Anything short of a 10' fence repel deer from fruit trees?

[PRF]

We planted 10 apple and 2 pear trees last fall in CT from 5 gallon containers and they all made it through the Winter fine...

The deer have just discovered the buds on the pear trees, but so far leaving the apples alone... Don't really want to fence the area in unless it's a last resort, so wondering if there's any tricks you folks have up your sleeves to discourage the little rodents ??

Thanks !!

 

[s219]

I found that bars of Irish Spring soap would keep the deer away from my trees year round, including during the rut when the bucks get a little nutso in the head and are more aggressive than usual. I would cut a bar into 4 pieces with a kitchen knife, and then hang each piece in a small mesh sack (made from an onion bag if I remember right). Have no idea if it will repel them from your trees, but it worked well for me. That soap has a pretty strong fragrance.

 

[bcp]

You can find studies that show certain things work, and others that show the same things don't work.

I believe that many things will repel deer if there are alternative foods. But the less there is to eat, the less effective the repellents become.

Bruce

 

[Baby Grand]

I attended a seminar on deer fences at a NOFA fair a few years ago. One of the things that I took away is that, due to being prey rather than predator, deer have eyes on the sides of their heads, giving them great peripheral vision, but poor depth perception. Because of this, they can judge (almost) exactly how high a fence they can clear, but if there's any question as to the length of the jump, they'll take a pass on it.

Some people take advantage of this by building a low (5 - 6 foot) fence and then setting a single wire on poles, about 1 or 2 feet high and 4 or 5 feet in front of the fence. According to the speaker, the deer will see the tree, walk towards the fence to gage its' height, but will bump ino the "trip wire" either with its' nose or legs, get confused, and then walk away. When I get trees that survive long enough to bear fruit, I'll give it a try.

The hooved devils muched all my 2 & 3 year old butternut & black walnut saplings last spring, leaving me with a few neat rows of dead stubs.

Until the new seedlings get a few years older, I've been using up some old hog panels and concrete reinforcing wire mesh to make "barrels" to put around any saplings that I plant. I put some bird netting around that to keep inquiring noses out.

If that fails, they will taste the sting of the Benjamin Marauder that The Plant Manager is itching to use on their sorry hides.

 

[Jstpssng]

You can put up an electric fence for relatively little money, it only needs to be 5 feet and also would be easier and quicker to put up and take down.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I do the "barrels" too. It's easier to fence the individual trees than the orchard. About 6-8 feet of wire fencing makes a hoop about 2-3 feet in diameter. (That whole 2 pi R thing) I use 60" fence, I find that the deer don't feed much above their eye level. Once a tree gets significant branches above that level I don't need to fence it any more. They don't seem interested in putting their noses through the wire although I think they could.

I put the hoops out in September or October and take them down in May or June. In the summer deer seem to have enough to eat that they get pretty shy and don't come near people. In the winter, I've read that their primary food source is twigs, the year-old growth at the ends of branches. On a young tree that's pretty much the entire tree and they'll eat it down to the ground.

 

[davesl708]

I have used deer repellent, irish spring soap, noise makers. None stopped them from eating my Arborvitae.
Pellet rifle worked the best. They walk around the area now.

Biggest problem I have is three neighbors feed them. I had eighteen deer in my backyard one day. Had to train them what was off limits.

 

[dusty3030]

They eat 7 to 10 lbs of forage per day. Go weigh 7 lbs worth of leaves and you realize how much they consume.
If they are hungry it's hard to stop them. Good luck.

 

[bigtiller]

One way to fence them out would be with a 16X5' cattle panel. Tie the ends together making a 5' circle and place it around the tree.

 

[treefarmerguy]

A good watchdog would do the trick!