does human pee deter deer?

[Skaggydog]

Originally Posted by Farmette

Guess you are talking about this:

http://www.amazon.com/Contech-CRO101.../dp/B000071NUS

...

The add says "Garenteed to protect your home from bears.", not dear!

[barryla61]

I've been looking at some motion activated devices such as radios, strobe lites and Halloween props

[tjg911]

any hunters are welcome to come and fill their freezer. you'll need to be out there at night. i have no idea when they come but the damage is always over the night, may be dusk who knows.

tom

[Longlake]

Fish line has worked wonders for me this year. I've got CRW cages around tomatoes in 4x12 raised gardens. As the tomatoes grew I strung the line around the perimeter of each bed using the corner posts as 'anchors'. A few horizontal lines, a couple of 'X's and that was it. So far, so good. The deer have nibbled at some of the hot peppers growing at the edge of the container, but that's it.

[Farmette]

Originally Posted by Skaggydog

The add says "Garenteed to protect your home from bears.", not dear!

Not sure where you are quoting from, but their spelling is horrible. Here is a quote directly from Amazon's website:


" Versatile and Broad-Reaching for Maximum Effectiveness
The Scarecrow is versatile enough to keep deer, rabbits, and other foragers from snacking on plants and bulbs, to prevent dogs from digging up newly seeded lawns, to keep the cat from using your garden as a litter box, and to scare predators like herons and raccoons away from your fish pond."

So far, so good. I too, have tried tying line around my garden, but if they can get their noses anywhere within eating distance, the plant is gone. The scarecrow is working very well. After I purchased mine, I recently found out that a friend has had one for several years and has had good luck and no trouble with it. Hope my good luck continues.

[nctomatoman]

We just had another deer-free season (they are everywhere, but didn't hit the gardens once) by having two water scarecrows on each garden - aimed at the access points. Wish they worked on ground hogs, though!

[kevn357]

I'm only using a very weak 7 foot deer mesh that is nearly invisible and very loose. I have a small garden though (34 x 26). So far so good. I also pee around it as well as my little rat terrior nightly. We are in the suburbs but in a wooded park area where many deer are seen daily in our yard due to constant deforestation.

I don't know what is keeping them out but they are out for now. Luckily we have some foxes in the yard too that seem to keep out the racoons and groundhogs that plague my neighbors a few miles away.

Is it the pee or mesh? Maybe just luck? Who knows yet. All I know is my dad laughed at my fence when he saw my garden and a week later his garden got chewed up when 2 deer jumped his 5" chain link fence. He added 2 foot of my wimpy mesh to reinforce it and so far so good


I miss my San Diego container garden where the biggest threat was June gloom. My first year gardening with actual predators that can kill my garden at any moment is stressful! Plus the bugs! I never had to read about all those pests! These darn things I kept hearing about but never needed to care about are everywhere here!

[Cole_Robbie]

Did you tie streamers onto the mesh to make it more visible? The biggest problem with the mesh is when a big buck gets his antlers stuck in it, because he can't see it, and then rips it to shreds.

[tjg911]

so now i am pi$$ed. i may have something that'll communicate just how much i want the deer out of my garden.

yesterday i got 5 boards 12" long and 5" wide. into those 5 boards i put 162 (yes i did count them) 2" long nails. i placed them by the cukes that seem to be getting the most attention. step on this you 100 pound rat.

this will either be painful enough to discourage him or her from going near the trellis or give tetanus and it'll die.

i saw this is how they discourage grizzly bears from breaking into cabins out west.

tom

[Buzzard II]

A couple drops of diesel fuel every foot around the edge of the garden will keep deer out. If you were closer, I would offer to bow hunt them for you.

[Doug9345]

I'm not sure any static technique other than a fence they can't go over or an electric fence that they get zapped with will deter hungry deer long. They get use to almost anything if it stays the same. The deer don't bother my garden because there is plenty of stuff to eat that's farther from the house and just as good to eat.

But as far as a scent that is always there I don't think so. I know that deer, my dog, our cats and I all use the same path from the front to the back of the property.

[swamper]

I do just fine with the very weak current solar power electric fences like you can get at tractor supply. Height is not an issue. When I lived near the shoreline where deer densities are close to 3x what they are here I had to use a double layer about 3 feet out from the inner fence. The deer inevitably get in in the winter to finish off the collards, and occasionally for some minor browsing during the growing season, but never cause a real problem. Bears CAN get in when the blackberries are ripe. I use the poly string with the wire twisted in since it's cheap. The ribbon style would be more durable if you have trees that drop branches, or want a more visible border etc.

Electric fences are very easy to set up and take down to mow or till the fence line. I always had issues with bittersweet growing on conventional fences.

[kevn357]

Since this thread was renewed, I have to say that my 7 foot mesh fence was never infiltrated. I even taunted the deer by throwing ripe tomatoes at their feet in the late season to see if the bucks would go for the treasure inside the mesh fence. They would walk into it and leave instantly. These deer are quite friendly though. I'm assuming they eat up all of neighbors food first. The little guys would let me pet them and ate tomatoes out of my hand.

The mesh just irritates them I guess? They can't see it and it ★★★★es them off. The bucks would walk into it and when their nose hits it they back off quick and leave. Only the little guys try to mess with it and leave after a minute or two.

[bughunter99]

Urban deer don't seem to behave the same as the deer on grandma's farm. Those deer, ran as soon as they saw us. The deer around here are far less skittish and much more inclined to give you a "What's Up?" stare while calmly dessimating your chard. In broad daylight. With the large pooch 30 feet away barking his fool head off. The coyotes are getting the same way.

-Stacy

[Cole_Robbie]

Gardening around deer is like a military campaign - you should only occupy as much territory as you can defend.

My idea for this summer is to use that 7-ft mesh. Menards has 100 feet for $15. I am going to try to drive chain link top rail as my posts. The top rail is 10' 6", driven 2 feet will give me an 8' 6" post. Then I'm going to string fishing link once or twice across the top and tie streamers to everything. At the end of the summer, I'm going to pull up the top rail posts and build another high tunnel out of them.