keeping Deer out of my garden

[greenmule]

Well,its simple really[how to keep deer out of a garden] you build a solid 10-12 foot high fence. Now that ain't easy,but if you want to keep them out,a tall fence will do the trick,plus if you put small block woven wire on bottom,you keep rabbits and dogs out too.

Now coons,well ain't nothing keeps them out.

 

[wolc123]

The (3) things I like best about the method I have used the last few years (earlier post) are: 1: Has been 100% effective, 2: Didn't cost me a dime. 3: Didn't take long at all to construct. Most of the other suggestions here have missed one or more of those points. I also kill all the deer that the law will allow each hunting season, and resulting venison makes up a very large portion of my family's, friend's, and nieghbor's diets. If the local population is not sufficiently controlled there is no doubt that you will have a far tougher time keeping them out.

 

[patrick_g]

Ways to shock the deer to train them away work on the trained deer but... new deer passing by, being born and eventually looking for solid food, etc don't always go to your "school" for training before devastating you plants.

The majority of the resident population learn the local scene, fence locations, good eating spots, etc but newbies get tangled in the hot wire they can't see because you took down the unsightly cloth flags.

Pat

 

[GaryS]

The deer would jump that easily, so I attach a pvc extension to every other other t-post and run something they can see as high as I can reach. ... Lately I've used the plastic marking tape instead of the cord. It comes in lots of colors, but yellow seems to be the cheapest.

Chuck - Any chance you can take a picture of your fence and post it? I used t-posts from the local Big Box store and attached 2x2's to the tops of them to take the fence up to 7'. I then ran lightweight deer fence. All of that was a bit too heavy for the t-posts and over a couple of years they've started to fall.

I thought about just taking the fence down, but the deer do so much damage. I priced out buying 10' posts to build a proper fence but if I can use PVC and fish line or tape, I can rebuild the fence with what I already have and save some $$$s.

gary

 

[Lineman North Florida]

We use lead and it is 100 per cent effective, they eat your stuff and you eat them,circle of life. Seriously here in the south in a lot of areas where you farm you have to get permits from the state after you take out a few of them it seems to slow the others down.

 

[Runner]

When I first heard about using soap to repel deer, I thought it was a bunch of bull hockey. However, I tried it and it "seems" to keep them away from my trees, even the fruit trees.

I take a couple of bars of any kind of soap (the stuff you get from hotels works fine) and put them in one of the wife's discarded nylon stockings. Then I tie that either to a tree branch or to one of the stakes.

I don't know why this works. Maybe they don't like the scent of soap because it reminds them of humans or maybe they don't like lingerie...

 

[patrick_g]

I don't know why this works. Maybe they don't like the scent of soap because it reminds them of humans or maybe they don't like lingerie...

Probably the undergarments...

All sorts of things have been reported to have worked on deer but then on the other hand the same things have been reported to have failed for someone else. Tall and wide fences (or really tall fences) properly done, will work for everyone. Active dogs work pretty good too.

Consider yourself lucky such a simple easy method works until it doesn't and then consider yourself unlucky, misinformed, duped, or...

Pat

 

[wedge40]

Chuck - Any chance you can take a picture of your fence and post it? I used t-posts from the local Big Box store and attached 2x2's to the tops of them to take the fence up to 7'. I then ran lightweight deer fence. All of that was a bit too heavy for the t-posts and over a couple of years they've started to fall.

I thought about just taking the fence down, but the deer do so much damage. I priced out buying 10' posts to build a proper fence but if I can use PVC and fish line or tape, I can rebuild the fence with what I already have and save some $$$s.

gary

Gary, all you need to do is put some PVC extentions on the t-posts and then place some cloth tape around the upper part and the deer will stay out. At least that always worked for my neighbor. I haven't tried it my self, but when I get around to doing a garden again, thats what I plan on doing.
I posted a reply somewhere in here with exactly what he used.
Wedge

 

[Chuck52]

Gary,

Yeah, what Wedge said. I just wire the pvc extensions to the t-posts and use the cheap flagging tape that's used to mark stuff. The yellow is the cheapest, and when you wrap it around the pvc it clings pretty well. It blows in the slightest breeze and makes weird noises which may help scare off the deer. I was once working in the garden on a windy day and the humming that tape made set my teeth on edge. Cheap nylon cord works fine, too, but I figure you need to flag it with something so the deer can see it. I used the same roll of cord for about three years and hung plastic grocery sacks on it. No deer in the garden either way so far.

I don't seem to have nearly as many deer roaming around here lately. I don't yet have my fence up and I've been using Liquid Fence on the beans and anything else I think they might munch on until I do get the final tilling done and get the fence up. So far no damage from deer or rabbits, and I have seen as many as three rabbits running around at one time. Of course, you don't want to spray that rotten egg stuff on anything you're gonna harvest any time soon!

Chuck

 

[scott_vt]

We use lead and it is 100 per cent effective, they eat your stuff and you eat them

Good Evenin Lineman,
I like that method ! Plus it fills the freezer !