Keeping Deer from Eating Shrubs

[SGOS]

I've been cultivating arborvitae around my porch for about 3 years.  They haven't been doing great, but I have poor soil.  Still, year by year, they were progressing. This year they were attacked by deer, and they did what was definitely more than a helpful pruning job.  Maybe the shrubs "came of age" or maybe it was because a large tract of land was clear cut right next to me last winter.

I found something at amazon.com that was given good reviews and seemed hassle free: LED Predator Control Lights.  These are solar powered and emit a double flashing red light that lasts all night.  All the reviews I read were about keeping foxes and raccoons away from the chicken house, and people claimed they worked.  When I got the lights, the directions spoke to the intelligence of deer  (which the lights are advertised to repel).  But the directions suggested that they be moved around from time to time or the deer would get used to them.  Of course this would make my hassle free $40 investment kind of pointless, but I installed them around the shrubs.  The next morning  there were fresh deer tracks in the snow around the arborvitae.  Also after the next three nights as well.

Next I bought plastic netting from Walmart.  I just finished covering the shrubs, but the stuff is horrible to work with.  It gets caught on itself and is almost invisible against the plants.  While I got the job done, I would describe the process as "fumbling around in the dark", although it was late morning.  I don't look forward to doing it again next year.  Fact is, I hated working with it, and of course I have no  idea if it will work.  Much of the shrubbery  finds its way through the netting and is exposed.  I don't mind a little nibbling, but I don't know how easily the deer will give up.

Near by, I planted Leland Cypress which grows like crazy, and the deer don't seem to like it, but it is rather ragged and lacks the shapely form of arborvitae.  I am considering using that if I can't keep the deer away, but it will require annual trimming because it eventually grows 60 feet.

Anyone have any experience with keeping deer away?  Obviously I don't want a 8 ft high fence around my porch.

[The Skeletal Atheist]

One of these:



Should do the trick.


Or maybe you can find something that deer hate and sprinkle it on the shrub. Does vinegar hurt shrubbery?

[SGOS]

One of these:

[ Image ]

Should do the trick.

I should have seen that coming.

[SGOS]

I heard they don't like soap.  Someone said they bundled soap chips in netting and hung it on the shrubs, but they weren't sure if it worked or not.  I was hoping for something I wouldn't have to keep applying all winter.  Although some non-toxic chemical (vinegar?) stored near by in a 2 gal pump sprayer wouldn't be too bad, I suppose.  I'm just afraid that one day I'd forget to do it, and it only takes one night for the deer to wreck things.

[The Skeletal Atheist]

Maybe some predator's urine? I know they sell deer urine for hunters, so maybe they sell wolf urine or something. Just make sure it's not from a predator indigenous to your area so you don't attract predators instead of deer.

[stromboli]

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/06520.html

The two types of deer repellents are contact repellents and area repellents. Contact repellents are applied directly to plants, causing them to taste bad. Area repellents are placed in a problem area and repel by their foul odor. Repellents are generally more effective on less preferred plants.

Apply repellents on a dry day with temperatures above freezing. Treat young trees completely. Older trees may be treated only on their new growth. Treat to a height 6 feet above the maximum expected snow depth. Deer browse from the top down. Hang or apply repellents at the bud or new growth level of the plants you wish to protect.

A spray of 20 percent whole eggs and 80 percent water is one of the most effective repellents. To prevent the sprayer from clogging, remove the chalaza or white membrane attached to the yolk before mixing the eggs. The egg mixture is weather resistant but must be reapplied in about 30 days. See Table 2 for a list of commercially available repellents and their ratings against deer and elk browsing in Colorado.

Home-remedy repellents are questionable at best. These include small, fine-mesh bags of human hair (about two handfuls) and bar soap hung from branches of trees. Replace both soap and hair bags monthly. Deer have been reported to eat the soap bars. Materials that work in one area or for one person may not work at all in an area more highly frequented by deer.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

Before he built his elk fence, my grandfather used a loud radio rigged up with a motion detector to scare away the elk. He had to upgrade to a fence because the garden was too big for him to cover with this, but it worked for awhile. It should work on deer, too, if you can figure out how to rig up that setup.

[stromboli]

And don't forget that venison is delicious.

[Jason78]

No, I don't want no shrubs
A shrub is a thing that is not food for deer

Coming across a tract of land
Cleared last winter next to me

[stromboli]

How are your archery skills? You can buy a crossbow for not a lot of money, btw.

[PickelledEggs]

If you don't want to actually hunt and kill them, you can do what people around here do.

They just get airsoft guns and camp out each morning to shoot them. The worst it will do is scare them off and leave a welt. They're only plastic pellets and I've been shot by them a few times playing around.

Do it enough times and they probably won't keep coming around.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Do the polite thing. A simple handwritten sign on cardboard: Attention deer: Stop eating my stuff or else. That means YOU motherfucker!
They'll take note and go to a neighborhood where there are no signs.  [-X

[stromboli]

Have you contacted the local fish and game people to ask their advice? You can always ask the experts.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Have you contacted the local fish and game people to ask their advice? You can always ask the experts.

Nooooo! Consult the expert itself. The Bible!   :-$

OK. I don't have a solution.   :oops:

[Mermaid]

There are several ways to repel deer, and you have to rotate because they tend to get used to things.
Mothballs around the base of the trees works for a while, as does coyote urine (you can buy it. No idea how they get it and I don't think I want to know). Soap shavings in socks. Go to a hair salon and collect some of the hair they sweep away and put it in a knee high stocking and put under the shrubs. A plastic trash bag nailed to a wooden stake serves as a scarecrow.