Advice for garden fencing needed

[kubota4me]

I am planning to have a fairly sizable garden next spring. I will be constructing a bunch of raised beds before next spring. The garden will be something like 120x80 feet including some on-the-ground row crops and raised beds. Possibly a couple of fruit trees.

Anyway, the deer are as thick as rabbits where I live. I am trying to decide between wooden fence posts with two rolls high hog fencing or get some used metal poles from a construction firm and using plastic/other material fencing made expressly for deer. The downside as I understand it is the roll plastic deer fencing only lasts a few seasons. Which direction would you guys go given the two scenarios presented here?

 

[Spindifferent]

How tall are the fences?

In my opinion, they need to be at least 6 feet tall if you have high deer pressure.

 

[SPIKER]

How tall are the fences?

In my opinion, they need to be at least 6 feet tall if you have high deer pressure.

Deer need a good 8' fence to really make them think more than a few min before hopping over. It actually works a bit better to have 2 rows of electric fence a few feet apart. Lean one row OUT (out side row) and lean the INSIDE run IN. Then make sure to keep them powered early AM and later Evening when the deer are moving foraging. They are well aware what electric fence are and stay away from the double row. A single row they jump without a worry for some reason the two fences 4' apart freaks them out and they stay away & WONT JUMP them.

Mark

 

[Fishmansdad]

Last year I used 162 feet of electric netting sheep fencing to protect my sweet corn from deer and raccoons. It was only a bit over 3 feet high and did keep out corn raiders. I used a charger that was powered by 4 d-cells and it really packed a whallop. The charger was the weak spot, with the plastic lid latch breaking before the season was over. It was a dry summer last year and eventually, the deer managed to eat most all of the cowpea pods in my unprotected large garden.

I did not fence my corn this year and only got about a 4th of it all immature to beat the coons that did a great job of evading my live trap.

The only other successful coon barrier I used back in the day was to surround my corn with huge winter squash plants. Apparently coons did not like the prickly stuff.

I use a 6 ft pto tiller on my Boomer to break up the garden whenever needed during the growing season. That has been a deterrent to my running an electric fence around it. I am reconsidering for next year.

 

[Jstpssng]

How far are you from electrical power? And how seriious are you abour your gardening? Funny thing about gardening, the ideas just keep GROWING!

The thing about deer fencing is that; given the right incentive: they can go over it. The trick is to fence in advance and let them get accustomed to it... then when you plant all of that tantalising stuff, you/ve trained them to stay away.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Run two wires, one 6" off the ground and one 2.5'. make them hot and wipe them down with pancake syrip or peanut butter. If you had something bite you on the nose or mouth like that you would not come back. The low wire is for coons ect. the top for deer. It works. I know it's got to be 20' tall and.... My sister has deer graze all around her garden and when I was on the farm we had a herd of deer grazing around our garden every night and not a track in the garden. You can spend more money and do the same thing but my question is why?

 

[newbury]

Run two wires, one 6" off the ground and one 2.5'. make them hot and wipe them down with pancake syrip or peanut butter. If you had something bite you on the nose or mouth like that you would not come back. The low wire is for coons ect. the top for deer. It works. I know it's got to be 20' tall and.... My sister has deer graze all around her garden and when I was on the farm we had a herd of deer grazing around our garden every night and not a track in the garden. You can spend more money and do the same thing but my question is why?

No NO NO!
Don't make them hot and wipe them down!!
Wipe them down and make them hot!
Less tingle for you

A second vote for peanut butter on the wire.

 

[Jstpssng]

That's MY next step; but it's 1000 feet from the house so I'll be going solar. My choices are to buy a self contained solar control modulator; or go with a deep cycle battery and charger. The first option is easier and probably cheaper; the second would also allow me to have limitrd tighting in my garden shed.

 

[Jstpssng]

PS; you also will need to keep the weeds away from the fence, to keep it from grounding out. (I've been told that turkeys won't go over an electric fence either... I'm hoping that's true.)

 

[jinman]

I've had terrific luck with the 7' deer netting. There are two grades of netting; get the more expensive one for the best results. The cheaper one that sells for $20 for a 100' roll is great for flowerbeds or places you'll use it for one season. The 100' roll that sells for $63-$65 is much better and will last several years. I'm going on the 4th year with mine around my garden.

I like the heavy 7' deer netting in 100' rolls because you can use 8' t-posts and stretch this netting a long distance between posts. 15' is normal or maybe even 20' would be possible. That means you drive in a few t-posts and put the fencing up with twist ties. It's not 'lovely landscaping', but it is easy and will do the job. It won't keep out raccoons or possums, but it is very effective for keeping the deer away. It's also perfect for taking down in the fall so you can get in and till the garden with your tractor. That way you don't have to leave a big buffer zone for turning at the end of the rows. Also, you can spray Roundup around the fence for weed control. A string trimmer is definitely a no-no close to the fence.

Now, if you want to go to a full-scale deer fencing system, look at some products shown here at Memphis Net & Twine.