What is the best deer repellant for the garden?

Question

Beginners gardens, deer problems eating plants....

Martha · Answer

Dawn dish soap and cinnamon

Janet Pizaro · Answer

Irish spring soap cut in to cubes and placed in a plastic bag.

Babette Russell · Answer

Dogs that bark help.

Su · Answer

Liquid Fence... All natural spray you use every two weeks. I swear by it

Elaine Marchant · Answer

I have tried all of the above as well as a paint ball gun to no avail.  At least with the paint balls gun the neighbors knew which deer had been in my garden.  Covering evrything with row cover every day at dusk works but they still got some during the day.  I have now built a fence.  You need to build a double fence with one 3 to 4 feet inside the other.  I used 3/8' rebar for the posts and green survey/flagging tape for the fencing.  This is much cheaper than electric and so far works well.  It doesn't have to be very high as deer have very poor depth perception.  They can jump up or across but can't do both at the same time also as I live in bear country if they walk through it it's a simple matter to just stretch and rety the tape or tie in a new piece..

William · Answer

Eco-Friendly Solutions

In a neighborhoods where fences aren't allowed - although deer are everywhere - which means residents here have to rely on other ways of keeping deer at bay:

For minor deer problems, wrap the trunks of trees with 4-foot-high galvanized hardware cloth or chicken wire, or use either material to encircle plants prone to attack.

The best known deer repellent is ordinary bar soap. Hung from strings in trees or large shrubs, whether wrapped or unwrapped, the scent of the soap is said to keep deer away. Some people even attach soap bars to stakes, placed at 10- to 15-foot intervals along the perimeter of their property or garden area.

Another popular repellent is human hair, the smell of which is also said to send deer scurrying elsewhere. Just ask a barber or hairdresser to collect a bag full of hair, and then stuff a handful of it into the leg of an old panty hose and hang it in your trees and shrubs or scatter it about your garden beds as if it were mulch.

Wild animal manure, such as that collected from zoo animals, is another form of repellent; when it is placed around plants in the landscape, the scent will frighten deer away and improve the soil in the process.

How about rotten eggs as a means of repelling deer? Some commercial deer repellents contain what's called putrescent whole egg solids, which is basically a solution containing rotten eggs. Whether you use the store-bought or mix up your own, the stench is apparently just as offensive to deer as it is to people. To make your own, mix five whole eggs in five quarts of water, add that to a sprayer of some kind, and drench your plants.

Keeping deer away is not easy. In some cases, your best bet is to plant plants that deer don't seem to like, including a number of beautiful plants that tend to have a strong smell. Deer-resistant plants include:

Deer-Resistant Plants

Allium
 Artemesia
 Baptisia
 Buddleia
 Clethra
 Caryopteris
 Digitalis
 Festuca
 Lavender
 Miscanthus
 Monarda
 Nepeta
 Pennisetum
 Perovskia
 Rugosa roses
 Salvia
 Santolina
 Viburnum

Debbie/Dragonfly Treasure · Answer

Deer turn their noses up at fragrant plants with strong scents. Sages, ornamental salvias, and lavender, daffodils, garlic, annual vinca, marigolds, coneflowers

Use a vegetable peeler on the bar of Irish Spring soap and scatter shavings around plants and bushes. There's a product called Bobbex that works really well if you have something you want to protect though!

I read this from Gma Kirk: A farmer gave me a gross recipe for repellent...but it works. cup or two of urine, tablespoons of crushed garlic, and cayenne pepper, two eggs in a gallon jug, shake well, fill rest of the way with water. Cap and let age a week. Then you drizzle small stream around the perimeter of whatever you want to keep them from eating - works on rabbits too!

What is the best deer repellant for the garden?

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What is the best deer repellant for the garden?

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