Deer?

Hi everyone...I wonder, does anyone have a Deer repellent to make home made. It is so expensive to buy it. Thanks ahead. smiles..Diana

Hi Diana,

I believe most of the commercial types contain some combination of egg (particularly the yolk), garlic, and sometimes cayenne pepper. Apparently the older the eggs the better. A little soap or dish detergent helps to make it stick.

I have had success with this in the past. I grew a bunch of garlic and some cayenne and habenero peppers. Put a few cloves garlic in blender with an egg yolk and water. Blend well. Strain. Add a few drops dish detergent. You can dilute. I often used it full strength. Alternately, grind some peppers in blender with water. Strain. Add a few drops dish detergent. Dilute. WARNING: Grinding the peppers can be problematic. I usually cough like crazy when I first open the blender. And you definitely don't want to get any of the pepper mixture on you!

BTW, in my battle to save my roses from the deer, I have had the best success with the Scarecrow device that detects motion and sprays them with a sudden burst of water. With the scarecrow they learn to avoid my yard because they think some preditor is waiting for them there.

Hope this helps.

Sheryl

Thanks Sheryl~~~~
I printed it out...think it is too late for this year..lived here for 30 years..never had a problem till now..thanks again...smiles..Diana

Diana, 30 years w/o deer - you have been SO lucky. My rose garden is on the deer buffet tour in my neighborhood. They just mow everything down on their way to the pond across the street. The deer and I do battle every year from April through November. Best wishes for your garden next year; maybe they won't come back for another 30 years. Sheryl

Sheryl:

Where did you get the device with the motion sensor?

BB

Hi BB,

I ordered it from somewhere on the net. I don't recall exactly which vendor. It may have been Gardener's Supply; I get a lot of my stuff there. Here is a link to it on their site: http://www.gardeners.com/Animal-Repellent/default/05-497.prd. It is often listed as a garden "scarecrow.

For me NOTHING has worked so well as this device. The year I got it, my neighbor across the street stopped by to ask how I could have all those huge swaths of gorgeous roses growing along the side of my house when everyone knows the deer "graze" along that path each night on their way to the pond. With the device the deer never even got the chance to nibble; they were chased away as soon as they stepped into its range. Over time they apparently changed their route altogether, since they also stopped eating from the front and the other side even though those areas were not protected by the device. I paid $79 for mine. That may seem like a lot, but considering I've been using it for 3 years, I think it is actually cheaper than the alternatives. And it works better, does not require me to run around spraying everything every few weeks, has no odor, and doesn't require me to "adorn" my roses with soap bars, etc.

I now know why it works so well. One day I forgot it was there. The instant that I crossed it's boundary "boom"; in a flash it came to life, spun around, and hit me on the side of the head with a blast of water. It didn't hurt, but I was amazed at how terrified I was for that instant before I realized what it was.

Here are the only downsides I've found. (1) you need to be able to get a hose/water supply to the location which is more difficult on some sides of the house than others (2) it's not a good solution for some areas (like front door). However, I have found that by placing it strategically on the side where they enter the yard, I can effectively protect the whole yard, including areas like the front door where I can't reasonably put such a device. (3) It does not function during very heavy rain storms and is less effective in high wind. This is because it is sensitive enough to detect the movement of the rain and trees across the yard (moved by wind); to prevent it from spraying water constantly under these conditions, it is designed to lower its sensitivity when it detects such false triggers. Once or twice I detected some nibbling after a severe storm, but even then the deer did very little damage and did not stay long. They appeared to be too afraid to stay in the area. It seems they begin to think that there is a predator in the area waiting for them. (4) I have to turn mine off each morning and on each evening to avoid soaking meter readers, Terminix guy, and the kid who mows the lawn. This is a pain, but I now realize that I can "fix" this by putting a timer on the water supply.

Hope this helps.

BTW, for those who are still determined to use non-mechanical deterents, recently I read about a solution that seemed promising. I saw it in a garden mag, possibly Garden Gate. It said to mix amonia, blood meal, and a 3rd ingredient (can't recall right now); soak floral foam with the mixture; and place it around in the flower beds. I clipped the article so that I could post the solution here. Now as soon as I find it again....I'll post it.

Thanks Scutler:

I believe I have their catalog and will order.

The deer weren't as bad as the Japanese Beetles last year. They only messed with crops in my back set of beds and even then it was only the beans. I was going to address the issue by moving the stuff they like up to the beds closer to the house.

I have been putting in a lot of work putting in raised beds this year. One area we converted had some nice radicchio sprouts that had overwintered. I put them in a pot so they could grow. They were coming along quite nicely until this weekend when they were throughly devoured. Then I saw them later on in the day. 2 very large deer. I beleive they are "casing" me.

I plan to use a multi prong approach of which your scarecrow thingy will be a part.

If I put my spinach and broccoli under row covers, do you think they will still try to eat it if given the chance?

I was also thinking about a solution involving ammonia as I'm sure ithe smell would deter them but I couldn't figure out a way to do it that made me feel ecologically comfortable.

Thanks
BB

You are welcome, BB, I hope the scarcrow works as well for you as it has for me. It works so well that I've even used it temporarily for other problems like people cutting flowers in my yard and walking their dogs on my lawn. It solves all kinds of problems.lol

Radicchio, wow, sounds like you have a very nice garden going. I had to forgo my veggie garden the last 2 years. am hoping to get one going again this year.

About the deer "casing" you, I know what you mean. I'm pretty sure the squirrels sit in the trees and memorize where I plant stuff so they can dig it up as soon as I leave.

I'm inclined to think that the deer will not mess with the row covers. Before I got the scarecrow, I protected the roses around my foundation with that thin, flimsy deer screen stuff. I didn't have time to erect poles to hold it up. On one side I "hooked" it loosely on a tree limb and stretched it loosely across the yard to another tree some 50-60 ft away. A line of roses in full bloom was only about 1ft behind the very loose and sagging "fence". A deer could easily have pulled it down; moreover, they could easily have reached over the mock fence and eaten roses and if they'd done so the "fence" would likely have collapsed. On the other side, there were no handy trees so I just draped the screen over the roses, often with leaves protruding through the mesh. They never touched anything which makes sense because they are EXTREMELY fearful of becoming entangled in anything. To an animal whose life depends on the ability to flee at a moments notice, becoming entangled is the kiss of death.

Anyhow, I think they would also fear being trapped in the row cover fabric; but if you find that they are not, you might try draping deer screen (about $20 a roll) over the row covers or even draping it loosely around the area as I did. Amazingly, they can see that stuff in the dark, and they seem to know better than to mess with it in any way.

My house backs up to the forest. There are several community ponds across the street in front of my house. An entire herd of deer lives in the forest behind my house - in fact, they often sleep behind my house. My backyard is enclosed by a 6' privacy fence. But every night the whole group travels between my house and my neighbors house on their way to the ponds to drink. Before I put up the scarecrow, they would stop by my house on the way and eat everything along the foundation down to sticks overnight. In one night they ate a 4' Japanese Snowball down to a 6" stick. They even walked up on the front porch and ate the hybiscus in a pot by the door!

Before I got that device, I went through a lot of pain and suffering trying to keep them from eating my yard - generally without much success. The screen worked, but ornamentals aren't much good when they are covered up. I even spent $140 for 2 sets of those devices that shock them. Even that didn't work!

My experience with "scents" on and around the plants was mixed. Most of those things have to be reapplied every few weeks and every time it rains. For a large area, that's a lot of work! The problem is it only takes one night when you should have reapplied the stuff and didn't for the deer to consume everything you were trying to protect - you don't get much in the way of 2nd chances. Also, the deer seem to get accustomed to and loose their fear of the "scents". If one brave deer wanders over and nibbles and nothing happens to him, the others follow suit and your bluff is called. I have not seen that with the scarecrow. With the scarecrow, they seem to become convinced that some predator is lying in wait in that area, so they begin to avoid it entirely. If one happens to get up the nerve to try, he gets chased away immediately and they all flee, their fear of the area renewed.

Best of luck with the deer. Sounds like you have a good plan.

There is one product that works and works well. Its called Plantskydd. I am now selling it from my nursery. Its a blood based spray, costs $25 a quart, ready to use. The great thing is that you only have to use every 6 months or so. It does not wash off with rain. Smells awful when you first put it on, but the smell goes away quickly. It has a money back guarentee and I have sold cases with everyone very pleased with the effects. I used it on one of my landscaping jobs, did hundreds of plants and did not empty the bottle. So a little goes a long way and they were so pleased with the results. If you cannot get it in your area you should be able to mail order. It really works.
Rebeccanne

Hi Rebeccanne,

I have actually tried Plantskydd. I used one bottle and I did order 2 more - haven't used them yet. I had read good things about it. My results weren't quite as good as yours though. It did seem to work, but the effect did not last more than a month or so for me. The instructons mention that extreme heat and sun cause the product to break down faster, and our summers are brutal. In addition, I did not care for either the look or smell. The smell did go away by the next day, but ... I sprayed the stuff on the mounds of pink english roses around my front door and for about a week, it looked as if I'd slaughtered a goat in front of my house. There was visible blood-like spatter all over the pink roses and even some on my siding. For my situation, the cure was worse than the disease. The deer didn't eat the roses, but we didn't get to enjoy them either. By the time the blood spattered look wore off, the roses were fading. Also, I don't think BronxBoy can use Plantskydd. I'm pretty sure it says NOT to use it on edible plants because it contains dried cow's blood.

I do think that Plantskydd works much better than the other sprays, but for my situation, I didn't find it to be the perfect solution.

Sadly, this product didn't perform for me either. I'd also have to agree that the cure was worse than the disease given the siding to my home is dove gray and my walkways are concrete. It did sort of look as if there had been a sacrifice here. The smell was pretty bad but it did wear off. I've grown quite accustomed to these types of products not working though but I still hold out hopes that some day a product will hit the shelves that will meet my needs. I guess for right now, I'm reduced to collecting products that don't work looking for the silver bullet to solve my deer problems. I currently have an entire shelf out in my garage of products that haven't worked.

What works for me is exclusion fencing, Miracle Tubes, chicken wire enclosures, and supporting hunters.

I found this, it might be of interest-
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/02/17/tiger.poo.reut/index.html
Maybe Tiger poop is in our future?

That tiger poo looks interesting - deer repellent and fertilizer in one! Have to wait to see if it works for any length of time - without smelling too bad. I'm always open to new ideas.

Ok, I wasn't going to tell you guys this but...

I used almost the entire bottle of Plantskydd the 1st application to cover my 100 plus rose plants around the front yard. The smell was so aweful I could hardly stand it. I remember thinking no wonder the deer don't eat around it, I don't think I will be able to eat anytime soon. (smells like slaughtered animal).

That evening I retired early. All of the lights were out and I was sleeping soundly when the doorbell rang. Alarmed and thinking it must be an emergency, I staggered to the front door. When I turned on the light and opened the door I found my neighbor and her son at the door - and THEY looked visibly shaken to see ME. They appologized for waking me, but said they were concerned that something had happened to me. I thought their behavior VERY odd, but confused, dazed, and still half asleep, I went back to bed. The next day I asked the son why on that particular day they had been concerned about me. With an honesty typical of an 11yr old, he said, "the smell!" He followed with, "the smell was coming from all around your house...like something dead. then we realized we hadn't seen you all weekend and your car hadn't been moved so..."

I didn't know whether to laugh or be embarrased. The smell was SO bad, the neighbors thought I had DIED! AND they were sufficiently convinced of this to warrant coming up to a completely DARK house and ringing the doorbell!

BTW, I did have some success with the following (but had to be repeated often).

One year I planted the small orange habanero peppers. They were so hot that when I cut the pepper and put it to my tongue, it felt like a knife. So I processed the peppers in a blender (don't breath when you open the blender - I learned by experience.lol). I kept the thick habanero sludge in a container in the fridge and used it to make deer repellant. I added garlic which I had also grown (1 head from store = tons of the stuff), and soap for stickiing power. I strained this and sprayed my plants with it. I used a much stronger mixture of pepper than normal.

For as long as I was willing to keep up the spraying, it worked. It was inexpensive. Just the cost of one head of garlic, 2 habanero plants, and some dish detergent lasted all season. But I have too many plants and too little time to keep that up.

Oh that is too funny...LOL

AT least you have concerned neighbors.

Okay, time for war now.... with long days at work and not getting home till after dark, I haven't been out to do any garden walks for awhile.... yesterday I noticed the "dear" deer had eaten all of my wild ginger, a native plant out my way, but one I actually purchased a few years ago for my wildland garden..... grrrrrrrr!!! I've mentioned (maybe on a different thread) that my neighbors feed them.... but I don't think they feed them consistently. So the deer come find my food when they don't have the special rolled barley the neighbors put out.

It may be time for the scarecrow water shooter....

Sanna

I have had very good results with Liquid Fence. As long as I remember to spray it on everything every few weeks or so it works great. Smells horrible. Don't spray on a windy day or you'll stink so bad nobody will want to be near you. You have to be dedicated to keeping this up. I mix up a few spray bottles full and jump on my RTV and just drive around the property and spray all my new trees and bushes and flowers. So far, so good.

I do plan to erect an 8 foot fence this spring for my vegetable garden. I plan to fence the top across also so the deer can't jump in. I will bury some rabbit fencing a foot or more down so the little critters can't dig under the fence and I'll spray the perimenter of the fence with Liquid Fence. Hope it works.

Brenda

Hi Brenda,

I like your RTV idea. One of my major problems with sprays is that I'm not always up for the time and exercise needed to spray 100 or so roses every few weeks and after heavy rains. The RTV sounds like a great idea, but as a city dweller, I don't have one of those either, but for anyone who does, that sounds like it turns work into fun - a riding mower or go cart might also work.

Now about that fence...I have a 6ft privacy fence around my backyard. Deer will not jump over a fence if they can't see what's on the other side, so the 6' fence is adequate. If the fence is a type that they can see through, one option is to use 2 fences, a fence within a fence. Deer can jump high but not "wide" so they won't jump 2 fences about a ft apart. As I mentioned above, I also had great success with an impromtu fence made of deer screen draped, snagged, and stapled to anything nearby. It wasn't pretty, but the deer stayed away from it. It was only 5-6 ft high and loosely attached; there were tons of roses just beyond the "fence". The deer could very easily have reached over the top to sample the roses or just pushed the shabby fence down with their bodies, but they never did either. The screen is bad for other small creatures, though. Mine killed a large frog.

Best of luck with the deer. It can be quite a battle, one that get downright absurd at times, and still the deer usually win. : )