In article , John Bachman
wrote:

On Sat, 30 Jul 2005 21:22:28 GMT, "Happy Moose"
wrote:

http://www.tangledvinegarden.com/blank.html


Any idea what is in that product?

John

Dear SCAM illegally refuses to disclose the product content claiming it
has proprietary "secret" ingredients. They claim "animal by-products"
which probably means rendering plant sludge the blood content of which
would have repellant value though it wouldn't be as good as purer
bloodmeal, but it COULD mean something as useless as feathermeal
(literally made from feathers). The only reason not to reveal the "secret"
is either (a) it would be too obvious that you could buy that product more
cheaply without a trademark label or with a different trademark label, or
(b) it's an inferior ingredient like rendering plant sludge (tankage) or
feathermeal that cannot legally be labeled "bloodmeal" but only "animal
byproduct," instantly recognizable as either less effective or worthless.

If a product does not state clearly that it has either bloodmeal (as does
Plantskydd) or egg solids (as does Deer Away) as active ingredient, it
will not have a maximumly useful effect. There is no "secret" ingredient
that works better than the only ingredients that have been independly
tested & proven effective, so Deer Scram is definitely pulling a Scam
since it doesn't want the user to know if the most effective ingredients
are in it.

The Conference Proceedings for Advances & Challenges in Forest
Regeneration issued an overview that stated the only commercial
preparations that significantly cut down on deer foraging contained rotten
eggs or bloodmeal. A Rutgers study found capsican pepper effective as
well, but the Conference stated that products with ingredients that can
cause pain or illness to animals (including capsiacan pepper powder) did
not work as well as well as products with egg solids or bloodmeal, while
products reliant on ingredients with bitter taste had no effect at all.
Predator urine especially from wolfs has some effect but not the equal of
egg or bloodmeal, & predator urine can actually attract foxes or coyotes.

The INFERIOR but slightly effective ingredients in commercial concoctions
include meat meal or animal byproducts (instead of bloodmeal), predator
urines, or capsican hot pepper. The completely or nearly completely
ineffective ingredient ingredients found in deer repellants include
garlic, ammonium fatty acids (such as the useless product "Hinder & Repel"
but also in bars or soap or in Bounce fabric softener towlets which urban
folklore but no test study has claims to be effective), garlic, fishmeal
or fish emulsion, the bittering agents like thiram or denatonium benzoate,
paradichlorobenzens or naphthalene (mothballs).

So you MUST know the ingredients to know if you're getting a product with
even a chance of working. When Deer Scram claims their active ingredient
is "secret" but that it is entirely "animal by-product" sounds like they
actually did reveal that they buy the cheapest possible ingredient that by
law can only be labeled as "animal byproducts" because it is rendering
plant sludge, not a purer bloodmeal product (such as Plantskyd which is
mostly pig blood).

Products & home remedies that claim to work if hung from branches in small
bags or punctured cartons are either completely fake or work for five
minutes on the "one deer momentarily puzzled" factor. It is not true that
perfumes repell deer that are already used to foraging in the vicinity of
human habitation, though human smells such as provided by the "hang a bar
of soap" folkore remedy probably would repell deer who mistake the odor
for the presence of Man in wilderness areas. Useless in gardens.

Repellant choice should be sprayable because most effective when sprayed
directly on plants. For ground applications the egg-based repellants like
Deer Away are possibly better than bloodmeal-based, while for foliar
application a bloodmeal product like Plantskydd is probably best. A
two-product approach such as egg-based for ground-application & sprayable
bloodbased Plantskydd for foliar application would provide the maximum
protection ever achievable. Both function as plant fertilizers & are
harmless to plants & actually good for the environment. I've not used the
egg-based yet but supposedly it isn't foul to humans.

This is the first year I've personally had to deal with elk & deer. I'm
using Plantskydd because it was recommended by local wholesale ornamental
plant growers with unfenced properties, & the growers swear by it (though
this week I visited one of the growers whose field of serviceberries was
heavily browsed making all the plants ugly -- nothing else was touched --
mock orange, currants, twinberries, all sorts of shrubs -- the deer went
straight for the serviceberries). We're still visited by these critters at
SinLur (I see their fresh footprints everytime I'm at SinLur Gardens) but
for the last two months they have not foraged in the main gardens, & even
the roses which they have liked best in the past have not been touched. I
don't know if that's entirely Plantskydd's doing since seasonal browsing
patterns naturally change, & some construction on a nearby property
probably disrupts their activity.

In my own home garden I don't use any gardening products that include
animal byproducts (I would always select kelp over fish fertilizer for
instance) but at SinLur because of the deer we will be using bonemeal &
bloodmeal in the fertilizing regimens, even though these can attract
racoons & other beasties which love meat smells, but may have a slight
added benefit in making the deer think animals keep getting killed in
those otherwise tasty gardens.
--
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