It was recommended here before to spray your roses with a mixture of garlic and - oh heck, what else? Pepper? Hmmm, i need to remember this because i'm starting to have the same problem.

Someone will come along with the right mix.... Sorry about that! LOL

We get deer at the farm to. They tend to spend the night in the pine trees. I planted a few roses and worried that the deer would eat them. I remembered reading about the garlic spray. We're not at the farm all the time yet (still living in the city until retirement but spend weekends there now) so I decided I would try planting garlic chives at the base of the roses. I don't know if it worked but i never had the deer eat any of the roses. I have seen deer on the property close to the barn but maybe our presence scared them away. Marg

Make up a mixture of one beaten egg into a 4 litre jug of water. Spray onto your plants. This solution has protein in it that the deer do not like the smell of.

I have used this solution for years and have found that it works great. Deer will not nibble on anything sprayed. If it rains you will need to reapply it though. It is cheap and effective.

We live on the edge of the Assiniboine River valley and deer pass through our yard each day.

Brenda

brieen, get yourself a big 100# dog, LOL.
I've been living out at this acreage since 2000 and I've never had deer troubles. Most likely they stay away because of her territory scent.

Sharon

Sharon, even our dear Red hasn't been able to keep the deer away here. :( He chases them off but they just come back later. Mike has been seeing a lot of them at night, and they're pulling the seed bell thingies that i have for the birds right off the hooks. Giving up on that idea!

I used to think we'd be fine with our three big dogs, too, and we were for awhile...until I woke up one night and as I was checking the temperature out the window I spyed two little bucks chasing my dogs back to the house! I think I'll be trying Brenda's solution this coming season. Frankly, my dogs have just gotten used to the deer, or maybe they're just lazy!

The dogs and I can keep them at bay during the day, but its at night when the little stinkers do the damage. I have some scrap pieces of 6'page wire I'm going to put around a few shrubs that need to get ahead of the deer pruning, as well, like some lilacs, a rose, and a future crab apple tree. Not attractive, but it will do the trick for a couple seasons. Its so heart breaking to see the damage after so much effort (not to mention $$) was put into a planting.

I haven't tried it yet, but I always thought the nylon stockings full of human hair was a good idea but I've never accumulated enough to think it would make a difference...maybe if you owned a hair salon!

Good Luck brieen!

Each time we plant new trees we spend the time and money to put protection around them also. It basically doubles the value of the tree. The following picture is of our fruit orchard. We plant the tree, put roundup in a big circle, pound straight bars of rebar into the ground, attach the rebar circles to the bars and encircle all with stucco wire. We have mulched inside the circle and about a foot outside the circle to keep in the moisture and keep down the weeds.

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We had no outside dogs for years and that's when I diligently used the egg/water solution. Then we got a chow and found that she did a wonderful job in keeping the deer away. Now we have a border collie who does her daily patrol also. She romps throughout the shelterbelt and around the house with the neighbor's dog as they play and so the deer do not have any idea where they will show up next.

Brenda

Last year when our son's dog was living next door, we had no deer problem. Maybe the deer figured out that one on its own is not much of a threat! :)

Another spray solution that I've heard that works is to spray a diluted fish fertilizer solution on the plants. I personally haven't tried it.

Someone told us they are using Wolf piss, buying somewhere in the City, soak a little on cloth and hang it up, they say it works great.
I have two systems going...
Farm fence around fruit trees and fishing line, [bubby trap] when Deer get in, it's pulling a pin from a weight, loaded with cap shots, falling down on a shaft, hitting a steel ring and BANG!
Konrad
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DH's dad told me to use tinfoil pie plates and plastic garbage bags in my garden. It's not very pretty, but works fairly well. They both make mysterious noises with even a breath of air. I'm lucky enough to only have deer trouble away from the house, not right by it, so most of my flowers are safe. (Except when the cows get out, but that's another story)
Connie

I agree that cows are a totally different story. They eat anything and everything and leave huge hoofprints in the soil and poop piles here and there. Our neighbors let their 'pet' cattle roam 2 summers ago and they arrived here a few times. Our dog didn't know what to do with these large tame animals that didn't seem to care if they were barked at or not. It is a little disturbing when you look out your front door and you see a large animal like that at your front steps. Then, of course, I was the one that had to clean up the cowpiles in my yard. Also, I've had to put up with the damage the hooves made to my tree circles that we use as stepping stones in the landscaping.

If they were our animals that would be a different story.

Just 'blowing off a little steam'....

Brenda

I hear ya Brenda! Although it isn't much better when they're your own. Our yard isn't fenced so certain times of the year it keeps me and the dogs busy keeping them out. They make short work of newly planted grass beds! Let's not get into horses...the 'Deliberate Grazers' :^(
I do have the posts in now for a garden fence though. That makes me soooo happy.

I meant to compliment you on your tree protection earlier and never got back to it. You have definately conquered the unattractivness of page wire...it looks wonderful, sturdy and very groomed. It has inspired me to do a litlle more than throw somewire around!

After reading this thread, I am SOOOO appreciating our dog right now! She's either got to be dead tired or sick if she lets an animal within 200 feet of the yard. Only problem is that she's 9 now, but I sure hope she's got a few more good years left in her.

Deer have been eating my vegetables for 40 years! I'm not growing for them! My husband heard about a disk that makes cougar sounds and scares them away and let me tell you it does. I started with playing it a few months back and the fool things are gone thank the Lord.

Here is a link that might be useful: Deer repellent CD

This topic seems to be always timely. :)

We've found another unattractive solution to deer problems in the vegetable garden - orange snow fencing. My husband constructed a fence of it using steel stakes and that kept the deer out all summer. Interestingly enough, last summer he was going to make the fence but didn't get around to it, and only had the fencing spread around the garden. The deer didn't cross it.

We don't seem to have the problem with the deer until later in the summer and fall, and then, of course, over the winter when they pass through the yard all the time. Our mature cedars near the road have been chewed up pretty badly, but they seem to leave the flower beds alone. However, on the weekend i discovered that they seem to like the ranunculus that Brenda sent me in the spring. :-/

Just think Marcia, now you don't have to do any pruning or trimming back on the ranunculus. They did it for you!

I didn't realize that deer ate ranunculus as mine is planted right up next to the potting shed wall. The potting shed is fairly close to the house and our border collie patrols that area pretty well.

Brenda

LOL Brenda - i would have liked it to become more established before they pruned it for me! I'm going to have to think of something to lay over the area so they don't get more of it. Of course, i haven't looked back there in the past couple of days, so the damage might already have been done. Wonder if just leaves would help.

I think they must have eaten the last blooms on Hawkeye Belle - they're gone and i never picked them.

I have tried something this year on my carrots after deer constantly went
in and eat the tops down.
I put bird netting over them and never had problems again, it seems
deer don't like get tangled up in these.

Konrad,

Is your picture taken by a trail cam? Looks similar to pictures my DH gets with his.

Brenda

Yes, I build a few homebrews with Sony sybershots.

Here in front is Kale...my favorite veggie and I didn't want to take a
chance with netting, not very practical if you harvest the tops. I put
some 4' stucco around, held up with some re bars, this worked good.

Konrad - way off topic - what does kale taste like?

I should have said 4' stucco wire, leaning to the inside that deer couldn't
jump in.
Kale is in the Cabbage family, there are different one's out there, I also
grow the dark green, some Russian I think, more curly then this green
Kale, but this lighter green was this year best tasting one because
it's soooo tender and doesn't need to get cooked long. I can't really
describe what it taste like, sometimes you can see some in the market, perhaps you can get some. Also, kale doesn't hurt the frost, in fact it's better to have several frost hit them, it will be less bitter. I have dug out kale under the snow in January. With this greener kale it wasn't a problem with bitterness, even when harvested before, it was a good year with all the moisture and cooler temp for leaf veggie.

Great topic folks. Has anyone tried the product "plantskyd". I saw it at PeeVee Mart and it was around $25.00 for a spray bottle. Stan