Plant Skydd vs. Liquid Fence

Do either of them work (for deer or bunnies)? Does one work better than another? Any experiences to share? Thanks!

I don't know plant skydd, but Liquid Fence has been working marvelously for me so far this year for both (lots) of deer and the few bunnies we have around. I applied it weekly three times and now am extending the length of time between sprays. So far small cedar trees, all perennials, and berries are untouched, although I did notice a little haircut on my perennial geraniums. hmmmm not 100% effective but I may not have sprayed those so well.

I haven't tried Liquid Fence but have used the Plantskydd (sp?). Some may like it, and I'd encourage you to hear all views; however, I was not impressed. The ads indicate that it lasts for months without reapplication even in rain...but the fine print says that heat and humidity cause it to break down much faster, so around here it's only good for a few weeks. To be honest, the deer did stay away from the flowers for a week or 2 after I applied it, BUT...It's made from dried cow's blood - and for obvious reasons warns you not to get it on you or inhale it.

When I applied it to my gorgeous pink english roses, they and my front yard were ruined for days! It quite literally looked (and smelled!) as if I'd slaughtered a goat in the front yard! I could barely stomach the smell. I joked to myself that I could see why the deer didn't want to eat anywhere near the stuff.

My roses (and my house in places) looked as if someone had literally splattered blood all over them. BTW, the fine print also warns that it may stain siding, sidewalks, clothing, etc (and the roses I wanted to protect were along the foundation).

As if all that were not bad enough, that night, after I applied the stuff, I went to bed early only to be awakened by someone ringing my doorbell. I couldn't imagine why anyone would ring the doorbell when all the lights were clearly off. It was my neighbor. She had come over to see if I was ok. She and her son were visibly upset. When I prodded them to explain why they suddenly thought something had happened to me, they said it was the SMELL!!! Here son had noticed the odor coming from around my house and had gone to alert his mom!

So my take on the stuff is this: yes, it will probably keep the deer from eating your flowers; but having the flowers blood splattered and smelling bad sort of defeats the purpose of growing them in the 1st place. My only caveat to that would be, if, in your area the stuff actually last for months if might be worth it providing you don't mind having them look bad for a few days to a week. Here, by the time the flowers look good again after application, it's only a week at best before it needs to be reapplied.

Lastly, the only thing that has really worked well for me is the ScareCrow sprinkler device.

Liquid Fence is my choice..... I have 2-1/2 acres of open land, and if I keep up the L.F., they leave my precious stuff alone. Although I admit, I don't plant special roses out there.... I've learned what they don't go for, and I spray the stuff that I like and they like too.

scutler - thanks so much for your review!!! I'll not order that stuff now...

ewww cow blood, ewwww slaughtered goat! Plantskydd would keep ME out of the garden too, although the smell of Liquid Fence is nothing to dab behind your ears LOL.

Below is what my 4 ft phlox looked like last year. Normally a lush leafy vertical growth with fluffy scented white blooms. Autumn Joy sedum were given crew cuts as well, but I didn't miss those as much.

Still doing well with Liquid Fence here. I did have to wait for a deer to get out of my way while pulling out of our driveway the other early morning. I told it to go away.

sterhill, you are very welcome. However, in the interest of fairness, I'd like to show all of you this thread which I saw yesterday: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/635135/
These folks seem to really like Plantskydd. Like I said before, I think you should consider both sides. But when reading what people say about only having to use it a few times per season, note their locations and remember that the product breaks down much faster when exposed to high heat and humidity.

Also, here is a link to a photo I took of my pink English roses after I doused them with the stuff: http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=1447792

Again, I'm not fond of the stuff, and I'm happy to warn others of my experience with it; but I think it's important to realize that while I've heard from many who share my feelings, there are also people who swear by it. In the end, it may come down to where you live, how you plan to use it, and what your goals are.

Poochella, I can relate. Wish I'd taken before and after pics of my japanese snowball viburnum a few years back when it went from a 3ft shrub to a 6" stick overnight.

Maybe next year for the phlox. (I still swear by that scarecrow!)

6 inch stick, Scutler! It's maddening isn't it? Deer haven't been too much of a garden problem here ( we have a dog outdoors a lot,) but last year they started getting bolder.

Your poor pink roses really took a beating. Hope they're better this year or next. Glad the Scarecrow is working well.

At least your neighbors checked on you after the horrid smell alerted them. At our former house, also in the country with only 3 homes on the long driveway, we came home from the State Fair to about 15 messages on the answering machine. We had left our front door wide open, as was often the case while at home. The neighbor kids wanted to swim in our pool and always asked first (the unshakeable rule) and were worried about us. Their mom wouldn't LET them come in to look for us, in case they happened upon a traumatic scene of some kind. She wouldn't come in. Didn't call the cops. Didn't even close the door!

Those poor roses!!!

No - I don't even want to think about using Plantskydd!

I dont have a deer population to concern myself with.. but do have some bunnies.. they dont bother much with anything here.. my culprits are the neighbor's cats.. especially her females......

Anyway, will either of these things work on keeping those critters OUT of my flower beds?? i m tired of having them use my yard as their litterbox..

I have rabbit-squirrel digging problems; instead of a spray, I used DeerScram, which is sprinkled. It smells when you first put it on the ground, but the smell dissipates (at least to human noses!). The digging stopped. The warren in progress is no more. I used it both as a border and as a sprinkle around plants and shrubs. I'm going to keep using this one.

Also be sure and keep water too high for rabbits. I put a low bowl of water out for my shrews (recently discovered) and the rabbits came back. I saw one near the water bowl. Cleared the water away and have not seen the rabbits since. If you have a creek or pond, this obviously won't work. I figure they can't climb the birdbath but the shrews probably can.

I police all pot saucers and drain after watering. I also use a spray around plants I know they like to eat. Horse and barn door, but it keeps them from coming back to that plant.

I was just about to weigh in with my thoughts on Plantskydd vs. Liquid Fence ~ so thanks for posting the link, Scutler. Though I must confess that I immensely enjoyed your story of the 'goat slaughter'. LOL And I commiserate with you!

I find that one really doesn't smell much worse than the other, (it's a tough call!) so here are some tips that might help:

1.To avoid looking like a slaughter house when using PS, set the spray to the finest mist possible. It will wash off with the next good rain or watering.
2. Only treat the part of the plant that the critters eat.
3. Use PS on the bottom half of the plants, or as far up as rabbits can reach.
4. If you have deer but don't want to spoil you blooms, spray the tops with LF.
5. It helps if you can spray when the air is dry and wind is calm.

Scutler ~ I was curious how our climates compared, so I looked up a temp chart. Here we're a little hotter than you but I'lI bet we don't have your humidity! :)

Hi, Moby

I always like to consider/present all sides. When I saw the thread of "your" conversation, I thought it was the perfect counter argument.

In my case, I'm trying to keep a herd of deer from decimating the English roses around my foundation and particularly the ones along the path leading to the front door. The top growth, blooms, and buds are precisely what the deer are looking for so I needed to spray them. I had no idea that the spray would look like it did or that it would continue to look that way for days - essentially until the blooms had faded -so I might as well have let the deer eat them. Also, I was having trouble with the nozzle clogging up on my bottle so I wasn't able to use a fine mist. Since my roses are at the foundation, it is almost impossible to spray them without getting some of the stuff on the (pale beige) siding, porch, and walkway, all of which may be stained by it. Lastly, I live within "city" limits where our houses are very close together with only a 30ft or so strip of grass between them; and as you can see my neighbors DID notice the effects.

Moby, my comment about noting the locations of people who indicate that PS works for them over a prolonged period was not directed at anyone in particular. In fact, I did not pay particular attention to your locations and thus did not recall them when writing that. The statement was meant as a general guide because the package does indicate that the product breaks down much faster when exposed to high heat and humidity.

I am curious though as to the temp charts you consulted. Luckily, we were not effected by the recent heat waves that brought unprecedented temps to many parts of the country. Our temps this summer have been average and below. Any comparison drawn during that period would not reflect the norms. I just brought up our 2 respective areas on weather.com and compared the current 10 day and 1month temps. While your area shows a few higher days, for most days ours are higher, at times as much as 10deg higher. That said, I don't care to argue over weather; lately, it seems it has been hotter than heck EVERYWHERE. And if it is hotter there than here, you have my sympathy for sure ; D

At any rate, my 1st experience with PS was less than pleasant. I don't think the product is right for me or for my circumstances, but I am glad that you and the others on the linked thread have presented an excellent counter argument. Just because it isn't a good fit for my situation doesn't mean that it won't be perfect for someone else's.

I used PlantSkydd this spring, after I found deer tracks in my garden and then saw three deer near the garden a few days later. I sprayed it on the wood fence that is on two sides of the garden and I haven't had any problems with deer or rabbits since. That was in early May, I believe.

I use Liquid Fence and if I keep it sprayed at least once a week and especially after rains, the deer leave my plants alone. We do have high humidity here in KY and in the mornings there will be heavy dew. I buy the concentrate and mix with the water in my garden sprayer....it does almost make me gag to smell it when mixing it up.

I have never used PlantSkydd.

Nana3