R2elk
Deeply Rooted
From caged coyotes.
Deer Joe
- Thread starter digitS'
- Start date
Zeedman
Garden Master
I agree that animals learn, and in my experience, scent deterrents only work for a short time, if at all. Taste deterrents work a little better; but the more effective & potent the substance, the less likely you would want to apply it to anything intended for food use.
The fact that deer learn & remember can be used against them though. My rural garden only has a 6' fence, which they could easily jump over. The bottom 3' of the fence is chicken wire to keep out rabbits; the remaining 3' is several strands of aluminum electric fence wire. I've found that if I charge the wire at the beginning of the season, the deer get bitten - and remember. I can then turn the fence off for the rest of the summer. Aluminum fence wire not only is more conductive than steel wire (for a much stronger spark), it is also shiny & because it doesn't rust, it remains highly visible for years.
But as I found out one year, if the fence isn't turned on until the deer have gotten in & had a taste of something they like, they WILL get back in - even breaking through the wire to do so (which to judge by the tufts of fur left on the broken wire, must have hurt).
Deer generally won't jump a fence if they don't see a clear place to land; so even with shorter fences, having tall trellises or poles several feet inside the fence line will keep deer from jumping over. That is one of the benefits of gardening vertically as much as possible, where deer are present. Tall tomato cages, or any other structures that obscure the ground, work as well. The few times that deer have jumped in were (with the one exception noted above) early in the season, either just before or just after planting, when trellises & cages had not yet been erected.
As much of a PITA as my resident deer population can be (they often bed down in my back yard at night) they are actually the easiest herbivores to keep out of my vegetable garden. They really ravage my ornamentals though... and fenced-in flowers are not aesthetically pleasing.
Fortunately they don't seem to like daffodils, marigolds, digitalis, or geraniums (and only occasionally bother roses or petunias) so they generously allow me to grow a few flowers in my front yard.
The fact that deer learn & remember can be used against them though. My rural garden only has a 6' fence, which they could easily jump over. The bottom 3' of the fence is chicken wire to keep out rabbits; the remaining 3' is several strands of aluminum electric fence wire. I've found that if I charge the wire at the beginning of the season, the deer get bitten - and remember. I can then turn the fence off for the rest of the summer. Aluminum fence wire not only is more conductive than steel wire (for a much stronger spark), it is also shiny & because it doesn't rust, it remains highly visible for years.
But as I found out one year, if the fence isn't turned on until the deer have gotten in & had a taste of something they like, they WILL get back in - even breaking through the wire to do so (which to judge by the tufts of fur left on the broken wire, must have hurt).
Deer generally won't jump a fence if they don't see a clear place to land; so even with shorter fences, having tall trellises or poles several feet inside the fence line will keep deer from jumping over. That is one of the benefits of gardening vertically as much as possible, where deer are present. Tall tomato cages, or any other structures that obscure the ground, work as well. The few times that deer have jumped in were (with the one exception noted above) early in the season, either just before or just after planting, when trellises & cages had not yet been erected.
As much of a PITA as my resident deer population can be (they often bed down in my back yard at night) they are actually the easiest herbivores to keep out of my vegetable garden. They really ravage my ornamentals though... and fenced-in flowers are not aesthetically pleasing.
Fortunately they don't seem to like daffodils, marigolds, digitalis, or geraniums (and only occasionally bother roses or petunias) so they generously allow me to grow a few flowers in my front yard.
Last edited:
SPedigrees
Garden Addicted
Good points all, Zeedman.I agree that animals learn, and in my experience, scent deterrents only work for a short time, if at all. Taste deterrents work a little better; but the more effective & potent the substance, the less likely you would want to apply it to anything intended for food use.
The fact that deer learn & remember can be used against them though. My rural garden only has a 6' fence, which they could easily jump over. The bottom 3' of the fence is chicken wire to keep out rabbits; the remaining 3' is several strands of aluminum electric fence wire. I've found that if I charge the wire at the beginning of the season, the deer get bitten - and remember. I can then turn the fence off for the rest of the summer. Aluminum fence wire not only is more conductive than steel wire (for a much stronger spark), it is also shiny & because it doesn't rust, it remains highly visible for years.
But as I found out one year, if the fence isn't turned on until the deer have gotten in & had a taste of something they like, they WILL get back in - even breaking through the wire to do so (which to judge by the tufts of fur left on the broken wire, must have hurt).
Deer generally won't jump a fence if they don't see a clear place to land; so even with shorter fences, having tall trellises or poles several feet inside the fence line will keep deer from jumping over. That is one of the benefits of gardening vertically as much as possible, where deer are present. Tall tomato cages, or any other structures that obscure the ground, work as well. The few times that deer have jumped in were (with the one exception noted above) early in the season, either just before or just after planting, when trellises & cages had not yet been erected.
As much of a PITA as my resident deer population can be (they often bed down in my back yard at night) they are actually the easiest herbivores to keep out of my vegetable garden. They really ravage my ornamentals though... and fenced-in flowers are not aesthetically pleasing.
Perhaps because I have at least one of my 2+ acres in mowed, mixed pasture grasses, heavy on clover (both white and red and maybe others) deer very seldom snack on my vegetables or flowers. They have enough tasty plants to feed on that I figure they're not actively searching for better fare. My sunflowers and summer squash were exceptions to this the past couple years, but deer netting solved both problems.
Zeedman
Garden Master
@SPedigrees , at one point when I first moved back to Wisconsin, I had an unfenced garden in an open field behind my job. White clover volunteered freely there, and I allowed it to grow in the pathways. Rabbits mostly passed everything else by & ate the clover... deer just nipped off leaves and took a bite here & there from the veggies. The damage was annoying at times, but nothing serious. That all changed when I started growing soybeans, which seem to be for herbivores what catnip is to cats. Every animal which eats plants is drawn to soybeans, and will mow them to the ground - or harvest every single bean - without protection. So when I began collecting soybeans, fencing became necessary.
So when I began collecting soybeans, fencing became necessary.
flowerbug
Garden Master
i'm surprised at that because my brother has never been able to have roses for long at his place as the deer mow them right down. maybe they are different type of rose that is more tasty?
Zeedman
Garden Master
Mine are all the miniature roses we discussed recently. Maybe larger roses, with thicker canes, are more succulent? It's crazy how deer can get past those thorns... makes my mouth sore just thinking about it.
flowerbug
Garden Master
the deer do mostly go after the more tender fresh spouts and flowering ends but still he no longer even grows them and we've removed some of the older ones that were dead. they could never make much progress against repeated grazing.
sadly, he can't garden so it's better that he have other plantings anyways, but they did enjoy what flowers they could get for rather short periods of time.
Dahlia
Deeply Rooted
I rarely have had a problem with deer destroying my garden plants. One did take a nap on my poinsettia that I was hoping would survive after Christmas. The pointsetta didn't make it after that episode!
flowerbug
Garden Master
even if broken off you may be able to rescue them. pretty hardy plants. i kept one for several years after we had it as a Christmas ornament, by the time i went away to college it was about 4ft tall. not sure what Mom did with all my plants besides the one i took to college.
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