Gardeners face the difficulty of keeping deer out of vegetable gardens, but signs to look out for include hoof prints in the soil; torn and torn edges on plant foliage (due to lack of upper front teeth); and trampled plantings.
Create your own homemade spray that uses scents known to deter deer, such as Irish Spring soap; hang bars of soap from tree branches around your garden or scatter bundles of human hair as deer don’t appreciate strong odors or noises.
Fences
Fencing can be the best way to keep deer away from your vegetable garden, particularly crops such as tomatoes and beans that can quickly be decimated by deer browsing. Physical barriers often provide much cheaper protection from deer than chemical deer repellents and provide long-term deer control solutions.
A basic wooden deer fence constructed with 4×4 posts and metal T-bar garden posts may be an ideal choice for many individuals. To keep deer at bay, the fence should stand 8 feet in height with gates at both ends that should always remain closed – any gaps or damage should also be immediately addressed by repair work.
If a permanent deer fence is out of reach for your budget, black mesh deer netting secured to 4x4s or metal t-bar garden posts is an effective alternative that is easily visible. You can purchase or rent this material, which comes in rolls cut specifically to your yard size or from most garden centers and hardware stores; either way it must not tear as this would allow deer into your garden and cause significant damage.
deer-repelling plants can also help keep your vegetables safe from deer. Marigolds and lavender are popular choices; even catmint can work effectively when spread around evenly around the garden. There are also “predator urine” sprays that may work, though this might become costly over time and requires regular application.
Another option is to cover your garden ground in large rocks and then plant things inside them, knowing that deer dislike walking over rock surfaces. To add an eye-catching decorative element, hang strings of old CDs or aluminum pie tins from your garden fence so they’ll bang against each other when exposed to sunlight and scare off any nearby deer; just make sure that periodically move these strings for maximum effectiveness!
Netting
Physical barriers are an effective way to keep deer out of your garden. Attaching deer netting securely to wooden 4x4s or metal T-bar garden posts will effectively keep them away. While this option might cost more in the short term, its long-term cost benefits should make up for its initial expenses over time.
If you don’t want to invest in fencing, try creating temporary barriers like chicken wire or plastic netting to cover your crops and flowers. This solution is cost-effective and works great – just remember to secure them so high winds don’t displace them!
Another option is using multi-sensory repellents that create confusion for Bambi’s olfactory system, making your veggies and flowers taste bad, sting their eyes or mucous membranes, or smell of sulphur which deer believe links them with predators. Lavender or plants like fuzzy lamb’s ears (Euphorbia) or asparagus ferns don’t attract deer, while you can find sprays containing scents they dislike such as coyote urine or hot peppers can also work well.
Other strategies that have proven successful include hanging string lights from trees or along the garden perimeter to create movement and flashes of light that frighten away deer. My grandmother would hang aluminum pie tins from corners of her fence as an additional visual and auditory deterrent. You could also try using a motion-triggered sprinkler system that will spray water or emit annoying noises near your plants to ward them away from eating your crops.
Finally, some gardeners rely on products made with urine-based repellents that claim to contain predator urine for deer deterrence – Irish Spring bar soap or commercial sprays with this claim are popular options – to fight deer. While these may provide short-term relief, their impact can often be negative on the environment and unsustainable; an alternative would be speaking with your hairdresser about donating any leftover hair clippings that can act as natural deer deterrents while simultaneously fertilizing your garden as they decay over time.
Ultrasonic Devices
Deer are an enormous source of concern for gardeners. Their herds are large and hungry, often devouring everything within reach – including garden plants and vegetable rows. Even if your yard doesn’t allow for full fencing projects, there are simple DIY solutions you can try out to keep deer away from your edibles and herbs.
Some homemade repellents use scent to deter deer, while others serve only as visual deterrents. Gardeners swear by hanging soap bars such as Irish Spring or scented bathroom varieties around their garden to deter deer. To increase effectiveness further, some gardeners grate down soap bars into pantyhose, cheese cloth or similar material before hanging it around its perimeter.
Other DIY solutions to try include using barking dogs and predator urine in liquid or granular form – liquid mimicking the scent of natural predators is effective; while granular predator urine can be placed around plants to ward off deer.
Deer have an acute sense of smell, much like people do. Deer are capable of picking out food scents just by sniffing around, prompting homemakers to experiment with various scent repellents ranging from pleasant-smelling ingredients such as Irish Spring soap or ammonia to more unpleasant mixtures like garlic, rotten eggs or ammonia to help deter these animals.
Some gardeners have also seen success planting flowers and shrubs that deer don’t like, such as Massingham Hart suggests using thickly-grown roses with thorny stems or fuzzy lamb’s ears; alternative options could include barberries, cleome and marigolds with strong scents that deer avoid. Rutgers University also offers an exhaustive list of deer resistant flowering and edible plants which may help. Whatever strategy you employ before the deer season hits is important so you can assess what works and which methods you combine together for the most effective results.
Plants
Deer consume about 6-10 pounds of food each day to fuel their reproductive and antler-growing activities, typically feasting more heavily during spring and summer when their offspring are born and their vegetables at their most tender state. There are various methods available to prevent deer from accessing gardens – full fencing projects as well as simple covers can all prevent deer from coming too close!
Many deer-proofing techniques rely on fear or confusion rather than chemical repellents for repelling deer from gardens and yards, rather than chemical repellents. A subscriber suggests spraying human urine around your garden as a natural, low-cost deer repellent; another option would be collecting hair clippings from salons and scattering them throughout your yard and garden as an additional form of deer protection – with an added benefit: they’ll slowly fertilize it!
Other non-gross methods to deter deer include hanging fabric softener strips or wrapped bars of soap from trees in order to mask their sense of smell, while others swear by garlic and rotten egg mixtures, hot pepper sprays, ammonia-soaked rags or bags filled with hair or blood meal as alternatives. However, as with commercial repellents, it’s essential that these methods be changed often so deer don’t become used to them and continue eating your vegetables!
Reducing Bambi’s feeding may require adding fragrant plants with aromatic foliage into your garden as a natural barrier. Some examples include flowering herbs such as sage, oregano, thyme and lavender; shrubs like boxwood (Buxus) and heuchera (Heucherella); as well as scent-emitting bee balm (Monarda), mountain mint (Mentha), cleomes (Cleomes), tansy (Artemisia), catmint (Nepeta), and dead nettle (Lamium).
Some plants don’t attract deer, including flowering annuals and perennials like marigolds that make great companion plantings for vegetable crops, and even many edible weeds like dill and lamb’s ears (Eupatorium). Accounting for deer-resistant varieties during your vegetable garden planning stage makes the most sense; otherwise you could cover shorter crops midseason with floating row crop covers or lightweight fabric secured around their edges if in a rush.