How to keep deer out of garden?

[bnew17]

Ive got about a 1/4 acre garden full of peas, corn, melons that i planted 3 weeks ago… well everything is about ankle high now and i noticed that there were deer tracts out there and some of the peas had been nipped off. I live out in the country so im not real suprised but this is my first year having a garden out in the country. Ive got the works to make a scarecrow…will that keep the deer out or should i do something else along with it? I also bought 2 bags of Milorganite and spread it out there and I also tore 4 rags off an old t-shirt and soaked them in some strong cologne. I tied one on each hand of the scare crow and the other 2 on limbs on both sides of the garden. We will have to see how it works….

does anybody have any other ideas?

[jkkfam89]

jkkfam89 wrote:
Also, I have a lot of deer come through the yard!!! What should I do so they don't eat my FOOD? I was think of planting a spot for the deer in the woods so they leave mine alone?


There's stuff called liquid Deer fence, you put it in a graden sprayer and spray your vegies with it. There are no harmful chemicals in it. It is expensive but 1 qt jar last us the whole season. It sticks really bad when you spray it but once it dries you can't smell it. We spray once every 4-6 weeks, and the deer won't touch anything that has been sprayed. I will swear by this stuff, it reall works

Here is an answer I got from my thread!

[rkunsaw]

An electric fence works.If you are growing corn,cantalop, or watermelon you'll probably have a problem with racoons too.They make an electric fence for gardens that work with a 6 volt lantern battery.Good luck.

[Hispoptart]

If the fence is not at the very least 6 ft the deer will just jump it, I was the poster for the liqued deer fence, I meant to say it stinks really bad, not sticks LOL But it really does work, Our first year I tied soap chuncks to our fence about 30 of them DH sure had fun with me on that one LOL Didn't work, then I was told about that deer fence stuff and we gave it a try and no more deer. We live in Northern Colorado, lots of deer here. We have a heard that lives in the park just one block from us.

[rkunsaw]

If the fence is not at the very least 6 ft the deer will just jump it, I was the poster for the liqued deer fence, I meant to say it stinks really bad, not sticks LOL But it really does work, Our first year I tied soap chuncks to you fence about 30 of them DH sure had fun with me on that one LOL Didn't work, then I was told about that deer fence stuff and we gave it a try and no more deer. We live in Northern Colorado, lots of deer here. We have a heard that lives in the park just one block from us.

The way to keep deer from jumping the fence is to wrap a short strip of foil around the wire in a few places and smear peanut butter on it.Once the deer get zapped they will stay away even if the fence is only a foot high.

[bnew17]

the garden is at a house i recently bought. iw ont be moving out there for another month and a half when my wedding is over. so i cant really keep a good eye on things but every few days...i just need something to keep them out until i move out there. because when i live out there im just gonna shoot em in the head with a .22 if i see em out there.

[rkunsaw]

the garden is at a house i recently bought. iw ont be moving out there for another month and a half when my wedding is over. so i cant really keep a good eye on things but every few days...i just need something to keep them out until i move out there. because when i live out there im just gonna shoot em in the head with a .22 if i see em out there.

Yabut,you'll hafta stay up all night.

[TZ -OH6]

See my post "dodged a bullet" over in the tomatoe section to get some idea of the level of my deer cohabitation.

These things do not work long term.

Hair, urine, scare crows (although parking my pickup next to the garden works for a few days), etc. What worked for wild deer in the past (smelly bars of soap etc) probably won't phase city deer that are not skittish about predators.


What works is a fence, but luckily deer are not like horses and will not force a fence. This is why the flimsy plastic deer netting works (its just like bird netting but cut differently). To get my fence up to the 7-8 ft jumping height, I simply string two loose lines of white cotton clothes line above my 4.5 ft wire fence. The deer could jump through the strands but they don't. Electric fence is another option, and I have seen published Deer fencing methods that included fences made out of fishing lines (like a barbed wire cattle fence but with strong fishing line). The deer walk into something that they can't see and they don't have a reference for jumping it.

[BrPanthers99]

This guy has the right idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KQu5aMtj5s

[Hispoptart]

This guy has the right idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KQu5aMtj5s

Thats way cool, I had to laugh at the previouse post about this, what a great idea.

[nes]

... get my fence up to the 7-8 ft jumping height...

This is VERY important - the fence is that video is MUCH too low. Deer are AMAZING jumpers are routinely jump in & out of my neighbour's 6ft electric fencing to visit their horses .

I have also heard human male urine will keep them out of the garden (or am I thinking coyotes?).

I think your best option is a hunting license...
Our neighbours are avid hunters and my garden backs onto their property we've never had a problem.

[rootsy]

Anything short of about 10 feet can and will be defeated...

Never fails in the winter... Deer run right into my electric fence... Break the insulators on the corner posts and pop the fuse on the fencer... Really fun restretching high tension wire in the winter...

[rainbowgardener]

The active ingredients in the liquid deer fence stuff are garlic, whole egg solids, and sodium lauryl sulfate (like is in shampoo). You could make your own. The stinkiness is rotten eggs, so you may have to let your eggs "age" for awhile.

[DoubleDogFarm]

I believe there are some with pig blood as part of the ingredients.

I have a 7ft fence and two black labradors. So K-9 pee and Pepper casing them.

[Dillbert]

as mentioned, deer are champion high jumpers.

but they don't like the long jump.

it's an old theory, but a friend had a garden that backed up to a thicket, and put along the other three sides four 'strings' of that yellow construction CAUTION tape - at 0, 3, 6 and 9 feet - about waist high.

nadda deer crossed it. so at least in some kind of circumstance, it works.

of course, the raccoons walked under it and cleaned out his corn, but the deer were no issue.

[Hispoptart]

I have made my own, I used eggs, garlic and dishsoap, I mixed it all up and let it set out in the sun for a few days, Yep it stunk just as bad and it worked but didn't seem to last as long as the stuff we buy, So just because I only want to have to smell that a few times a season vs every 2 weeks I will stick with the store bought.

[parcgreene]

I use dog hair that I gather from grooming my shepard mix. I spread it all around the perimeter of the yard. I live in in the woods, so I also throw my dogs feces around known/visible deer trails.

[tomf]

This is what I did and it works. The fence is an invisable deer fence, it is black and hard to see so the deer will not jump it as they do not see distance all that well and can not tell how high it is.

[garden5]

Tom, you've got the best idea out of all of us. You can try all of the natural remedies you want, some will work, some wont; some will keep working, some won't. If all else fails, get a tall fence .

[DoubleDogFarm]

tomf,

I'm 100% on this one. 7' 6" tall , 330ft rolls, heavy duty, almost invisible. Strong corners and gate openings.





The fence is a little more clear in the snow, right side of picture