Deer in Your Garden

White tail deer may appear to be harmless, they are quite a nuisance in the garden. These super grazers leap over all but the tallest fences to devour the stems, leaves, and buds of many types of plants, including arborvitae, fir, alfalfa, and roses. They also eat fruits and vegetables.

How to Identify Deer in your Garden:  If you notice jagged edges on your plant leaves and cloven hoof prints in your garden, then you probably have a deer problem. Watch out for their bean-shaped droppings as well.

How to Get Rid of Deer” There are many techniques you can try to deter deer from munching on your plants. Try some of these methods for your garden:

• Spray flowers and shrubs with a deer repellant that contains a mixture of dried bovine blood, sulfured eggs and garlic. These repellants are available at most home and garden stores. They will not harm your plants and are usually effective in deterring deer.
• Make it tough for deer to browse. Trim off lower branches of trees. No deer wants to waste time picking through your scare yard if there are lush bushes next door.
• Use scare tactics. Try putting several metal posts 4- to 5-feet-tall around the garden. Attach a metal pie tin to the top of each pole with twine The least bit of wind makes the pine tins clack with a noise that the deer don’t like.
• Clean up your yard.  Don’t leave acorns, rotted fruit, or leaves on your lawn; they are an open invitation to hungry deer.
• For your garden, choose flowers and shrubs that are unpalatable to deer, such as forsythia, lilac bush, marigolds, zinnias, daffodils, lavender and snapdragons. Contact your local cooperative extension for suggestions in your area.  See our chart with a list of deer-resistant plants.
• Put strong-smelling plants that deer don’t like on the outside of your garden and smaller plants that need more protection on inside. Deer tend to stay away from poisonous plants, strongly flavored plants, and plants with hairy or furry leaves.
• Put a transistor radio in your garden and keep it on all night. Switch the station when you think of it. The noise will keep deer away.
• Set up an inexpensive motion detector in your garden. When a deer triggers it, the noise will scare the deer back into the woods.
• Drape fabric netting over plants and (most) deer will stay clear.
• For a natural deterrent, scatter dog or human hair around your garden, or hang human hair in pantyhose or mesh bags in trees. Find human hair clippings at a barber shop.
• Scatter or hang bars of deodorant or cheap motel soap around the garden; if you leave the wrappers on, the soap will last longer. Irish Spring is particularly recommended.
• Mix rotten eggs in water (a dozen or so per 5 gallons) and spray around the perimeter of the garden.
• Spread kitty litter around the edge of the garden.
• Soak old socks in Lysol and spread around garden’s perimeter and hang from a tree limb or stake.
• For a real odor offensive, use predator urine; wolf and coyote urine are sold commercially in most garden stores. (Note: Use responsible source for predator urine, to make sure that the animals are treated humanely and the brand complies with state and federal regulations.)
• The most reliable method is to fence in your garden. Put up a strong, 8-foot-tall metal fence.