OrganicAlan
Boring, Maryland
Posts: 26
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 6:26 pm Post subject: The Deer Are Eating My Garden - Boring, Maryland |
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Hi,
Thanks.
I'm hoping to get some ideas of greens - lettuce, Collards, spinach, Kale I can plant that the DEER do not like.
The Groundhogs eat all the brassica - cabbage or brocoli
I've tried all the prevention products.
A - They wash off in the rain
B - They kill the plants
C - They do not work and the deer eat things anyway.
So after 40 years of gardening...
I'm planning a radical new Strategy. Since the deer think my 3 gardens are JUST for them. I'll test lots of varieties and FLAVORS of each plant.
Make a LIST of the ones the Deer do not like the Taste of...
Then Plant Mostly DEER-PROOF stuff. With a few rows and raised beds for the deer to eat.
Radical Plan, huh?
Alan
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gardengater
NC
Posts: 1544
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:31 pm Post subject: |
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I suppose an experienced gardener like you has tried them all, but I've heard that cayenne pepper sprinkled on plants will keep critters away.
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john
Ogdensburg, NY
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:12 pm Post subject: |
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you may have tried them all but try this again anyway. because it works. next time you go to the barber or better yet a hairdressing shop you go to..ask them to put a few days worth of hair off the floor into a bag instead of the garbage and save it for you. spread the hair around the garden by putting small amounts in a piece of cheesecloth and tie onto stakes or plants. works for me.
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kuntrygal
Texas ~ Zone 8
Posts: 3436
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:31 pm Post subject: |
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Alan, I had a huge garden about 28 years ago, thanks to my dear FIL. The deer ate the corn and peas for sure, the vegies never got to my table!  . But I have heard the above two responses do work well. give it a try, it can't hurt! Good luck with your gardens. 
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gardenmama
Vermont
Posts: 575
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:39 pm Post subject: |
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I had deer attack my hostas last summer. Maybe you could plant some of these away from your veggie patch and the deer will get drawn there. I also hung up a rope around the veggie garden with shiny plates on it and that kept all the big critters away.
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mtathome
PacNW of US
Posts: 148
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:39 pm Post subject: |
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I tried all the tricks to keep them out too, and the only thing that worked was putting up a very tall fence.
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Netty
 Regular Plants Contributor
Southern Ontario zone 5a
Posts: 9959
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:28 pm Post subject: |
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I've been battling the deer for years in our veggie garden at work. They loved all my different greens...leaf lettuce, Romaine lettuce, Napa cabbage, Pak Choy, radish tops, carrot tops, beet greens, you name it. The only 2 things they wouldn't touch were leeks and Arugula.
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OrganicAlan
Boring, Maryland
Posts: 26
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:42 pm Post subject: Thank you to all-Alan |
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Hey John,
Thanks.
I'd almost forgotten about the hair gambit.
The cheesecloth is a good idea.
I quit using the hair because it too washed away.
You're saying that tying chunks of hair in a cheesecloth bag and tying it around the plants will keep the deer away.
Did I get that right?
Alan
P.S. - GroundHogs too?
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pattysoo
western WV
Posts: 6
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| Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 11:43 am Post subject: deer |
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I live in the WV forest. The only safe effective remedy against deer is a tall fence. We used steel fence posts and plastic deer net (60" tall). Then I added extension posts to each fence post to give an appearance of insurmountable tallness. This also prevents all the other mammals from destroying my garden. Without it, it's a waste of time and $$ to try to grow anything. I have found that even the plants that deer dislike are often sampled by them and ruined - they bite them off at the stem and THEN decide it's not for them.
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daisybeans
annapolis md
Posts: 3675
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| Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 1:38 pm Post subject: |
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For the groundhogs (woodchucks), several of our Gardenstew friends recently recommended putting used kitty litter down into their burrow....
How to get rid of / deal with woodchucks humanely?
Sounds awfully frustrating... to say the least.
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Daisybeans/MaryAnn
"Once the relation between poetry and the soil is well established in the mind, all growing things are endowed with more than material beauty." -Elizabeth Lawrence
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waldeneffect
southwest Virginia
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 5:28 pm Post subject: Deer deterrents |
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Deer are absolutely awful where we live. At this time last year, we barely had anything left in the garden. We tried every deterrent and repellent we could think of, to no avail. We were starting on a fence (very expensive for two acres!) when my husband stumbled across a deer deterrent which actually works. It uses a drill to bang a golf ball against a piece of tin. The combination of motion and sound has been 100% effective when placed in deer paths. We had to build six to protect our entire perimeter, but we scavenged the parts and barely spent anything on it. I still feel like I'm living in a dream when I go outside and my sweet potatoes have all of their leaves....
moderator's note: removed website link, see point 1.1 of usage rules
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glendann
Texas
Posts: 9228
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| Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:41 am Post subject: |
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Do you have a fence around your garden if so go to walmart and purchase enough of the black plastic and make sure the plastic is from the top of the fence to the bottom.Deer want jump over somethig they can't see on the other side.They also wont walk on wide plastic because of the noise it makes.
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but by the moments that take our breath away.'
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