Deer eating plants

[lilcee]

I've noticed some deer tracks around my beans and a few plants have the leaves eaten off. I knew we had deer around but they've never bothered my garden til now. Is there something I can use to keep them away from the garden without putting up a fence?
Thanks
Celia

[Kisal]

Deer are very adaptable, so few repellant-type products are effective for very long. I think your best bet would be to plant species that deer don't like the taste of. However, if the deer population is dense, they will literally eat anything that grows.

[url=https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/UW/UW13700.pdf]This article[/url] from the University of Florida has lists of plants that might help you decide what to plant. Again, though, if you have a lot of deer, they would probably eat what you planted for them and then your garden, too.

Another thing that sometimes helps is to find where the deer trails enter your property, then throw some seed around there, where the deer will find their own little "garden" before they find yours.

The best deterrent, though, is a fence. Two types work well. One is a single fence of 10' in height, and the other is a double fence of about 5' in height, with the 2 fences about 4' apart.

[lilcee]

Thanks. I used to put apple out for them at night when we didn't have a garden, now I have a garden and they keep coming around lol

I know how they are getting in. We have a fenced in yard but some of the fence is old and they jump over it. My husband is planning on putting up a new fence but until then I guess we'll have to put one around the garden - not as big as our yard

[jasbo]

You might try dropping some bird netting over the garden area, depending on the size of the area. We have three 4 by 8 raised beds and find that bird netting, weighed down by some stray pieces of firewood or something, keeps most animals from attacking from the top.

Jim

[tomf]

Invisible deer fence works well as deer do not see all that well and can not tell how high it is so they do not jump it.

[speedster7926]

what also works is hair human hair deters deer

[tomf]

Repellents work for a week or so then you need to use a different one, the deer are smart. Some people use a home made pepper and egg spray and say it works well. Putting bitter tasting plants near your other plants helps.
I have about 6 of them hanging around my yard right now.

[lilcee]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I haven't seen any sign of them in the last couple of days (no more plants eaten that is) but I'm sure they're still around.

[Texas.girl]

I have a friend who lives on the outskirts of town and the deer always visits her at night. One night her husband went outside after dark to turn the sprinklers on. He heard the rush of hoof beats as the sprinklers showered the deer. Guess they didn't like getting wet. Also overheard someone else say he installed some kind of sprinkler system that is motion activitaed. It has been affective at keeping the deer from eating the flowers in the yard.

[lilcee]

I've seen they're tracks around but they don't seem to be in the garden. I think they are eating the wild berries instead

[pickupguy07]

I heard the human hair trick also. I'm not sure I have deer 'currently', but a few years back I used to have several.

Hair is easy to get,.. and free. Just ask your local barber to save some up for you. Might even supply some type of container for them to put it in. When they sweep it up they'll put it in your container instead of the trash.

[tomf]

My neighbor claims mixing eggs, water and hot pepper and then spraying it on plants works.