Deer Repellents.

[Sinker]

Was wondering what people use to try and keep deer out of their gardens. Had problems last year. Do any of the sprays work or do you basically need to build a fence? Thanks.

[KoppsCrops]

One solution I've found to with is fishing line. String it on posts spaced 8-10 ft away. I run a strand of line every 6-10 inches or so around my entire garden and that keeps them out for the most part. It's more of a deterrent so if they really want in they’ll get in but my guess is they hit the fishing line and don't really know what it is and spook off.

Plantskyd also works but is expensive. Occasionally I'll find a few jumping in so I spray the perimeter with this stuff and that pushes them away. No need to spray each plant like the box tells you to. I've had good luck just spraying the edges.

We have really high deer densities where I'm at and no significant problems using these methods.

[Hoey]

We quit feeding the birds, which also brings in the deer, and our garden and landscaping loss due to deer was cut to a fraction of what it was.

[jigginjim]

Do you live inside city limits? If Not, I will pay you to come harvest deer in the fall with my bow/arrow this will thin out plus can deter others from coming in.

[Sinker]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, I wish I could hunt them myself but no dice. Had trail-cam pictures of some nice bucks last fall and then got skunked while hunting up north. Go figure. I'll try anything. Last summer we planted about a dozen corn plants for the heck of it and they were doing pretty good with ears coming and everything until one morning I looked out and 3/4 of them were trampled flat to the ground with many deer tracks in the dirt around them.

[Wes Ellis]

I got luquid fence from Mills f f . It does work good. Stinks when you put it on. It is a spray form. You have to put it on about once every two months.

[flipper]

I have also had some success with liquid fence. I use the concentrate and mix it about double strength.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Sprinkle cayenne pepper on your plants. It's really fun to watch the deer take a lick, and then jump aboot 10 feet into the air and have a small spasm.

[Sinker]

Thanks for the info. That would be fun to watch. I'll give it a try. There are plenty of houses around. Dogs too, so we don't see them much during daylight but they sure come out at night and feast on the garden.

[otterman91105]

I have had a problem with deer around my young apple trees for a couple of years. Instead of putting up a fence around them i started buying the deer stopper from menards and it works really well.

[Powerstroke]

Liquid Fence. Been using it for several years and its always worked. I know it works because when I don't maintain it, they come back and remind me very quickly.

[Nainoa]

Was wondering what people use to try and keep deer out of their gardens. Had problems last year. Do any of the sprays work or do you basically need to build a fence? Thanks.

What I experimented with in the past and will be doing with the new garden expansion this year (Once winter decides to leave)

-Deer can jump over a single really high fence... But they are afraid to get stuck in between 2 lower fences.

This year I will be putting up a 3 foot high outer fence, and 3 feet in there will be a 4 foot high fence. The fences will then be used as runners to hold up the transplanted raspberries. (Or whatever Brambles, like goosberry)

Then growing at the corners will be Rosemary. Deer DESPISE the smell of Rosemary. (I grow it in 5 gallon buckets and bring it in to live through the winter.)

Last year I had an old picnic table full of tasty herbs and one bucket of rosemary... The deer had a forage trail that ran within 10 feet of it. You could see their tracks come up to about 3 feet from it... Stop... They'd stutter step and then move on.

It's an "Organic" deterrant, where even if you're paying money to buy the raspberries because you don't have the transplants etc... It's better than buying jugs and jugs of liquid fence and bars of irish spring.

[mainbutter]

We just built bleeping awesome fences around our garden and orchard. It was plenty of hard work, but worth it.

A bear, we're assuming, did some impressive damage to our orchard fence when we forgot and left the gate open for a week.

Our garden fence is dug into the ground, rabbits haven't given us trouble and there are some around so I'm pretty sure it keeps them out. Raccoons climbed the fence and got into our corn last year towards the end of the season. Luckily we'd harvested most of it, but we are thinking of ways to raccoon proof it for this year.

We put the work into building our two good fences, and they will last for years. I'm glad I don't have to muck about with repellents.

My parents deal with moose in Alaska, and they've lost fences to them before. Now they hang bars of soap by string around the garden and it seems to deter them.

[Sinker]

Thanks for the tips everybody. Looks like there are plenty of options to try.

[Nainoa]

We just built bleeping awesome fences around our garden and orchard. It was plenty of hard work, but worth it.

A bear, we're assuming, did some impressive damage to our orchard fence when we forgot and left the gate open for a week.

Our garden fence is dug into the ground, rabbits haven't given us trouble and there are some around so I'm pretty sure it keeps them out. Raccoons climbed the fence and got into our corn last year towards the end of the season. Luckily we'd harvested most of it, but we are thinking of ways to raccoon proof it for this year.

We put the work into building our two good fences, and they will last for years. I'm glad I don't have to muck about with repellents.

My parents deal with moose in Alaska, and they've lost fences to them before. Now they hang bars of soap by string around the garden and it seems to deter them.

I've lived my entire life at one location or another within a football throw of a river, so it's been an endless war against coons when it comes to me and growing corn.

There is only one technique I've ever found that worked 100% against them... And that's to grow "Three Sisters."

Three sisters is actually what the Indians taught the pilgrims about farming in the new world.

Basically it's corn, pole beans and squash (Butternut or sugar pumpkin works best) grown together.

The Beans pull nitrogen from the air and deposit it in the soil, which the corn loves because it's such a heavy feeder. The corn grows the "Pole" that the beans can climb. The vines of the squash spread out and provide ground cover to keep the soil moist.

AND Coons DESPISE squash vines.

My uncle is a wilderness survivalist and fur trapper... He explained to me that the sense of touch in a coon's front paws is what sight is to an eagle or what scent is to a dog.

Once I started planting in three sisters and being mindful to train the squash vines into a perimeter... I have not since lost a single ear of corn.

The timing for planting 3 sisters in Northern MN can be a little tricky though. Because you want the Corn in first, beans 2 weeks later and squash a week after that. But if you put the corn in the ground before 60 degree soil temps (The temp at which Lilacs first show purple in their flower buds) then the corn can rot in the ground.

If you try to start the corn or squash indoors early, you will have to use peat pots, as they hate to be transplanted. But if you start them (NO MORE THAN) 2 weeks before prospective planting you can get that needed jump on the season and stave off the coons.

When it comes to the Rabbits... I've found that a motivated rabbit will not be stopped by any fence. I've burried a fence a foot down and burried a 1X2 with it... Rabbit still burrowed under in time... And they are not above using a woodchuck's incursion spot to get in.

Sure a fence is a MUST... Or else they'll just snack as they see fit.

But if Rabbits are coming burrowing under the fence, it's a sign that their numbers have exceeded what the natural forage base can easily provide.

Brambles, like Raspberries and Gooseberries etc... Will help to deter them. But hunting them in the fall, goes a long way... And in some cases setting up a feeding station on the far end of the property (Especially during a drought year) will go a long way.

Although to be honest with you... I was staring at a Rabbit Apocalypse out here on the new property, right up until a family of Hawks took up roost and three deposed barn cats took up residence in my woods and under my fish house...

The rabbits went from "Bravely showing themselves everywhere at all times" to nearly non existent and elusive!