deer barrier

[Fastball]

Hi all....have taken iver my dad痴 small acreage (10-odd acres) after years of neglect. The deer absolutely ran this place...at any one time there were a half-dozen to 15 wandering around. They chewed our apples trees down to the nubs and pretty much ruined everything else in my wife痴 flower beds. The existing fence posts had rotted out and shrubs had pushed down big chunks of wire.
Tried stuff like Bobbex and puma urine and Irish Spring. It all worked...until the next rainfall. Piled brush and scrap wood through the tromped-down sections of fence to no avail. 6-7 feet is nothing to them.
Finally bit the bulletand bought a couple dozen 10-foot fence posts...droven them 3 feet down, and put a six foot high welded wire fence up. Then two strands of barbed wire on top of that.
No shortcuts worked for me. Good luck tomyou.

 

[Redneck in training]

Instead of two fence install a cantilever on top of the post with charged line at the end of it. We used fiberglass sticks (4 Ft long). One end of the stick was anchored on a t post insulator that was drilled and p[laced abput 1.5 ft beow the top of the T post. The other end of the cantilever was then tied to the top of the T post to keep it at about 30 deg angle.

 

[DJ54]

For a small plot, I've found that making a hedgerow of Sunflowers works very well to keep Deer out of my garden and sweet corn patch. I plant 10-12 rows of Sunflowers within a 36" width, around the perimeter of the garden. I mix the tall striped, and black oilers together, to make a nice tall, thick hedge fence. My garden is about 1/4 acre, and 2, 5 lb. bags of Sunflower seeds was enough to make the fence for 2 years.

The theory is, Deer will not jump over anything, they cannot see the other side of. Granted, until the Sunflowers get tall enough, so they cannot see through/over them, they will walk through them. Once they do get to that height, they will not. They may browse on some of the Sunflowers on the outside rows, but, that's about it.

This past summer was the first time I had a garden without the protective hedge fence. Big mistake. The Deer riddled the garden. Barely got enough tomatoes, to put up. It's the first time I've ever seen a Deer actually eat the tomato. I'm assuming it was a particular doe, got a fancy for the taste of the Mortgage Lifter tomatoes I'd put out. Out of the 2 dozen plants of them I'd set out, I only got 2-3 edible tomatoes, she ate the rest, whenever they were near ripe. And apparently the 6 dozen Celebrity, and the 4 dozen Opalka tomatoes just didn't quite suit her taste. However, she did pull them off the vine, and dropped them on the ground. So, next year, I'll definitely be planting my hedge fence, once again.

Lack of moisture there will probably make this suggestion useless to you. But in a good year, it'd be worth a shot. I'd suggest tilling around the perimeter, then for a large area, you could use a small broadcast spreader to sow the seeds, then lightly disk in. It doesn't take much to get them going. There is also the plus of attracting bee's for pollination.

I make 2-3 entry places, like a small maze type entrance, so they will not come in, but yet, I can cultivate, and harvest. That would be the tough part for you, although you could make a high fence gate to get in an out.

 

[oldballs]

Here's some idea of what works for me.
When we had a Golden Lab that was free (no leash laws then), I had no problems. After the dog died and the Deer population soared I started fencing. ... Had to go higher as I gained more experience and before TBN. The Conservation Dept started to thin the herd from local parks as time went on. Now with suburban expansion there are fewer deer. Coons and Opossums still get in...some are trapped..

The pictures give some idea of my current fencing around a 50 x 100 garden in rural suburbia. ... 2 ft chicken wire at bottom...4 ft of field fence...7 feet of deer netting....PVC pipe....T-posts...6 inch corner posts..zip ties. The "Wedge.Loc" T-post bracing hardware is handy.

In winter freezing rain, the pipes/deer netting bend but don't let the whole thing fall down. Very little maintenance is required as a few zip ties break and it sags...and a couple of the 6" posts have rotted off at the ground.

My orchard and vineyard are gone now, the dog and my family too....so that's of no concern.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[TerryR]

This is what has worked for us for seven years on our garden, after the deer drove us out of our un-fenced garden:


That's a seven-foot plastic deer netting on 4x4 braced posts. I think it's successful because there is nothing visible at the top, so the deer can't see well where the top is. There is only a black plastic-coated wire along the top. The raised beds inside probably help as they don't provide a good landing spot. I suspect they might jump it if it were clear inside.

Since this photo was taken we've added a two-foot chicken wire band around the bottom and sealed the bottom of the gate with wood to keep the rabbits out. They think the plastic deer wire is an appetizer.