deer and lilies

I'd love to grow lilies especially the beautiful L A hybrids, but I've read that deer love to eat them. How true is this what steps do you take to prevent deer from eating your lilies. Are their varieties that they don't like that much?

Deer are a menace. They do like lilies,all kinds ,daylilies too.
They especially like Hostas.
I grow both and spray my gardens beginning in March.
I use Liquid Fence and Relells-all all year round.

Here is a home recipe to deter deer + rabbits

3 raw eggs
3 tbls. of red hot sauce
3 tbls. of garlic juice or minced
Add enough water to a blender to process and mix well. Add this to a gallon of water and spray on plants.

or:

Blend 2 eggs and a cup or two or cold water at high speed. Add this mixture to a gallon of water and let it stand for 24 hours. After 24 hours, spray on foliage. The egg mixture does not wash off easily, but re-application 2-3 times a season may be needed. For a larger quantity, blend a dozen eggs into 5 gallons of water.

Helen - Jo Ann is right. Deer do love lilies (as do rabbits) and they will strip the lily of all leaves and then buds just as the buds are about to open. Spraying is the most reliable recourse but change sprays or they'll get used to them and make sure the sprays don't have the exact same ingredients.

I alternate between Liq.Fenc. and Repell-all.
This is just my unscientific theory but I think the lily buds as well as Hemerocallis buds are rich in Carbs before they bloom.
I have no clue why the deer seem to know that.

Thanks everyone. Why do deer and rabbits love the plants that we love? It sure would be nice if they adored weeds!

That would be divine! Recently we've even seen the young buck during the middle of the day.

This is what they did to just one lily this year so it has been moved:

Those little stinkers!

Seventeen deer, Moby, of all sizes and most aren't little. They are all stinkers!

Yes those stinkers!

I'm currently visiting my family in Europe and seen the damage that deer do to grapes, vines and the farmers crop. Even though the vines are enclosed by fencing, the deer jump over the fencing and eat the vines. Very devastating to the farmers that rely on their crop to feed their families. Many farmers have gone to the extreme to place bobbed wire traps around the perimeter to ward them off, but many deer become trapped and its venison dinner for the neighborhood.

The more venison dinners are served the better it is for everyone!

the farmers also place motion devices to activate spot lights - but the deer seem to enjoy their feastings even more so.

their not even scared off by barking dogs.

The deer get used to devises like that and motion sensor sprayers.
Even regular spraying withy repellanys doesnt stop them, thats why I switch off every 3 or four uses.
We have less than six deer so its not as bad as some.
There are cities in the south that allow killing deer.Bow and Arrow maybe, as the neighborhoods where the deer are bad are suburbs where houses are closser together

In this very nice touristy town of Balatonboglar, that is widely known of its grape vineyards, they dont allow the usage of bows +arrows or even pellet guns, so the farmers last resort is the bobbed wire. Its amazing to see how they weave the wire around the posts forming a maze that would even confuse a human.

We have over 40 vineyards just between two towns out here on the east end of the north fork of Long Island. All vineyards have the 12' wire fences and it works but would be ugly and impractical for home owners.

Repellents do work if we switch off as Jo Ann does but keeping up with spraying can be difficult since we have normal northwest winds of 10 to 15 MPH all year long and days when it's much windier. Young deer will still taste buds and plants (even with the sprays) since they don't know better and it's a learning process for them.

The best I can do is spray when I can and use pretty movable trellises to keep them away from groups of lilies. I've reduced the number of daylilies by a thousand between last year and this year but they'll still go for the many I still have. They also eat the new growth on clematises and they've taken to eating the many hydrangeas we have. It's a battle!

While I am here, I will try to get some photographs of the deer and the vineyards, but have to ask permission first.

I brought a lot of lily bulbs for my mother and planted some already. My mom has a slight problem with rabbits in her garden,and the cats chase them away! They're great hunters.

Your mom can spread blood meal, before growth begins for the lilies and until they're done blooming, to protect them from the rabbits but not if your mom has dogs that hunt!

Is bobbed wire a special wire or do you mean barbed wire? What do these European deer traps look like? I wonder if we could use them here. I'm allowed to kill 3 deer a year in Vermont if I can show signs of deer damage. Interesting.

Just let me know if you want me to send eaten daylily leaves, hydrangea leaves, hydrangea branches, rose canes, etc.!

Deer are eating the dead hosta leaves.
Hmmmmm I wonder what else. I will have to discourage them from comming here.
Spray today.

Check your hydrangeas.

There is an elderly neighbor of my sister-in-law here in our new home town. He stakes his garden with four foot stakes and ties a string around the garden attached to the stakes. To the string he attaches strips of cloth dipped in any leftover perfumes or calogne he get his hands on. He says it works. I am hoping to give this a try next year and spreading Milorganite periodically. And I might add, he feeds the deer bread he gets from the discount bread store,

This message was edited Nov 27, 2010 9:01 AM

Sorry about the typo's! Corrected the above post. I use Milorganite about once a month, or if I see tracks, I sprinkle the perimeter.

Now that makes sense! And using different colognes every now and then is a good idea, too, I would think.

Rick

I was advised to set up 2 fences apx 2 feet apart. Deer have very poor depth perception and the double fencing confuses them. Prince Charles uses this method in his garden. A woman down the street from us uses Liquid Fence and has the most gorgeous hostas in huge clumps. I got some, now to see if it works this spring even though I don't have much of anything planted here yet. I'm going to have to wait until next fall to start planting. Putting in a new patio, terrace and mother-in-law suite has just about bankrupted us, but the builders are doing a marvelous job. I can't wait to fill up the terraces around the patio. I

If you live in the northeast, deer are not the only lily problem. As soon as it warms up some, I can always count on the invasion of the lily beetle.

We use deer netting, which is much easier to handle than barbed or any other kind of wire. As soon as their noses feel the netting, it deters them. Otherwise we end up with no tomatoes. Beside tomatoes and hosta, deer also like tulips and brunnera.

As to the lilies and similar plants, like fritillaria, you have to start early spraying. Bitter apple for pets works ok, however, rain washes it off and you have to be very careful that you don't get it on your lips or hands or everything you touch will be bitter.

For the pat 2 seasons I have been using a safe spray called Super Repellent from Country Fare LLC. It is a mix of essential oils and the resulting scent is oil of clove. Unaffected by rain, it comes mixed or in a refill to dilute and put into a spray bottle.

I will add Plantskyp to my deterrant list.

www.plantskydd.com

yep thats it.
I'm waiting for snow to melt so I can use it on voles.

Cathy, how often do you have to spray Super Repellent? Can you spray any plant?

It is oil based, so it does not wash away. I'd spray once every 10-15 days or more often if you see damage. I like to wear a mask when spraying. It smells like oil of clove, so if you can smell it (up close), it is probably ok.

Generally deer follow a particular pattern. When they are turned off, they tend to seek another route.

With lily beetles, it is different. They keep taste-testing all summer long and are voracious. You can see their damage, but you can also see their larvae underneath the leaves. I'm pretty certain they have invaded parts of Vermont.

I spray every three weeks .I spray the ground around plants as well as the plants themselves.

This has been a terrible winter for deer browse. They ate my Hydrangeas nearly to the ground.

No problems with them here over the winter. Generally they start in feeding here around June 19th when the daylilies really are bursting with buds.

In the 4 years here I have only seen 4 deer at any time.
I am lucky but there is spraying at a feurious pace from April on.The tulips grow within sight where they pass thru.

I no longer plant tulips where the deer will find them. It's too disappointing to wake up expecting bowers of flowers and find they've eaten all the flowers.

We have a herd of 17 and they're rarely all together but one day in December 15 of them came down the next block as a gang. Frightening to the little kids.

That's a very large herd for such a small area ( I googled Southold). I'd be afraid, too. Are they doing anything to cut the population and to keep down the deer ticks? Around here (Fairfield County, CT) the deer have invaded new territories because construction has taken their land (eminent deer domain?).

We live not far from a cemetery, and the deer seem to find it quiet and comforting....

Now that we've had so much snow, they are indeed in need for greens that are not too available.

It is a large herd for our little peninsula, Cathy. Other areas have many more. The "They were here first", argument doesn't hold water here. A local senior used to hunt here when he was a teen and there were no deer. They were driven from their homes further west and this is the end of Long Island on the North Fork.

We're at the green balloon, just about dead center, in this shot.

Not a single thing is being done to stop the deer despite the fact one kicked our dog in the chest killing him and neighbors watched as the deer chased the dog. If they can chase a dog they can chase children.

The deer around here are almost as aggressive. They are certainly not afraid. If you find them in your yard eating your bushes, they give you the "you're disturbing my dinner" look. The state of Connecticut spends a lot of money trying to control the deer population. Perhaps they should give them birth control pills.

A buck with a large rack can also be very intimidating, and winter food is scarce. If you have an electric fence, your dog cannot escape thee creatures. Children need to be protected.