Sure. Yesterday wife had a couple of friends over for lunch and I got
to show them a deer munching on my lawn. Wish they ate enough so I did
not have to cut it but they like my day lillies and flowers more. They
go nuts over all the apples around - even crab apples that people don't
eat. Six weeks from now, I'll be throwing stuff at them to keep them
away from my chestnut trees. Neighbors have been fighting them for
peaches and tomatoes. Like I said, at this time of year their world is
one big salad bar.

Frank wrote:

Sure. Yesterday wife had a couple of friends over for lunch and I got
to show them a deer munching on my lawn. Wish they ate enough so I did
not have to cut it but they like my day lillies and flowers more. They
go nuts over all the apples around - even crab apples that people don't
eat. Six weeks from now, I'll be throwing stuff at them to keep them
away from my chestnut trees. Neighbors have been fighting them for
peaches and tomatoes. Like I said, at this time of year their world is
one big salad bar.

Grass and flowers are nothing... winter is when deer do real damage...
that's when their diet changes from green to brown, that's when they
eat bark and twigs, they'll girdle your trees and gorge on your
shrubs.

The OP gave no details as to how large an area was planted, but I know
that a small number of deer will denude an acre of pure annual rye
grass in like three nights of foraging. And with each successive
night their numbers will double until there is nothing left to eat.
Aside from the foraging their hooves will destroy whatever they didn't
consume. Naturally the farmers who plant feed lots for deer lose
nothing and gain tremendously, because as deer dine they fertilize.

http://www.whitetailstewards.com/art...t/ryegrass.htm

On 8/21/2010 11:46 AM, brooklyn1 wrote:
Frank wrote:

Sure. Yesterday wife had a couple of friends over for lunch and I got
to show them a deer munching on my lawn. Wish they ate enough so I did
not have to cut it but they like my day lillies and flowers more. They
go nuts over all the apples around - even crab apples that people don't
eat. Six weeks from now, I'll be throwing stuff at them to keep them
away from my chestnut trees. Neighbors have been fighting them for
peaches and tomatoes. Like I said, at this time of year their world is
one big salad bar.

Grass and flowers are nothing... winter is when deer do real damage...
that's when their diet changes from green to brown, that's when they
eat bark and twigs, they'll girdle your trees and gorge on your
shrubs.

The OP gave no details as to how large an area was planted, but I know
that a small number of deer will denude an acre of pure annual rye
grass in like three nights of foraging. And with each successive
night their numbers will double until there is nothing left to eat.
Aside from the foraging their hooves will destroy whatever they didn't
consume. Naturally the farmers who plant feed lots for deer lose
nothing and gain tremendously, because as deer dine they fertilize.

http://www.whitetailstewards.com/art...t/ryegrass.htm

I agree and it depends on the concentration of the deer.
I've been trying for years to grow ivy on banks away from the house and
thought problem was winter exposure until I found deer were eating it.
They don't touch ivy in the summer.

With all the winter snow they did a job on a son's arborvitae which
shield his pool in the back.

My point was, that with a lot of stuff growing, they usually don't
concentrate on one food unless it a hands down favorite.

On Sun, 22 Aug 2010 07:39:33 -0400, Frank
wrote:

On 8/21/2010 11:46 AM, brooklyn1 wrote:
Frank wrote:

Sure. Yesterday wife had a couple of friends over for lunch and I got
to show them a deer munching on my lawn. Wish they ate enough so I did
not have to cut it but they like my day lillies and flowers more. They
go nuts over all the apples around - even crab apples that people don't
eat. Six weeks from now, I'll be throwing stuff at them to keep them
away from my chestnut trees. Neighbors have been fighting them for
peaches and tomatoes. Like I said, at this time of year their world is
one big salad bar.

Grass and flowers are nothing... winter is when deer do real damage...
that's when their diet changes from green to brown, that's when they
eat bark and twigs, they'll girdle your trees and gorge on your
shrubs.

The OP gave no details as to how large an area was planted, but I know
that a small number of deer will denude an acre of pure annual rye
grass in like three nights of foraging. And with each successive
night their numbers will double until there is nothing left to eat.
Aside from the foraging their hooves will destroy whatever they didn't
consume. Naturally the farmers who plant feed lots for deer lose
nothing and gain tremendously, because as deer dine they fertilize.

http://www.whitetailstewards.com/art...t/ryegrass.htm

I agree and it depends on the concentration of the deer.
I've been trying for years to grow ivy on banks away from the house and
thought problem was winter exposure until I found deer were eating it.
They don't touch ivy in the summer.

With all the winter snow they did a job on a son's arborvitae which
shield his pool in the back.

My point was, that with a lot of stuff growing, they usually don't
concentrate on one food unless it a hands down favorite.

This is why any plants you want to keep need to be fenced... there are
deer resistant plants but when deer are hungry there are very few
plants that are deer proof, and those are so toxic and/or covered with
dangerous thorns you wont want them nearby either... but to deer a
lush patch of rye grass is candy.

http://njaes.rutgers.edu/deerresistance/default.asp