On Wed, 23 Feb 2011 11:49:41 -0500, wrote:

mkr5000 writes:

I just bought a new house where the deer are prevalent and planted a
lot of hostas last year. The deer seem to feed more in the early
winter months but was wondering about hostas.

In winter they're out of luck because they die back but do they go
after the spring shoots?

Please -- only someone who has experience with the matter -- no
"guessing".

Hostas, sometimes called "deer lettuce".

They love the stuff.

They won't dig out the roots but they eat hostas whenever they
can find it. Spring, summer, fall, it doesn't matter.

You can try deer repellent, soap flakes, netting, other home remedies.
Ultimately, nothing will work except a fence.

I put up a six footer and finally experienced a year where the
deer did not eat all the hostas:

http://mysite.verizon.net/despen/fence/

Exactly! With deer running rampant don't plan on naturalizing hosta.
And rabbits love hosta too, so if you erect a fence make sure its
openings are really small because in early spring baby bunnies get
very hungry. In areas where one would normally have hosta (edges of
wooded areas) I've since learned to plant ferns instead.