I know this isn't the right forum but have gotton to know so many of you here,My goldden retrievers passed away this spring, have always had big dogs, and now I have deer, first night I noticed I sprayed febreeze around where they were nibbling and they haven't been back, Wondering if this is a good idea? We're having a rain shower now and plan to do it again. Thabks for any input. Annette
febreeze as a deer repellant?
Just my opinion, but I believe different deer groups/families have different cultures based on what Mama Deer taught them during the first year or so...this includes different plant 'eating'...bottom line, if they were taught to 'move on past' whatever deer preventative we are using, they do..while the next deer would not be familiar with it and deter...the only 2 things I have found after 25 years of living in deer haven...are Highly Scented plants and movement. I use the little construction/contractor flags in the spring when I am planting out and the deer steer away from the little flags flapping in the wind...I also found they really have a preference for hybrids...especially expensive ones!...over the species plants...Seriously, I do think the species plants have a natural scent that very often deters the deer...but I haven't found that hanging bars of soap, human or dog hair, or the dryer sheets helped in the slightest...and they all wash out with the rain....or sprinkler system...
strategically placed bamboo wind chimes seem to work for me. The florida deer dont seem to like the clanking noise.. and the coastal sea breeze is enough to keep them stirred up most of the time.
I use a home made mix in the sprayer, rosemary essential oil, garlic ground up and then strained out of the water, and hot pepper sauce. they eat my hostas and daylilies like mad in the spring time, but when the grass starts growing then they usually leave my plants alone and go nibble on the forest forage. untill then I spray with this stuff and it keeps them off, but I have to respray after it rains.
I use to use hair from the beauty salon around my garden, (huge garden) had gobs of it and after a rain it didn't bother them, had to put up an electric fence that works. one line around the garden, and we bait it with peanut butter and when they touch the foil to smell the peanut butter, the foil shocks them, so they don't tear up the fence, they just get their noses shocked, after a week or two of using the fence, we shut it off and never turn it back on during the veggie season, but we don't take it down, as we did this last year and they came back and ate all my peas. Their smart buggers.