Contender graft bites the dust, yeah Contender graft bites the dust. And another ones gone and another ones gone … Contender graft bites the dust. 
(sing the above to the 80’s tune).
We had solid rain all weekend, I saw it coming and put down a deer repellant coating on everything before it hit. It rained solid til 10PM last night, I was out at 10:10 with the repellant sprayer but the deer had found me already. @Matt_in_Maryland it looks like the Contender you sent is down to one leaf, they inhaled the whole thing which was almost a foot long. I hope it will come back.
It is becoming more clear that no repellant is going to make it through massive rains - it looks like we had two inches of rain this weekend. I had a few munches after the first inch, then lots after the 2nd.
There is a bit of good news, the back orchard with the Plotsaver didn’t sustain any damage. More generally while it did get hit once (during the previous deluge) it is overall doing better than the front in terms of damage. So I think I am going to bite the bullet and put the Plotsaver around the front yard as well. Plotsaver is something like double coverage of a receiver - no its not going to stop all passes but its going to make it harder because you have another layer to get through.
As I posted in another thread somewhere I have had real good luck with a electrified bait staton,
A chicken wire basket …with aromatic fruit ( peeled Apple, cantaloupe rinds etc.) placed in there late in the day when the humidity is high.
No need for a fence per say, but a very good fence charger is important.
As is a good ground rod.
You can watch the deer come in , nose in the air, they can not resist the smell of a ripe cantaloupe.
When their nose hits that electrified chicken wire, you can hear them snort for a 1/2 mile,
You need to convince them the devil lives there, and it smells like ripe fruit.
Works good for stray dogs too. If baited with meat
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I didn’t give you Contender. Maybe you mean the Blushingstar I gave you.
Too bad for the deer nibbles. That is frustrating.
Oops yes Blushingstar 
. All these modern peach varieties run together in my head…
@Hillbillyhort I had a few electrified posts but they were battery operated and may not have delivered enough shock.
If I’m not doing OK by the end of summer with Plotsaver I expect I’ll be adding some voltage in some form to my yard. If I use a timer to only run the voltage at night there won’t be such a big concern about kids getting zapped. Kids around at night are probably teenagers causing trouble who could use a zap 
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About 6+ joules will make them believe in the devil
Just put up a Gallagher S 100 one joule charger on new electric fence. Hope that’s strong enough. I baited it with peanut butter but need to repeat that.
Did Gorham or Harvest Queen stick?
Are you seeing nightly hits or do the deer visit at infrequent intervals? I saw some munching last month but haven’t seen any since. Curious if they feed by some sort of schedule.
Everything stuck, its the munching thats the concern. Gotham got munched, hopefully it will make it but its not moving very fast.
They don’t come every night because if they did there wouldn’t be anything to eat after a few nights. But as long as there is good stuff to munch they can show up for several nights in a row. Right now is a time of year they really like my orchard, lots of new shoots to eat within easy access (though I am working on the easy access part). New vigorous shoots are their favorites. Last night I turned on all my sprinklers for the first time, I feel I need one extra layer of protection for awhile. Maybe I will put out my old shocker things as well … the more layers the merrier.
Scott,
I went through your post but I am unclear on why you can’t put up a fence? With just T-posts you can put up a 7 foot plastic fence that will 100% protect your crop. Couple thousand dollars per acre protected. I have individually fenced trees with this and from a distance of 100’ you can’t even see the fence so it is not like it is an eyesore.
http://www.duboisag.com/en/deer-fence.html
Nothing other than a barrier will actually keep hungry deer out.
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I have mentioned that many times but maybe not above … I live in the burbs and my orchard is my whole yard. I don’t want to put a 7’ fence around the whole yard. Maybe one day I will change my mind on that though … but first I’ll be trying to shock 'em before I go there.
BTW on the subject of Plotsaver I recently found the following write-up on their page:
https://www.plotsaver.com/plotsaver-research-information
It makes clear that it often won’t give you more than short-term protection … no surprise on that, sounds like every other deer control measure I have tried.
And another update… I’m still mainly relying on repellant. I also recently put out my pole zappers, half a dozen posts which have a lure and then zap when they smell it. Also my full herd of sprinklers is now fired up since the pressure has increased. Right now its only one deer I am fighting back, it might be a yearling buck. I see him all the time in the evening hours.
I hear you Scott. That said, from a moderate distance I don’t even see the fence. The t-poles yes but not the fence. I personally do not find it any uglier than the scent fence you put up but of course your significant other may disagree. I personally work too hard and wait too long to give up a single piece of fruit or my precious grafts to those hooved giant rats and nothing other than a full barrier stops them up here.
I have put up deer fence before but took it down … its very noticeable in my yard since its right up to the street on three sides of the house. If I had a set back before the orchard it would not be so noticeable. Along with it being noticeable its a huge pain since I access the orchard from the street for many things but that gets cut off. Its just not designed for fencing in. Electric fence, that could work…
Joe I’ve seen a bunch of similar studies with those repellants and they all seem to get different results… the winner in one is a loser in another. So I don’t think they differ a whole lot, the main thing is put it on thick and heavy and rotate the type you are using. Probably avoid the worst ones too. I used to follow the labels for how much to use but now I use 2c per gallon on any repellant, thats about the max any label recommends. The coyote hair sounds good, they are uncommon here though.
Time for another blog update here (thanks for listening to my blogging (blab logging ? 
) it helps keep me focused on it to talk about it with anyone willing to listen).
Anyway… I am becoming a bigger and bigger fan of regular (weekly) repellant sprays. I have removed much of what they normally like to munch on and am doing weekly sprays on the rest. With this regimen I am getting very little deer damage. They have been browsing on my ripening apricots but I aimed one of the sprinklers point-blank at it and that has stopped that for now. The only problem with the repellants is I am putting down enough that it is adversely affecting some leaves, one of my peach grafts defoliated. So it is now caged in chicken wire and will get no more repellant sprays.
One other interesting fact this year is I only seem to have one deer visiting, its the same guy every time. In past years it was herds that really caused trouble. I am keeping up the spraying on my Plotsaver tape not for this one guy who just jumps right over it but in case any other random groups of deer show up.
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Are you able to cage the varieties they are getting to? The four legged monsters used to be regulars here but i havent seen them since i put cages around the trees they were hitting. They love apples, plums and pluots here. They dont typically bother my persimmons, peaches and pears for some reason.
I have too many low trees all over my yard to cage all, but I am starting to cage new things as it has become clear that I can’t keep the deer away enough to get them to extend over deer height. This year I have all my romance cherries fenced in and I put chicken wire on my new peach grafts. All the apple grafts are so far in the open and only one has gotten munched. I didn’t find it too hard to put chicken wire cones on the peach grafts and so I expect I will be doing more of that in future years.
Has anyone tried this for deer and other animals? It got good rating and solar battery powered. Less than $50
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C4V5DRB/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3DHI53UIY5YV0
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If you look at e.g.
https://www.amazon.com/Bird-X-Electronic-Repeller-ultrasonic-sound-waves/dp/B000RUDBMC/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1530128690&sr=8-12&keywords=ultrasonic+animal+repeller
which is a similar product you will see the usual results for most deer repellers: it works for some people and not others. But the one you link seems to also use a strobe so maybe its overall better, it has few negative reviews. I am a little suspicious of new products on Amazon as companies have learned how to “stack” early reviews better and better each year, but it still looks promising. Maybe there will be a few in my future. I have three types of squirrel traps which has finally given me some real breathing room for the first year I can remember, maybe I also need enough modes of deer repelling as well.
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I looked at the comments of the law score givers, and it’s mostly have to do with customer service rather than the product isn’t working. With more than 300 positive reviews, I’m inclined to give it the same credibility as the average. Of course 5-star ratings with just few reviewers like 10 or less, I would be very suspicious.