Deer and your garden

[bigtiller]

I plant only tomatoes and peppers.
Each individual plant is surrounded by a 16" diameter chicken wire cage.
Each chicken wire cage is surrounded by a 24" diameter tomato cage.

The 16x24 chicken wire cage keeps out rabbits and birds.
The 24x48" tomato cage is made of 5x5 concrete wire mesh and keeps out the coons, dogs and deer.

Last year, one of my tomato cages was missing and I found it about 100' away in the far side of my mature, dense conifer windbreak. I'm guessing a deer walked into it, got spooked and somehow got a hoof into it because when I found it, it was bent up pretty bad.

But the plant survived, so 2 cages per plant works for me while the plants are young.

 

[DGZRT]

This is what my daughter likes to do to keep the population down

 

[Eagle1]

My only garden thieves are my domestic geese but the dogs are supposed to protect them...

 

[Thomas]

Deer don't bother our garden all that much but those Fing turkeys do lot of damage starching digging to root system...5' chicken around garden area help lot.

 

[JJT]

My garden is only 12' wide, but 400'+ long, 3 strands of electric fence on 4' posts keep the deer out.

 

[Jstpssng]

Where people receive real snow, fences require quite a bit more $$ and effort.

Electric isn't as bad. You can take it down in the fall, unless you have a really big garden.

 

[JasperFrank]

The only thing that kept them away, was having a mid-sized dog.

 

[ArlyA]

Electric isn't as bad. You can take it down in the fall, unless you have a really big garden.

We did ecctric for a while and it worked, but not for rabbits. Getting vegetables from a CSA was waaaaasy easier and not very costly. We could build a fence every year with the $$ we saved.

 

[Bearsixty7]

We watch Living traditions Homestead and they did this a while back and claim it works.

Not a SINGLE DEER Has Crossed this Fence to Eat Our Garden and Orchard!​

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

7 foot chicken wire and stapled to ground to keep groundhogs out around a 12" raised metal bed.
I find anything less than 6 feet or electric the deer laugh at.

I had a bigger garden and just gave up. Either wrap it completely or go small and high like I did

Deer around here will even eat forsythia and holly, so not much they won't go after.
Groundhogs will eat Marigold flowers, I found that out the hard way.

Deer can jump a 12' fence easily. Seen it many times.