Sunflower & Deer

[Ludiemcgee]

I read in previous post about how the deer love the sunflower and the turnip field disapearing but how would you keep deer out of a quite large sunflower field? Tried electric fence and too big to sprinkle pepper flakes? Any other ideas?

 

[scgargoyle]

Either a tall fence (8'+) or two shorter ones, one inside the other. Depending on your part of the country, and how hungry the deer are, some can clear 8'. I know a guy with a small vineyard in VA. He has an 8' fence, and shoots any deer that jump it. He claims they will somehow tell the others about the free food, so none of them leave alive. Sounds harsh, but it's his livelihood. From what I hear, deer won't attempt to jump a double fence if the spacing is right.

 

[TNhobbyfarmer]

I read in previous post about how the deer love the sunflower and the turnip field disapearing but how would you keep deer out of a quite large sunflower field? Tried electric fence and too big to sprinkle pepper flakes? Any other ideas?

How large is quite large? I have planted a couple acres of sunflower for dove hunts but the deer just have their way with it. Its pretty much a waste of time for me. Very little lasts past mid summer. Maybe if you had a big enough field they couldn't eat it all, but I'm not sure how big that would be. If you do plant, report how it went. I would be curious.

 

[forgeblast]

one thing that works is take 150' of 3-4' fencing make a circle out of it, put it over the area. the deer will not jump in there because they do not want to be fenced in. the us forest service uses this to replant old fields. but my garden and orchard have 7' fencing around it. and they still test the fence all winter long.

 

[N80]

From what I've heard, the only practical way to keep the deer from ruining a sunflower crop is to plant more than the deer can eat.

Mine are up about 6" and the deer are tearing them up. Its about 1/2 acre. But, mine are pretty much there for the deer anyway. I'll never see a sunflower.

 

[Deere Hunter]

What has worked for me so far.

Electric fence, 1 wire 30-36 in. high, posts spaced as far apart as possible, combined with an application of Millorganite-a human sewage sludge based fertilizer every 45-60 days until flowers are too high to get into with a tractor. Last application goes down with N and final spraying.

Get the fence up before the flowers sprout. Don't let the deer know what they're missing.

 

[4720 OWNER]

They will know that darn little bird or that rotten skunk named flower will tell them.

 

[andrewj]

They will know that darn little bird or that rotten skunk named flower will tell them.

i'm sorry, but this collection of words does not convey any meaning...I have absolutely no idea what little bird or a named skunk has anything to do with sunflowers?

 

[N80]

Neurologist and psychiatrists call it "word salad" and its usually a sign of cerebral ischemia/necrosis (stroke) or progressive schizophrenia.

Gee, I hope he's okay.

 

[DocHeb]

"They [the deer] will know that darn little bird or that rotten skunk named 'Flower' will tell them."

This is a reference to Disney anthropomorphism: the projection of human emotions onto animals. The post is somewhat of a paranoid ideation that the world is a conflict of all the animals against the humans. See "Flower" below.

However, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.