Hi, Thanks. I'm hoping to get some ideas of greens - lettuce, Collards, spinach, Kale I can plant that the DEER do not like. The Groundhogs eat all the brassica - cabbage or brocoli I've tried all the prevention products. A - They wash off in the rain B - They kill the plants C - They do not work and the deer eat things anyway. So after 40 years of gardening... I'm planning a radical new Strategy. Since the deer think my 3 gardens are JUST for them. I'll test lots of varieties and FLAVORS of each plant. Make a LIST of the ones the Deer do not like the Taste of... Then Plant Mostly DEER-PROOF stuff. With a few rows and raised beds for the deer to eat. Radical Plan, huh? Alan
I suppose an experienced gardener like you has tried them all, but I've heard that cayenne pepper sprinkled on plants will keep critters away.
you may have tried them all but try this again anyway. because it works. next time you go to the barber or better yet a hairdressing shop you go to..ask them to put a few days worth of hair off the floor into a bag instead of the garbage and save it for you. spread the hair around the garden by putting small amounts in a piece of cheesecloth and tie onto stakes or plants. works for me.
Alan, I had a huge garden about 28 years ago, thanks to my dear FIL. The deer ate the corn and peas for sure, the vegies never got to my table! :-x . But I have heard the above two responses do work well. give it a try, it can't hurt! Good luck with your gardens.
I had deer attack my hostas last summer. Maybe you could plant some of these away from your veggie patch and the deer will get drawn there. I also hung up a rope around the veggie garden with shiny plates on it and that kept all the big critters away.
I tried all the tricks to keep them out too, and the only thing that worked was putting up a very tall fence.
I've been battling the deer for years in our veggie garden at work. They loved all my different greens...leaf lettuce, Romaine lettuce, Napa cabbage, Pak Choy, radish tops, carrot tops, beet greens, you name it. The only 2 things they wouldn't touch were leeks and Arugula.
Thank you to all-Alan Hey John, Thanks. I'd almost forgotten about the hair gambit. The cheesecloth is a good idea. I quit using the hair because it too washed away. You're saying that tying chunks of hair in a cheesecloth bag and tying it around the plants will keep the deer away. Did I get that right? Alan P.S. - GroundHogs too?
deer I live in the WV forest. The only safe effective remedy against deer is a tall fence. We used steel fence posts and plastic deer net (60" tall). Then I added extension posts to each fence post to give an appearance of insurmountable tallness. This also prevents all the other mammals from destroying my garden. Without it, it's a waste of time and $$ to try to grow anything. I have found that even the plants that deer dislike are often sampled by them and ruined - they bite them off at the stem and THEN decide it's not for them.
For the groundhogs (woodchucks), several of our Gardenstew friends recently recommended putting used kitty litter down into their burrow.... How to get rid of / deal with woodchucks humanely? Sounds awfully frustrating... to say the least.
Deer deterrents Deer are absolutely awful where we live. At this time last year, we barely had anything left in the garden. We tried every deterrent and repellent we could think of, to no avail. We were starting on a fence (very expensive for two acres!) when my husband stumbled across a deer deterrent which actually works. It uses a drill to bang a golf ball against a piece of tin. The combination of motion and sound has been 100% effective when placed in deer paths. We had to build six to protect our entire perimeter, but we scavenged the parts and barely spent anything on it. I still feel like I'm living in a dream when I go outside and my sweet potatoes have all of their leaves.... moderator's note: removed website link, see point 1.1 of usage rules
Do you have a fence around your garden if so go to walmart and purchase enough of the black plastic and make sure the plastic is from the top of the fence to the bottom.Deer want jump over somethig they can't see on the other side.They also wont walk on wide plastic because of the noise it makes.
yeah, I have issues with the deer, too. they say hair works, but I don't know. I started interplanting with plants that I know deer don't like.
I read a tip after loosing over half our sweet corn crop last year to raccoon and tried it this year. It seems to have worked as our first crop was “unchewed”. Take rags, tear them into long strips 6” to 12”. Dip them in apple cider vinegar. LIGHTLY wring them out so they’re not dripping but well saturated. Lay them around the perimeter of the area you’re trying to protect. Every 5 to 7 days you’ll want to “refresh” the rags. Even though the vinegar dries, the scent is still there. It’s worth trying around the garden edges!
I have read that using two fences works. They don't even have to be tall. Just 30" (1 meter) or so. And it can be just chicken wire for one and two courses of rope for the other. Deer don't want to get trapped between 2 fences, so they won't jump over them..... This is a lot cheaper than a 6 foot tall fence. Our community garden uses this approach. One of the fences is electrified....or WAS electrified many years ago. The other is just rope. The deer stay away even though the electric fence has not worked in at least 3 years. This spring, a large tree fell into the garden, knocking down both fences. Deer began coming in until we got rid of the tree & reconstituted the fences. Keep in mind, deer are creatures of habit. If you can find something that works early in the season, keep using it.
