surrounding woods and fields
are entirely devoid of certain species.  Wood lilies that bloomed in a shady
corner of my back field are gone forever, no trilium blooms here, hemlock
seedlings are going, many of the woodland early spring species green up before
the grass and they are also all gone.  Native low-bush blueberries no longer
fruit due to grazing.  The only plant that seems to survive deer browsing is
the fern.  I don't think any of the native ferns have been eaten.  The
pressure of too many deer is a great dilemma for all concerned.

For our New Zealand friend: in my area there is less hunting each year, a
curious state with the steadily increasing deer populations.   A rifle cannot
be discharged within 500 feet of a residence in New York State.  Seasons for
hunting are set in the late fall and last a short time. There are six or more
grazing or browsing deer that I can see from my computer.   I have nearly 2
acres fenced electrically and it is successful.  No-one has an easy answer to
the problem of too many deer.

Claire Peplowski
East Nassau, NY
Zone 4 - Berkshires
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