Deer Deterrent

[TomatoDon]

I plant my farm tomatoes in an open field and we've always had a lot of deer on the place, but they never bothered the tomatoes until this year.

I know about electric fences, have heard about human hair and tin pie plates and sacks and bells tied to string around the patch, and it may come to that. But is there any kind of spray, such as neem oil or a hot pepper based spray that will stop the deer?

Thanks.
Don

[Worth1]

If you are a working man with dirty sweaty clothes hang them up around the perimeter.
Socks underwear and all.
It works.

[jtjmartin]

We have a lot of deer. I was cutting my grass two days ago and thought the neighbors were blowing their car horn to get my attention. They were blowing their horn to try to get the deer to move out of the middle of the road! (The deer took their time to move.)

I finally got Tenax deer fencing that has been 100% effective and not too expensive.

My neighbor uses tin plates, wolf urine, etc. - the deer get used to all of it pretty quick. Urine, pepper, and soap spray will protect my hostas outside the fence but it needs to be reapplied after every rain; forget one time and its salad bar time for the deer.

I would not use any of the mixes that I've tried on my tomato plants except for maybe a hot pepper/soap mix. But if it rains at night and the deer are up - bye bye plants.

[HudsonValley]

I haven't found sprays like Liquid Fence to be that useful, but I have had success with Bonide's Repels-All granules for the past few years. I sprinkle them around the perimeters of my beds as soon as I plant out. I also use light-weight deer netting twist-tied to 6-foot stakes, but no fencing. Small critters could climb under the netting, but they don't.



Note that the granules don't work unless you water them in lightly. I reapply every 3 weeks, which might be more frequently than the label directs. It doesn't smell very nice (rotten egg-like, with notes of garlic), but the granules and netting help me live with the resident voles, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, groundhogs, raccoons, skunks, foxes, deer, etc.

[TomatoDon]

I was in touch with another tomato grower friend up the road and he said nothing worked as good for him as a propane "bird-scare" cannon. Have any of you tried it?

[PaulF]

Ten years ago I took the Nebraska Extension advise and chose exclusion of deer from the garden by erecting a deer fence. It was the same fencing as jtjmartin, Tenax 8' fencing. What was a problem was solved.

The deer specialists around here say the deterrents work a little up to a point, but are pretty far down the list in effectiveness. Electric fencing works but is pretty expensive, chemical deterrents need to be applied pretty often and may or may not work, noisemakers and water sprays work until the deer get used to them and visual scare tactics are pretty much ignored.

A little work one time and forget it has saved my garden. The catch is the size garden to be enclosed by fence. Mine is about fifty feet by fifty feet. A larger space may be too much to handle.

[GoDawgs]

Originally Posted by TomatoDon

I was in touch with another tomato grower friend up the road and he said nothing worked as good for him as a propane "bird-scare" cannon. Have any of you tried it?

They'll get used to it. And there's nothing that will get your heart racing like having that thing go off when you're near it.

I worked at an ornamental production nursery and one very droughty year it was so dry the deer were eating spiny holly leaves! Talk about natural pruning. Several cannons were bought, strategically placed and they worked at first until the deer got used to them.

There is probably a dent in the work truck ceiling where I jumped when a cannon went off as I was driving by.

[jtjmartin]

Originally Posted by PaulF

Ten years ago I took the Nebraska Extension advise and chose exclusion of deer from the garden by erecting a deer fence. It was the same fencing as jtjmartin, Tenax 8' fencing. What was a problem was solved.

The deer specialists around here say the deterrents work a little up to a point, but are pretty far down the list in effectiveness. Electric fencing works but is pretty expensive, chemical deterrents need to be applied pretty often and may or may not work, noisemakers and water sprays work until the deer get used to them and visual scare tactics are pretty much ignored.

A little work one time and forget it has saved my garden. The catch is the size garden to be enclosed by fence. Mine is about fifty feet by fifty feet. A larger space may be too much to handle.

I fenced pretty much our whole back yard so I needed a little bit more than 200 feet of fencing. That enabled me to use existing trees to tack the netting to instead of having to purchase more t stakes. It's been 4 years and the fencing is still holding up well.

Jeff

Oh, I noticed a number of plants pulled out of their holes at our neighborhood entrance today - deer!

[MrsJustice]

Originally Posted by jtjmartin

We have a lot of deer. I was cutting my grass two days ago and thought the neighbors were blowing their car horn to get my attention. They were blowing their horn to try to get the deer to move out of the middle of the road! (The deer took their time to move.)

I finally got Tenax deer fencing that has been 100% effective and not too expensive.

My neighbor uses tin plates, wolf urine, etc. - the deer get used to all of it pretty quick. Urine, pepper, and soap spray will protect my hostas outside the fence but it needs to be reapplied after every rain; forget one time and its salad bar time for the deer.

I would not use any of the mixes that I've tried on my tomato plants except for maybe a hot pepper/soap mix. But if it rains at night and the deer are up - bye bye plants.

Sounds like your neighbor has Native American Blood to use Peppers to protect their crops. I guess it is not a secret anymore, Amen!!

[ContainerTed]

The Muddy Bucket Farm has a first class team to protect the garden. Smith & Wesson, Old man Ruger, and Young Winchester stand guard and are doing a fine job.

I actually have deer graze in my front yard more nights than not. I have never encountered any crop damage from their presence. My wife thinks all of the deer and the opossums, raccoons, groundhogs, and squirrels are her pets. However, she doesn't object to me shooting snakes and skunks. I like the non-poisonous snakes we have, so the skunks don't have a chance in this scenario.

[jtjmartin]

Originally Posted by MrsJustice

Sounds like your neighbor has Native American Blood to use Peppers to protect their crops. I guess it is not a secret anymore, Amen!!

Hampton Roads deer do not like spicy food!

[MrsJustice]

[QUOTE=jtjmartin;739791]Hampton Roads deer do not like spicy food![/QUOTE

Nor Rabbits: even our dog makes a U-turn from the Peppers, Amen!! The Rabbits play on the waterfront away from my Farmlands.

[Bruinwar]

8" Tenax deer fence. So far, no deer. But with the wet weather we've had, the deer are not hurting so time will tell. How big is your garden?


Link to pic of our community garden fence:
http://cad-designer.net/20190622_112936.jpg