Guess I will have to completely give up on hibs this year and I am sick about it. We took the worst hit yet from the deer last evening. They stripped all the hibiscus and most everything else. Some of the hibs are chewed down to nibs and I know they won't make it. On the older plants it will take months to get leaves back much less buds. What they didn't eat they stepped on; it must have been a whole herd. They even ate the sunflower weeds under the birdfeeders. I had baby tomato plants on the deck and they came up and got them. Sheesh! My dog, the big wuss, slept through it all.
We have tried everything short of an ugly electric fence but we may have to resort to one now. We have had an unusual amount of rain lately, 3 1/2" last evening alone, and I am thinking this has something to do with the garden raids.
I have dozens of hibiscus plants and I don't think I have seen a dozen flowers this year thanks to the d*mn deer.
AGHHHHHHHHH, Thanks for letting me shout. LOL
So sad
sending sympathy your way, alice. i wandered over here for no special reason and saw your post. if it makes you feel any better, i only have two and they both froze to the ground last winter. i just now started to get a few blooms on the orange one and the pink one, as usual, is so aphid-covered that i doubt i'll get any blooms from it any time soon. a jet of water isn't enough to get rid of them so i use an alcohol/soap spray but they're back within a day or two. the orange one is planted very close and never gets an aphid. they are both noids that i started from cuttings about 4 years ago.
debi
Sorry Alice. I'll send you some of what I have if that helps.
You are both so sweet. I appreciate you kind offer Guams Orbit (see, I got it right) but I still have plenty that hopefully will come back but I am pretty sure sure this year is a bust. There is this sinking feeling that perhaps the hibiscus are attracting them. It is funny Debi, I never have aphids on the hibiscus. Other plants get a few now and then but never on the hibs.
Right now I am waiting for another storm to roll through; as soon as it passes I will go out and spray again. Interestingly, I noticed the deer did not touch any of the gingers. I would have thought they would love something that tastes so good.
Hey Alice,
I am so sorry to hear that. At this point I am just trying to keep mine alive. Too many irons in the fire!!! Not many blooms to speak of and pest problems hit a few of mine. Gotta love those little suckers. Needless to say I could never imagine deer. Does your husband hunt. I know it's out of season but I think the game warden's would understand!!! Wish I knew something to keep them away besides a rifle. If you need a few LMK. I may have some no shows from the co-op.
Take Care,
Robert
LOL, I wish we could hunt them down. It is just so strange; we have always had deer problems and they pretty much left me alone if I remembered to spray regularly. This year nothing deters them. Everyone in the neighborhood is having to deal with this. I could understand if their habitat had been disturbed or something but no one is clearing any land or building any new homes around here.
I don't dare tempt them with any more deer candy hibiscus. This is one of the luckier ones if you can imagine that, it still has stems at least. It is Mis Behavin and it was a full plant chock full of buds yesterday.
That so sucks Alice and I can understand your frustration. I just get irritated when I visit mom and dad and see the damage they can do in a few minutes on their plants. The deer do like hibiscus as they've done some damage in the past at my parents house in NY State. They have to keep theirs on an elevated porch to eliminate the problem. Even the deer repellent they've been using for years isn't working as well now. I told them to try a blender mixture of 4 eggs and 4 cups water and I guess it's working better now.
Jon
So sorry to hear that Alice. I have always thought living in Los Angeles that it would be a nice site to have a backyard with actual deer that stopped by but if they ate my hibbies I would lose it.
Alice, build a cheap frame of 2x2's or 2x4's and wrap it with that black plastic bird netting.Has to be high enough that they can't reach up over the topmake a slit for an opening and put the plants inside the pen.They will be safe.The sun and rain can pass thru too! :-)
Kyle :-)
LOL Kyle, that is funny. The homeowners association would ride me out of town if I ever put cages up.
Jon, Lately I have been using the home made sprays; I add garlic and cayenne to the mix. Up until the rains started the commercial sprays worked well but they got too expensive, at $18 - $25 a night, when I had to spray every night.
Yeah, the commercial deer sprays are expensive. I know very well. I have been buying them and having them shipped to my parents the last two years. I've heard about adding garlic. Someone told me they also add tabasco sauce to the mixture. Caliente!!!
I am going to invest in a bunch of salvias; the deer do not even seem to walk near them. Maybe I should blend salvias into my spray. Of course, I could probably not stand the smell myself; garlic and hot peppers is much nicer on my nose although it does make me hungry. LOL
We have been having some extraordinary rains for weeks now and I just learned that when we had some major flooding a few weeks ago it caused a lot of plant damage. Trees and grasses are dying rapidly. I have not noticed much of that around my home but apparently the lower lying areas where the deer usually stay have been ravaged. This must explain why they are picking on me (and my neighbors) this week. The floods came at the very high equinox tides and the flood waters mixed with the salt water so areas that would not normally have salt intrusion got some this time.
Alice, did you leave any cookies for Santa last year, if not make sure you leave some this year with a note to Santa Claus telling him to take his darn nasty a@#%$ deers with him to the north pole or he'll end up pulling his one sled. Truly sorry to heir about your hibs, I so truly enjoyed when you post photos of them, instead of Tabasco sauce, get some Mexican jalapeno peppers, put in blender, spay it all over every plants, that sure is going to give them a hot mouth and wish they've gone with Santa last year. Hope your hibs recuperate from the devastation the deers did on them.
Wilfred
It could be related to the flooding and the deer seeking new areas for food. I grew up in Ithaca, NY and there is a program at Cornell University where they have tagged many deer in the area to learn about their migration habits and to just get a feel for the population of deer in Ithaca, NY. The program has been going on for quite a few years now. They did note the furthest migration of their tagged deer was one that migrated to the Syracuse, NY area. In general they all stay within just a several mile radius and do very little migration unless they need to do so in search of food. That may very well explain why you are now having excessive deer problems.
You may be on to something there . An incredibly hot little orange habenero pepper is grown locally. I should be able to find some of them at the farmer's market. I'll have to wear goggles to spray that stuff though. :-)
You are right Jon, I live on an island and although they do swim across the river it is rare.
Alice, I read this and was completely at a loss for comforting words. Felt bad about it, and I know you feel even worse, being at a loss for effective action. If only a little profanity would scare them away!
Well, I tried a lot and it didn't help. LOL
D@*m things wiped out my roses too. They had no mercy and that is how I feel about them. Sorry Bambi.
I noticed it seems they do the majority of their damage right at the crack of dawn. Yes they use do like rose blooms also. Maybe you'll have to move to down here to South Flo-rida. Ain't got no dear hear.
LOL, and leave my deer, rattlesnakes and copperheads? Not sure I could stand gardening in such an calm environment. :-)
Hey, have you seen any of those 3' lizards that are said to be roaming around down there? That might give a garden some spark. :-)
I didn't know about that but I did see an iguana and a large green colored lizard crossing the road at the traffic light yesterday...seriously. "Jaws" (my leash trained alligator) usually chases them away. She has a "jealous" side to her you know.
Maybe I just need to borrow Jaws for a week or so. She would love it here visiting with her long lost cousins and perhaps she could teach them a thing or two.
Click on the pictures in this link. Does Jaws recognise anyone?????
http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/gatordeer.asp#photo
LOL. The one on the left looks like her second cousin named "Tiny". I might be right because I know she has a real craving for venicon. Oh lordy
OH DEER..OH DEER...they are a plague everywhere in the country.At the cemetery here they eat everything in sight and are so tame I throw things at them from 20 feet and they stand there like "That all you got?" LOL LOL
Where are diseases for deer when you need them???????
Kyle :-)
Yep. I think there's obviously a lack of predators in the food chain also. That would help control the population. In my hometown they even started sterilizing the deer years ago, but that hasn't helped control the population much either.
Just a idea,can you hook up a radio to a motion detector,and when they enter the yard music will come on and scare them off!
Or a tape in the radio with some wolf sounds in it, there natural predators. Radio with motion sensor, good idea Tropicman.
Wilfred
Can you imagine the neighbors waking in the middle of the night to the sound of wolves howling outside? "Honey, wake up! What IS that??" LOL, better let them know ahead of time :-)
LOL Were wolf!!!!LOL
I did consider that as Stono says a radio in his greenhouse keeps them away from plants outside it but I nixed the idea because the deer come from every direction here, I would need too many radios.
I bought habanero pepper this morning at the market. I can't wait until they get a bite of those bad boys.
Yeah it might get kind of expensive to install a stereo sound system outside for the music. Just don't broadcast classical music. The deer might enjoy that as much as we do when they play it softly at a restaurant. LOL
You can pick up speakers at a thrift store pretty cheap,play rap music,that would keep them away!!!!LOL
Hi, I wonder if you got a chance to try the habanero spray last night? We have an awful time with deer & rabbits eating anything they can get to. We haven't tried it this year, but in the past, we "peed" around the plants & it did a pretty good job of keeping the deer away.
DH has no problem going out but we're in the country with no one in sight but sounds like that neighborhood association of yours may have something to say! Depending on my frustation level, I'll pitch in, it's disgusting, but it's worked for us, for a while anyway. Nothing lasts forever if the deer have their heart set on something. ;-)
debbie, that brings to mind a clip in the movie Doc Hollywood starring Michael J. Fox :-)
In a more populated environment you could always take care of business in the privacy of your home and transport it outside to distribute carefully...translation: pee in a cup and toss it around your plants :-)
a steady stream of specimen cups, as it were. LOL
LOL, I do have one neighbor that does that but even he says it is not working this year. It is probably too diluted by all the rain.
I tried the habanero juice (mixed with eggs and water) and it was funny, after I finished spraying when I opened up the sprayer to rinse it there was a steam like mist coming out of the container. I am wondering if there was some kind of chemical reaction between the eggs and the peppers? In any case I haven't seen any dead plants nor have I seen any new deer damage.
Debi as warned me not to touch the plants if they are wet because those peppers are dangerous.
I get a little steam,when I eat peppers and eggs too!LOL
The good news is that the habanero spray appears to be working. I have had little deer damage since I started using it. Unfortunately it has to be re-applied after each rain and it had been raining every day.
The bad news is I am losing the war. The score is wildlife 3 - alice 0. In addition to the deer the raccoons have started raiding my compost pile and dragging corn cobs and such all over the garden. To make matters worse, the hummingbirds have discovered the few remaining hibiscus flowers I have and they can really do a number on them. This was Susan's Sunset earlier today.
PETA would not like my thoughts this month. :-)
War! UHHuh! Thats what there looking for!!
Get out the scare crow,armed with a motion detector ,and the water hose,anything moves,let them have it!
OMG! I had no idea the hummers did that, I thought they just went in for the nectar. Here's a case where ignorance is NOT bliss, thank you for showing me about this, I'd of never known or blamed it on the beetles or something else.