Deer! Garden Pests for Sure!

I can't think of a better forum for this, because the deer are becoming a pest!!!!!!!!! I LOVE our deer population, I never thought I'd enjoy country living so much, but they are just about the highlight of living out of the city for me...........BUT...........they are eating EVERYTHING, is there no way to keep a garden in the country?????????

The so-called 'deer fencing' which is just netting is a joke! They run right THROUGH it! So next step is going to have to be a chain-link fence. Do you more experienced gardeners agree? How high does it have to be? 7'? 8'????????????????

I love your picture. That is quite a chorus line of munchers you have there.

There has been much said here on DG about different sprays, fences and such.

Myself, I have given up trying to have anything that they like. Fences, sprays, yelling, and even a dog do not help.

Gone are my hostas and lillies. (of course they wait until there are nice fat flower buds) So now I am planting more natural wild flowers, iris's, daffadils, and things they find less pleasing. I say less pleasing, because they still nibble, but they don't mow them completely down.

I also bought a bow and found many wonderful receipes for venison. I hang a picture of my chewed plants in the deer blind to remind me in the fall of why the herd needs thinning.

Living in the woods means altering your yard to encourage wildlife viewing, so that is why I no longer plant "deer bait" in the yard. I want to watch deer and admire them, not be screaming like a banshee with a broom after them.

When I lived in the country I had two electric string lines around my garden one low and one about 3 feet from the ground.

Electric Fencing used for Cows. It kept everything out of the garden!
Just have to remember to unplug it when you go in the garden!! : )

Now I live on just one acre and not in the country, I actually put a speaker out in the middle of the garden at night and turn on an all night talk show. It seems to keep them away out of the garden. Plus I have two dogs that help keep the deer back in the woods.

The dogs idea IS the best one, we WOULD like to adopt a couple of labs which would adore the acreage, but it's not fenced yet.

One thing that DID work for me was the motion-activated sprayer called the ScareCrow. Here's one on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000071NUS/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=A2701FG002WN6Z&v=glance

BUT it costs about $60 (best price I've found) and with our weather and water conditions only lasts about 1 year. With the # we'd need it's prohibitive in price.

I just read in a magazine that someone had success with mothballs in the garden. I don't have a deer problem so I can't say if it works or not. I keep the deer at bay with my 3 dogs.

Having come from city living to the real country I ended up creating a pocket park in a 40 x 90 foot area ... I have multiple flower garden beds, different seating areas and some raised beds in the back for veggies ... we surrounded it with a 6-foot fence we got at a tractor supply co. mounted on cedar poles ... there seem to be enough obstacles (trees, shrubs, etc.) combined with the height of the fence to keep the deer out ...

Oh and then we found the size of the grid in the fencing was large enough to let in rabbits and other destructive critters -- waiting for the coyotes to come back and eat them ...

And if voles are a problem (I got hit really hard this year) go to YouTube and search for "kill vole" and watch eskibars video -- it works! too bad I didn't see it until they ate all my alliums!

Your photo is beautiful! I have the same bench, only painted red.

A 6' fence was enough to keep them out? What was the fencing you used?

I think it's enough if you have it situated so they can't get a running start to leap it and it has obstacles inside that they are afraid to jump into ...

I don't know the name of the fencing -- we got it from a tractor supply place that had cattle panels and such -- probably for horses or cattle ... I do know it was difficult to find 6-foot fencing, I don't know why ... I've read you should have 8' fencing for deer but I wouldn't know where to find such a thing and the mesh netting is horrible like you say ...

The electric fence mentioned above should work really well -- just like they described it.

Hi Ladyborg
I am originally from Michigan & moved to Tennessee a little over a year ago. And let me tell you the deer in Tennessee aren't even different than the ones in Michigan. I fought with them for years in Michigan spending hundreds of dollars on concoctions. fences, hanging soap in a sock on the fences, even pouring my husbands perfume all around the gardens. That helped for awhile but eventually they came back. Until I discovered something that changed my life and saved my gardens. It is called a "Scarecrow". I think I saw a commercial on tv. It was a little pricey but I thought what ta heck why not give it a try. Let me tell you to this day I have 6 or 7 of these wonderful things and I am proud to say my gardens are doing wonderful. What it is is an automatic outdoor animal deterrent, you hook it up to your hose it's motion-activated sprinkler that instantly releases a short but startling burst of water when it detects an animal, and scares them away. It runs on a 9-volt battery and your garden hose.
I'm not a seller of this product or anything like that I took most this off the box lol but I do & will recommend it to anyone. Sorry I carried on so but wanted you to know another option,.
Now if they had one for getting rid of snails & slugs I would be happy lol
Good Luck

Hi, yeah I used the Scarcrow and the best price I found on those was $60 each. They are the ONLY things that work against the deer, but they only lasted me one season. I don't know if it's the heat or the humidity of S. TX or my well's water, but I need several of them and so that would mean spending hundreds a year just on the Scarecrows alone! If there were a way for me to make them last longer in my garden I'd buy some more!

It almost looks like they are posing for you to take their picture, doesn't it?

Oh yeah, they lay around waiting for their dinner. LOL!
AND they seem to know EXACTLY where to lay & when so I'll see them. They do this around 4 PM when I always make some afternoon coffee, so I see this from my kitchen window.