Return to the Hudson Valley Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Height of deer fence?
| | |
Posted by nygardener z6 NYC (My Page) on Sat, Aug 7, 04 at 17:13
| In Woodstock, where I've just started a garden, deer are rampant. The first thing I did after laying out the garden was to put up a 6-foot deer fence. It's kept the deer out so far, but the proprietor of the local produce/garden stand told me yesterday he'd heard that a 7-foot fence was necessary.
Has anyone had deer jump a 6-foot fence? Should I plan on adding the extra foot of height? It seems every Hudson Valley gardener has a deer story, and after watching them chow down on the meadow grass, I don't want them to be eyeing my flowers for dessert! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Height of deer fence?
| | |
| There is another thread (probably in deer resistance) that says that 6 feet is enough if it can't be seen through, otherwise 8 feet is safer |
RE: Height of deer fence?
| | |
| Thanks, dg. After a more thorough search of GardenWeb, it looks like the answer also varies regionally. Has anyone in the Hudson Valley actually had deer jump a 6' see-through (wire or plastic mesh) fence? |
RE: Height of deer fence?
| | |
| I had a deer wander into my garden (because I was stupid and left the gate open) and then frantically jump to get out of my six foot fence, and it took her a couple of leaps and crashes before she managed - so, I think they can do it - but it's quite hard. I've never had one get in (unless they use the gate!). |
RE: Height of deer fence?
| | |
| Deer have jumped my fence. It's 7' plastic mesh fencing and when I walked up to that spot, it was clear that the fence wasn't even really sagging between the two trees. The deer was heading up a steep fence, so it might have been higher than 7 feet from the deer's point of view. Now, that was a frightened deer looking to escape. I'm not so sure a deer would be inclined to jump that high to get in. Just in case, however, I'll be stringing wire/cable among the trees about 4' to the outside of the fence next weekend. |
RE: Height of deer fence?
| | |
| My fence is 7.5 feet and so far, so good. However, there is no doubt they can jump it if they are frightened or if a doe is being pursued by a buck. Maybe you could string a wire or barbed wire a foot above the top of the fence? |
RE: Height of deer fence?
| | |
I saw on tv, on a gardening show, that someone hooked a car battery to the fence. Easily rechargable, and the deer get the message pretty quick.
I'm glad I don't have a drastic problem. I find a four four enclosed group of plants survive bambi-itis pretty well... |
RE: Height of deer fence?
| | |
| My fence is 5 feet tall and no deer have jumped it in 8 years. Knock wood. The fenced in area is 25' x 35'. I make sure there are tall things like bean towers and staked tomatoes. This makes the deer cautious about jumping into someplace that will spear them (bad vision). |
RE: Height of deer fence?
| | |
| the good ole deer is CT can clear those fences in a heart beat ,,,,, espcially if they are in the inside and need to make a quick get a way .... my property borders on the reservoir and they have an 8' foot with additional 2' of barbed wire on it ,,that does the trick and protects one side of my yard ,,of course they come from the other direction !! |
RE: Height of deer fence?
| | |
| I've been using 4 foot chicken wire, deer have been kept away along with the woodchucks. |
RE: Height of deer fence?
| | |
| They can definitely clear 6 feet no problem. I think the question is: how big is the area you're trying to enclose? They don't like to jump into a small area. They don't like to jump into an area where they can't see what's on the other side. If it's a relatively small area they probably won't bother to jump in--unless they're really hungry, like in the winter. If you had some evergreen azaleas growing in there I bet they'd jump in over the winter. But it all depends on how hungry they are and how much effort they're willing to expend to get at whatever's inside. Ask around and see what works for neighbors with similar size plots. |
|
|
|
|
