Can anyone tell me how to keep the deer out of my garden? I live in a rural
area. The field behind my property used to be planted with oats, which kept
them busy, but now it lies idle, and my garden seems to be in the middle of
a deer run. I have put up the deer fence netting material, which worked
fairly well in the beginning of the season, but which they plowed right
through by the end of the season.I'm losing my love for "Bambi". Help! Kay

kayk wrote:

Can anyone tell me how to keep the deer out of my garden? I live in a rural
area. The field behind my property used to be planted with oats, which kept
them busy, but now it lies idle, and my garden seems to be in the middle of
a deer run. I have put up the deer fence netting material, which worked
fairly well in the beginning of the season, but which they plowed right
through by the end of the season.I'm losing my love for "Bambi". Help! Kay




Sound like a real problem. From what I've read, the ONLY way to keep
deeries out of your garden is to MORE persisent then they are.


Rebuild the fence
lay chicken wire flat on ground on enemy side of fence, hear tell deer
don't like to step on it
Dog hair
Human urine
Coyote urine
chemicals
Hanging/spinning CDs back to back

replant field

obstacles in depth and rotate/move them to add to confusion and so's
they don't get used to them

Kevin

Can anyone tell me how to keep the deer out of my garden?

I have had pretty good luck with an electric fence. It is a single wire at
about 3' height and even though they could easily jump it, I think that because
it is hard to see, they learn to stay away from that area.


Dave
http://members.tripod.com/~VideoDave

On 30 Mar 2003 23:25:32 GMT, (DavesVideo) wrote:

Can anyone tell me how to keep the deer out of my garden?

I have had pretty good luck with an electric fence. It is a single wire at
about 3' height and even though they could easily jump it, I think that because
it is hard to see, they learn to stay away from that area.


Dave
http://members.tripod.com/~VideoDave

I'm in the process of getting the parts to install an electric fence.
If I use 17 ga galvanized electric fence wire with green metal posts
(and insulators of course), how far apart can I space the posts?
Dimensions will be about 150x75 ft rectangle.
Thanks,
Barry
--
Note - Remove the X from my e-mail address for direct replies

DavesVideo wrote:

Can anyone tell me how to keep the deer out of my garden?


I have had pretty good luck with an electric fence. It is a single wire at
about 3' height and even though they could easily jump it, I think that because
it is hard to see, they learn to stay away from that area.


Dave
http://members.tripod.com/~VideoDave


Put Peanut Butter on the wire and when they lick it they'll get a shock
and learn to fear it. Saw this in a fence catalog for training the deer.

Kevin

There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few
who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric
fence for themselves.
Will Rogers

We use an electric cattle fence that is solar-powered with a backup
battery. It works at night which is important for deer. After
putting up the electric fence, there are no groundhogs, dogs,
squirrels or deer in the garden. Oh yeah, I touched it once and
gaurantee I won't touch it again !!!

On Sun, 30 Mar 2003 20:37:05 GMT, "kayk" wrote:

Can anyone tell me how to keep the deer out of my garden? I live in a rural
area. The field behind my property used to be planted with oats, which kept
them busy, but now it lies idle, and my garden seems to be in the middle of
a deer run. I have put up the deer fence netting material, which worked
fairly well in the beginning of the season, but which they plowed right
through by the end of the season.I'm losing my love for "Bambi". Help! Kay


--
Phish©

I have read that Blood Meal deters deer but I haven't read any studies or
seen any of the actual report that the claim is based on. Intuitively it
kind of makes sense to me but I would love to hear from anyone that's
actually tried it.

Thanks,
Burl

Safe and Natural Gardening
http://www.emerysgardenstore.com

"kayk" wrote in message
...
Can anyone tell me how to keep the deer out of my garden? I live in a
rural
area. The field behind my property used to be planted with oats, which
kept
them busy, but now it lies idle, and my garden seems to be in the middle
of
a deer run. I have put up the deer fence netting material, which worked
fairly well in the beginning of the season, but which they plowed right
through by the end of the season.I'm losing my love for "Bambi". Help! Kay

"DavesVideo" wrote in message
...
Can anyone tell me how to keep the deer out of my garden?

I have had pretty good luck with an electric fence. It is a single wire
at
about 3' height and even though they could easily jump it, I think that
because
it is hard to see, they learn to stay away from that area.

Dave

Dave's right about deer learning to stay away from an electric fence. I had
a huge deer problem until we put one around our yard late last summer after
the miserable things ate down an apple tree and killed a five year old maple
by shredding its bark. They ate everything, including the roses, tulips, and
golden rain tree. We have two strands of fine aluminum wire around our yard,
one at 1 1/2 feet high and the other at 3 1/2 feet. When it's on, they stay
out. We had a dusk to dawn timer on it that we changed to 24 hours after
they started showing up in the yard during the day. There have been no deer
since.

John

John

Hi Kay,

I did some reading tonight and it turns out that there are a couple of
products out there. Blood Meal is supposed to work because deer are
vegetarians and the smell should deter them. The Deer, Rabbit and Squirrel
Repellent at http://www.emerysgardenstore.com/pest-control.html is a more
complete solution and is built on the same premise. This product is also
designed to be used on organically grown crops.

Other people mentioned electric fencing. Speaking from personal experience
That's a good idea - I got tangled up in one when I was 4 and I never did
that again!!

Some other ideas that I read about we
Spread human hair around perimeter of area
Avoid planting plants that deer prefer
Take advantage of plants deer don't like
Incorporate garden designs that discourage deer
Use predator scents around area to be protected i.e. bobcat, coyote, and fox
urine
Erect fencing 8-10 ft tall preferably electrified to protect large areas
Use netting to cover plants and shrubs near houses
Wrap tree trunks to protect them
Use mechanical systems or devices using light or sound to scare deer

Nobody mentioned getting yourself a pet but a dog in the area would probably
make them more wary of your yard as well.

Good luck,
Burl

Safe and Natural Gardening
http://www.emerysgardenstore.com

By the way...

Deer can get REALLY comfortable around people check out these photos from
North Dakota!
http://www.tttranch.com/common/Galle...ryname=facilit
ies&photoid=1303
http://www.tttranch.com/common/Galle...ryname=facilit
ies&photoid=1295

"kayk" wrote in message
...
Can anyone tell me how to keep the deer out of my garden?

Hello Kayk

We live 7 minutes away from downtown Portland, Oregon and we have problems
with deer as well.

When we first moved here they found my antique roses delightful and I
couldn't keep a Hosta in the ground for love or money.
One early morning they ate every single pear in the Asian pear tree and we
counted over 6 dozens the week before. We are going to install an electric
fence but the HOA will have to convene to approve it. Until then we have
kept them at bay with a simple recipe: take 3 eggs, and leave them in a warm
place for about 4 days. They need to be a bit "ripe" to work, so the older
the better.

In a blender mix 2 heads of garlic ( as in whole heads) 1 small bottle of
Tabasco and the eggs. Add about 3 cups of water
and blend well. Strain into a container (you must strained it or it will
clog your sprayer) and add enough water to make
1/2 gallon of the solution. In the very early morning go out and spray what
you don't want them to eat with the mixture.
Spray the trunk of the trees too, that is how we save our Asian pear tree.
There is something about the combination of smells and taste that keeps them
away. (!)

As for humans, the smell disappears in a couple of hours. That worked quite
well during the dry months in the summer or
if the weather was dry for a couple of days so it wouldn't wash off the
leaves and the trunks. Last Spring we sprayed
once and once again during the summer and they never came near the garden,
but with over 150 roses now we need to take
a different approach. Good luck, this really works and it is inexpensive as
well.

Allegra
Zone 7-8

In South AL, we give them lead poisoning..........the state allows us to
shoot those that are destroying our crops............


"burl" wrote in message
.net...
I have read that Blood Meal deters deer but I haven't read any studies or
seen any of the actual report that the claim is based on. Intuitively it
kind of makes sense to me but I would love to hear from anyone that's
actually tried it.

Thanks,
Burl

Safe and Natural Gardening
http://www.emerysgardenstore.com

"kayk" wrote in message
...
Can anyone tell me how to keep the deer out of my garden? I live in a
rural
area. The field behind my property used to be planted with oats, which
kept
them busy, but now it lies idle, and my garden seems to be in the middle
of
a deer run. I have put up the deer fence netting material, which worked
fairly well in the beginning of the season, but which they plowed right
through by the end of the season.I'm losing my love for "Bambi". Help!
Kay

I'm in the process of getting the parts to install an electric fence.
If I use 17 ga galvanized electric fence wire with green metal posts
(and insulators of course), how far apart can I space the posts?

We did it by trial and error. Since we keep expanding the protected area, we
put in posts that just pound into the ground and they have to be no more than
10' to 20' apart and the wire does sag. With permanent posts, you could
probably stretch the wire pretty tight. In Several spots we take advantage of
trees and attach insulators to them.

Dave
http://members.tripod.com/~VideoDave

If I had the deer problems some folks have, I would not want to discourage
them too much, I might even plant stuff they liked. I would create largish
arbor-gated enclosed gardens for sensitive things, deer resistant things
outside the wooden fences. This should also permit me to have a couple of
goats that ran semi-free, the gardens rather than the animals being fenced
in. This may too idealistic & I'd want to shoot the gawdamn deer in no
time if I really had that problem, but I would like to think I'd retain
the feeling of Good Luck to live & garden in the midst of wildlife.

One never-likely-to-be-achieved dream, however, has been to own a tiny
patch of forest, the understory of which I could turn into an azalea &
flowering shrub paradise. If I got something like that going & deer came
in & ate all the blooms & leaves with fair regularity, I might find my
idealistic sentiments toward wildlife getting a little bunged up. But I'd
hope that if a semi-wild flowering shrub garden was extensive enough, it
could stand a little "natural pruning" from the lips of deer, as I'm kinda
assuming there wouldn't be a whole band of elk concentrating on destroying
my woodland area, but only a couple deer now & then.

I remember seeing a little documentary about beavers & the damage they can
do to private property. There was one old gent who discovered a big area
of his property turned into a lake by beavers, & though at first he was
very annoyed because he even had to jack up his house to keep it dry, he
decided he'd try to live with the beavers & give up that area of his
farmland from farming. He was SO charming out by his "lake" which had
become heavily populated with ducks, swans, geese, frogs, wading birds,
muskrats -- & the owner was very happy to have received such a gift of
nature from a little family of beavers. Well, of course, not many people
have enough land that they can just turn a lot of it over to wildlife, but
what a good idea it would be if we all could. It would mean the presence
of humans needn't mean the extinction of everything else.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

"paghat" wrote in message
news
If I had the deer problems some folks have, I would not want to discourage
them too much, I might even plant stuff they liked. I would create largish
arbor-gated enclosed gardens for sensitive things, deer resistant things
outside the wooden fences.

Hello paghat,

Well, I used to feel the same way, until we moved here. We love the fact
that our property is next door to a state park, but what we never had the
foresight to evaluate was the presence of the deer, moles and cercospora,
anthracnose, rust, powdery mildew, black spot, box elder bugs, earwigs,
you name it around the said property.

We created a nice little shade area where several rhododendrons, azaleas,
hellebores that peeked through the acer palmetun at the sun above, and some
rare even for Oregon trilliums that were nursed among the bleeding hearts
and the pulmonarias to show their sweet heads once in a blue moon. That blue
moon was this past week and the sole bud of a the most beautiful soft amber
pink trillium stuck its head out of the ground only to be munched by a
daring buck that crossed the street, stepped through rocks and two
strawberry trees and had breakfast with the one of the plants they are
"supposed" not to like.

In an ideal world they will not stampede in front of passing vehicles next
to our house creating a potential for both death and dismemberment from
drivers who are not aware that a herd of deer can make it across the street
at lightning speed without a thought about moving vehicles and without being
intimidated by them. It is really sad that there is no space left for all of
us deer
and people to live in happy compliance of each other's needs.

We cannot for practical reasons, such as light and space to grow that which
we love, encase the place with a fence of any kind. Our neighborhood is a
nice place filled with all kinds of old trees and the openness of the place
invites the people living here to take care of their yards and to help each
other sharing cuttings and plants that hold some interest to all of us. I
guess that openness has a price attached, and unfortunately as the deer
population increases without control so are the problems associated with
this.

For right now we continue to spray, when time is available my husband and I
will spend some time placing some posts every twenty feet or so, to be
climbed
hopefully by some vine to disguise the ugliness of it, and a single wire
fence will
be around the perimeter of the entire front garden. Do I like the idea? No.
I hate
enclosing anything as I predict that I will be the first one through
clumsiness or
distraction to shake hands with the wire.

But we are growing some roses that are nearly out of commerce and we hope to
preserve them to share them with others via cuttings or seedlings. As far as
the
diseases mentioned above, we will continue to clean, spray and maintain
the area we have as best we can. The old trees in the park have never been
sprayed that I know, and the different problems not only decimate the ranks
but threatens the new emergent growth along the perimeters. And I will leave
the subject of ivy alone because this is already a book. Take care, and I
wish I could carry on my dream of a nearly perfect garden as I wish you
could carry on yours about yours,

Allegra