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| A gal in our garden club has had a horrible time with her deer eating all her daylilies and a bunch of other perennials.
She has worked for years to try to find something that she could spray and would actually work. This year she had the best luck ever and everything she sprayed was untouched by the deer but one hedgerow that she forgot to spray was totally eaten. She passed out the recipe she is using .....raved about how cheap it was to make ......and for her... it works! Organic Deer Repellant 1 egg
Beat egg, add other ingredients and strain into a 1 gal container. Add water to fill the container.
I am going to try it this year but I am also thinking.....I always loose all my amamenies, some of my crocus, allium and smaller tulipbulbs over the winter. What if I dipped my bulbs in it before I planted them?
Your thoughts? What do you do to keep the deer away? Jean
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Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by lilium_guy56 4b. (My Page) on Sun, Sep 24, 06 at 9:15
| How do I keep the deer away? Being a hunter I shoot them. Thats not really true as I can't shoot this close to houses anyway. We live at the forest edge but have no problem with the deer. I have mint in the yard so that may be the key ingredient. The deer stay 50 yards away from the yard. (no they are nowhere near in hunting season) I planted lots of it around the lawn edge to keep down mosquitoes. Works. |
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| I don't have a problem with deer at all since I started planting salvias and agastaches which are in the mint family. Deer will only go for plants in the mint family if they are really desperate for food. Penny |
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| Hi to both of you! I have never heard of the mint......I will certainly give it a try.....Thanks.....Jean |
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- Posted by carol_from_ny (My Page) on Sun, Sep 24, 06 at 20:44
| I live on the edge of a wooded area. The deer leave my yard alone because I have dogs. I have lots of daylillies and they never touch them. It helps too to have corn fields nearby. They prefer the corn fields to my plants....better for hiding and less chance of a run in with the dogs. Back when we had sheep and chickens in the barnyard it was not unusual to get up early and find deer grazing with the sheep. Now that the sheep are gone the deer still graze in the field but they do so with one eye on the house because they know the dogs do on occassion run loose out there. |
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- Posted by mulchinmama z6 NY (My Page) on Sun, Sep 24, 06 at 21:52
| I just heard a neighbor swear by this one: She applies PineSol around the plants she wants deer to avoid. |
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- Posted by pamghatten wny5 (My Page) on Wed, Sep 27, 06 at 13:18
| I was also going to say LARGE DOGS! But I also live in a rural area and I think the deer have plenty of things to eat so only venture into my gardens to snack on a hosta occasionally. Am I the only one that thinks it's probably squirrels that are eating your bulbs? I don't think it's deer ... where as squirrels are known to dig bulbs. Pam |
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| Squirrels dug up all my daffodil bulbs that I transplanted two years ago. I watched them do it. I don't think deer will dig up bulbs either. Penny |
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| We used to plant beets. When they had nice young leaves,the deer came and ate the leaves. The next night they came and pawed up the beets to eat. The only cure we found was to stop planting beets. I think the best way to foil deer is to plant things they don't find delicious. Nancy |
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| Nancy I just love that beet story.....it reminds me of the spring I watched the red squirrels ate my crocus. Penny I put my daffodil bulbs way down deep....at least 8 inches and they do well...but I think it is the moles or voles that get my bulbs that are closer to the surface. I have not seen the squirrels near them but holes are popping up all over so I suspect those little ground diggers. But thanks a bunch for your thoughts! |
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| Jean Voles won't eat daffodils but they will devour tulips and crocus, hyacinths and lots of other bulbs or tuberous plants. You can plant ornamental onions, garlic or other alliums around your favorite bulbs to keep them away. also dip the bulbs in hot sauce before planting. That is how I kept the voles from eating all my bulbs. If the holes you are seeing are about the size of a quarter or silver dollar then that is what you have. I saw one scurrying through the bushes from my neighbor's yard the other day into one of my salvia beds so i will be purchasing another Tomcat live trap and even though it is too crowded to plant any garlic sets in there right now I may just throw a few in there to sit on the surface of the soil. Those work like a charm. Caught 6 last year. Penny |
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| Penny We caught 6 last year also.....how funny but I see we are loaded with them again. I have a ton of crocus coming in the mail and I am going to dip them in the hot stuff just like you said but I also like your garlic idea. This year I thought I would put my amemones and checkerd fritillare in pots and sink them in where I will pull out my cannas, brugs, and bananas. I have lost them for so many years that I think this is my last shot. Thanks for your great ideas and for sharing the things that have worked for you. Jean |
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| Jean, another gardener friend in PA. told me that the voles chewed through the pots in the ground to get her bulbs so then she started making little cages out of hardware cloth available at hardware stores. She put the dipped bulbs in the hardware cloth cages and then planted the cage and the voles couldn't get to them. The garlic really works well. I plant it all around my house up close to the foundation where it is a little warmer in the beds. In the summer when the plants are growing up around them it isn't seen and I just leave them for a couple of years and then replace if necessary. I will have to replace some this year as I dug them up accidentally while pulling some stuff out earler. Penny |
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| Penny Can you believe that they actually chewed through the pots in the ground to get to the bulbs? Talk about determination! Well, I am also as determined this year to save my bulbs so I might have to dip, put my pots all together in a big clump and then surround them with hardware cloth! Wow! By the way ....we lucked out and did not get frost last night so I am good until next weekend! Thank goodness! Jean |
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| Jean we may have a warm up and a dry day or two during the week so if you are able to plant mid week that may be your best bet. I will also tell you that I planted a lot of my tulips in a larga galvanized wash tub with holes punches in the bottom. The tulips have been safe and sound in that tub for three years and have grown and multiplied like crazy. I still hav several in ground around back too but the metal washtub is a definite foolproof planting site. Penny |
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- Posted by susanzone5 z5NY (My Page) on Wed, Oct 11, 06 at 17:41
| Throw dried blood around and the deer will stay away. You can get it at the garden center in the organic fertilizer section. Plant your bulbs with crushed shells (called chicken grit at feed stores) and the voles and other tunneling varmints won't eat the bulbs. |
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| Hi Susan Thanks for both of your ideas! I have never heard of the dried blood and the crushed shells before.....I am going to try both. I am still planting and digging! I got my banana trees into the basement this afternoon since I am sure we will get our 1st frost this week.....then I will pull out all my dalhias and put some more bulbs in those holes. Thanks again for your thoughts! Jean |
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| I would use the chicken grit if I had a feed store anywhere close by where I could get it. I know some of the garden centers sell Permatil which is crushed conditioner to lighten heavy clay soil but it is very expensive. chicken grit is very cheap and serves the same purpose. Does anyone have a source for buying chicken grit in Northern Erie Cnty or in the North Tonawanwada, Wheatfield area of Niagara County. Penny |
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- Posted by susanzone5 z5NY (My Page) on Fri, Oct 20, 06 at 17:34
| Penny, our garden centers carry the crushed shells in the animal repellent department under a weird name...for repelling moles/voles, etc. Read the labels for ingredients. It's cheaper at the feed stores of course. Try Agway or similar store. Our local pet store carries it too. |
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| None of the local garden centers here carry it but I did get a lead on it at a small out of the way garden center/feed store so I am going to check with them. They may even possibly order it for me. The closest Agway is about an hr. away. Thanks Susan. Penny |
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| plant hosta in your neighbors yard. sorry cound not resist |
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| Penstemons are another plant that the deer will leave alone. My largest bed on the side of the house which is wide open and easily accessible from an open field and wooded lot which has been a point of travel for the deer that are in the area is all planted out with salvias agastaches and penstemons. I have never had any animal damage done in that bed. The first year I made and planted that bed, I had cosmos, daisies and the like, and whole plants roots and all disappeared overnight. Besides the fact the the salvias et al are not prone to being eaten by deer or other critters they provide nectar for my hummingbirds, butterflies and bees. So they do provide a two fold purpose. Penny |
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| When I was married and we were ready to plant shrubs we went to different landscape places. We told them we had deer.They instructed us to buy certain plants they said deer would not eat.Of the plants we put in the only ones they didn't eat had thorns or sharp needles.We planted several trees that look like cedar. They were next to the driveway.Well winter hit. what we found out was that the deer wouldn't eat these trees UNLESS they were hungry.The ones that we could save we replanted. They grew tall and full.Then One winter morning we went out and found these evergreens shaped like mushrooms.The deer had eaten the first four feet.I'm a hunter but know that killing even the deer in your yard will not stop them.If you plant it they will come. |
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- Posted by HappySmile none (My Page) on Thu, Apr 5, 12 at 17:32
| http://www.sunset.com/garden/garden-basics/deer-proof-country-garden-0
0400000017025/ This article has 2 of the best fences for keeping deer out of gardens. |
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| I have deer mostly through the winter but none of my plants are ever bothered. I grow mostly deer resistant plants in the exposed part of my yard such as salvias , agastachess and Penstemons |
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