Deter Deer
Tips to Steer Bambi Clear of Your Beans, Berries and Broccoli
Although they are both graceful and beautiful, deer can become quite the pests when they discover your vegetable garden or prized petunia plot and see it as their own all-you-can-eat lunch buffet. Before cursing out these majestic, albeit frustrating creatures, you may want to consider how urban sprawl has intruded on their grazing grounds, leaving deer fewer options for foraging. But that fact does not mean you have to welcome them over for dinner in your garden.
Gardens add value and pleasure to your home, so you want to protect your investment. Plenty of tried-and-true tips can assist you in deterring deer from your backyard flora. A "surround, distract, dissuade" approach may be just the solution to your deer woes.
FencesPerhaps the most common and successful means of protecting your veggies, fruits and flowers from deer is to surround your garden with a fence approximately eight feet in height. You'll want to be sure that a portion of the fence runs underground and that no sizable gaps exist through which a deer could potentially squeeze itself. For an added layer of protection, consider adding chicken wire to the fence or around areas where your most vulnerable plants are rooted. The more solid the fence, the less likely a deer is to scale it.
When your deer problem is severe, you may want to look into an electric fence that can be baited with something like peanut butter. One zap and a deer is likely to stay clear of the area. Home owners with pets or small children will want to proceed cautiously if considering this option. Deer are also unlikely to indulge in poisonous, fuzzy, spiny or coarse plants, so surrounding your garden with flora that matches this description may be yet another means of repelling would-be deer bandits.
Create Distractions Many a frustrated gardener has found success in deterring deer through simple distractions. For example, you may want to consider setting up a salt lick on the opposite side of the yard from your garden or in a wooded area behind your house if one exists. Similarly, some gardeners have seen results by planting some deer favorites (e.g. tea roses, arborvitae, beans, berries and broccoli) on the opposite side of the yard from their more prized plants and produce.
Deterrents Deer are regularly deterred by scents that they abhor, including rotten egg, urine of their predators and simple household goods like bar soap. You may want to consider mixing rotten egg with water and spraying it around your plants. Some commercial outlets sell urine of coyotes and bobcats, which are known predators to deer. This can be spread around the areas most vulnerable and appealing to deer.
Other gardeners have speared bars of soap on stakes and planted them firmly near their gardens. Another well-known deterrent is human hair, which can be collected from your local barber, stuffed into a used stocking and staked around your garden or hung from tree branches. In addition, several commercial products are available on the market and typically come in a spray bottle so you can easily spread the concoction over a vast garden.
If the thought of handling coyote urine, rotten eggs, human hair or chemicals makes your stomach churn, a more appealing option may be simply to plant in or near your garden strong but pleasant-smelling flowers that deer tend to avoid. These can include lavender, lilac, begonia and salvia.
Some other practical deer deterrents that can startle or ward off deer in pursuit of your parsley include bright floodlights or motion lights, flags, radios, noise makers and sprinklers. The family dog can also be a major deterrent. Deer startled by the movement or barking of your dog are likely to grow nervous and pursue other pastures (i.e. your neighbor's yard).
Deer will catch on to your tactics after a while, so be sure to mix up which deterrents you employ.
Change Your Garden If none of the aforementioned options seems to be working, or if you are opposed to these ideas for any reason, you may ultimately want to reconsider what you plant. If hungry enough, deer will eat just about anything, but in particular, they enjoy smooth, tender, flavorful plants like dogwood, azalea, arborvitae, yew, hyacinth, rose, apples, beans, broccoli and sweet corn. Thus you may want to avoid these altogether when planning your garden or landscaping.
Any number of barriers or repellants may do the trick to keep deer at bay. The effort is often well worth it, as a nicely landscaped yard can do much to add value and curb appeal to your home.
