winter deer repellent for woody plants

Hi Tree Forum folks. I know you are an experienced bunch and many have fought (and continue to fight) the deer army. I have a track record with this too, having battled deer in my old suburban garden, and now to some extent at the new place too. I know a lot of the mainstay answers to fighting off deer (fences, dogs, guns, some sprays, etc). In my old garden I had one of the 8' plastic Benner's Gardens type deer fences in the back, and it worked beautifully, with some help from the dogs. In the new place putting up a deer fence will be a major project (about 1/2 mile) around the area I want to protect, so I haven't tackled that one yet. I am not sure I will have to, because I found that summer deer damage is fairly limited (mainly roses)

But in the winter the deer become more venturesome near the house and damage woody plants more. So I am resorting to sprays again this year. I need to spray soon because the damage starts up in earnest after the beginning of November, when other food decreases.

Do people have preferences or recommendations regarding the commercially available sprays? I would want to buy something in the 1 to 5 gallon concentrate range. I have used DeerOff and Liquid Fence in the past, the quart concentrate sizes seemed similar in cost, though I am not sure I know how they really compare in coverage, longevity, effectiveness, etc. And I know there are some other 'off-brands' that have appeared that are a little better price wise.

Recommendations? And where to get concentrates in the 1 gal, 2.5 gal or 5 gal sizes?

Have you looked into Plantskyd?(might have to check that spelling)

I have been adding Wiltpruf to Bobex to minimize reapplication. It is hard to tell how successful I was as I just began this process last March. Cetainly the Wiltpruf did wonders for me but my deer situation is so extreme the county just added another full week on to the deer hunting season. kt

I vaguely remember hearing about Plantskyd before Kevin, maybe even from you. I will have to check it out. Last winter when I did this, I also added some Wiltpruf to the spray too, to help the Deer Off stick and last better. It seemed to me that it did last from about November into February, at which time the plants showed some browse danage again. Both Deer off and Liquid Fence are about $125/gal of concentrate on line. And I bet I would go through 2 gallons anyway. Pricey even at on-line discount prices, except when you consider the alternative cost of the damage....

You may want to see if there is any interest over in the co-op forum for deer repellent and or anti desiccant. I bought some plant labels and it was a very positive experience. kt

I think we need to re-think the term "browse" for describing the way deer eat. I move that the word "chow" should be substituted from now on, as in "I noticed some chow damage reoccuring after the spray wore off." Or, better yet, "I noticed that the deer chowed down on my plants after the spray wore off." The word browse connotates too much what I do at the mall around Christmas time when I've got twenty people to buy for and not a clue what to get. In other words, lingering around, drifting around in a meaningless way, glassy eyed, and slowly roiling towards a complete meltdown of desparate panic. Which reminds me, it's almost that time of year.

Scott

Can Ropel and Wiltpruf be mixed and applied together? I am sure deer do tremendous damage but squirrels here are horrid. They eat the bark off the branches of most everything in the winter months. They also eat magnolia buds. I lost nearly 75% of the magnolia buds last year. I will try anything short of a firearm and I would use that if the neighbors wouldn't report me to the gendarmes.

They seem to not like sweetgum around here. I've got plenty of sprouts and the deer won't touch them. They won't eat that dang privet either, I guess even the deer sometimes have good taste.

The old timers tell me to go to barber shops and gather human hair tospread around the plants (which I refuse to do). They also say to shave slices off of Irish Spring soap and put around plants. I don't see neither working.

The soap thing does NOT work. I have personally sat in an office complex that abutted a wooded area and watched out the window at deer dining on shrubs which were festooned with bars of soap.

This works-
http://www.buckmasters.com/Buckmasters_Links/New_Products/images/Realtree175Scope.jpg

http://deerout.com/ I get a large concentrated bottle of this and it works if you don't listen to the 3/4 month thing. I apply it about every 6 weeks...it lasts through rain. If you have someone with a bow and arrow that is fine...but believe me when you have a herd of 250 and they take out about two or three a season it just doesn't work either.

Despondent:

If you are expressing:

So that's where the muscle weakness came from! I've chronically suffered the other stuff for years.

Scott

What you want is "Putrescent Egg Solids". In the summer you could just leave an egg in a sheltered location. If a coon or possum doesn't get it, in a few months it will explode aromatically.
http://www.ag.auburn.edu/aaes/communications/publications/ornamentals99/control/deercontrol.html

If a buck is in rut and looking for a fight, I don't think it much matters what product you use. Here's what's left of my Seven Boys after duking it out with the big bad buck last night. He definitely got the best of them.

Like Zorro, he left his mark.

I remember those scenes well Maack--I had the exact same destruction wrought upon my Seven Sons(which recovered nicely, by the way), as well as countless other trees and shrubs.

I don't have deer in my front yard because of my dogs...:-)
I Do have lots of deer in my woods though..no dogs in the woods...
anyway I wish you and the deer the best...

Yeah, Kevin, no more derisive comments from me on erecting a fence. If it was feasible, I'd do it. The good news is he went for the Seven Sons and left the nearby Magnolias, Snakebark Maple, Golden Larch and Red Buckeye alone.

Any suggestions on what I should do with it now? Maybe cut it back to around 6-8"?

Jody,

Deer hunting is coming up in a few short weeks and I too hope them the very best. ;))

I think I would take this "opportunity" to beat it back to just 3 or 4 trunks. When it sprouts up a number of shoots next year, you can prune them down to where your original 3 or 4 trunks are left. The buck was simply commenting on form, and urging you to work it. Yea, that's the ticket.....

Oh, that's just great. Not only are they destroying my plants, now I suppose they'll become snobs about it. Maybe the mark he left behind was just commentary on my choice of plants.

He just wanted it to be a small tree instead of a multi-stemmed shrub

lol..yes and browers they are a bit of this and a bit of that..I have herds of them in my alfalfa feilds..but I like deer..I love to see them cross in the morning and evening..I hate deer season I hate guns shooting all over out here..mostly because half the hunters are drunk and I worry a bullet will hit one of my critters then I have to go hunt the hunters...

Have you thought about an electic fence..cheap about $25 for the electric fence chager,use a cheap one like for dogs...I have one in my back yard because my dogs will climb over or dig under the fence and they are bad and will kill a cat just for the fun of it..the wire is also cheap and $15-$18 dollars for like a miles of fence and all you need is a few posts because all you need is to keep it up off the ground about 3'..my deer never jump over my electic fences into the horse pastures they have bumped into it before,get a shock and never come back..I tie a few orange peices of like crime sean tape ever 50 ft. of so and the post only need to be about 30-40 ft. apart the metal posts are only about $2.50each...hope this helps

Jody,

That's not a bad idea, but I've got 60 acres of land that border 3000 acres of deer infested county forest land. Its all wooded where my land adjoins the county forest, and I'm afraid the repair/maintenance would be more frustration than the deer. The woods are primarily Northern Pin Oak, which are continuously calving branches or dropping over. An outdoor dog would be the way to go for me. I just can't bring myself to keeping a dog outside in our brutal winters, even with an insulated house.

Well I would hope you wouldn't keep any dog outside even if it is just a little cold ....LOL....I also can't believe that electric fence is that cheap...I have one for my dogs and it is only on one acre and much more than that....How about lights?

Oh I couldn't have cold dogs either..lol..I have 4 outside dogs and I have 2...400 watt heat lamps in their shed about 3-4' off the ground.. shed is about 8 x 10'..I turn on just 1 when the night temps go below freezing at night and off in the day until it gets in the 30's in the day...and when it gets into the teens at night I plug in the second lamp...:-)
I love my dogs...heehee

This message was edited Nov 1, 2006 9:49 AM

Oh electric fence is cheap..do you have a Rural King? or farm store near you? oh you'd need insulators also about $3 for a bag of 25...maybe you don't need to fence the whole 60 acres..I have 43 and I wouldn't bother fencing all of it...just fence your favorite plants or a certain area..:-)