My garden and orchard is surrounded by 7’ deer netting.
The deer have never gotten in, but lately they seem to be hanging out right next to the netting for a long time. Touching it with their snouts, eating stuff growing right outside the netting, etc.
I don’t think they would try to ram it, and while a really enterprising deer could jump it, I think they are unable to judge it’s height so don’t try…
Still, I would like perhaps a secondary protection. Bobbex, Liquid Fence, etc. What do you think?
All I use to keep deer out of my veggie garden is milorganite. I take a bag and walk the perimeter of the garden putting down a heavy “line” of the stuff. It’s worked for 6 years so far. I’d think if you did the same around the fence it may discourage them. You do need to reapply every couple of weeks though.
I thought it was human feces but now I see it’s microbes that were used to digest human waste What is Milorganite Fertilizer?. That kind of heat they use in the process kills anything. Heavy metals are another concern but they claim to heavily regulate metals. Everything needs recycled and this program that makes this fertilizer seems to work.
there are many hunters that would be happy to remove them for you. if you dont want shooting on your property, ask they only use archery. silent but still deadly.
I recommend a “Scarecrow” or similar impulse-sprinkler and motion sensor combo. The animals do NOT like that sudden “FSSST” that comes along. Won’t harm the critters, though it might scare them to death. Simple. Effective. Downside: You have to attach it to an always-on water source. (Though the sprinkler itself uses very little during the active phase, it has to remain “charged” to fire off). I have always had troubles with a little leakage in that setup.
I was in a similar situation to you with a 7’ tall plastic netting fence, but a month ago the worst case scenario happened. The deer learned they could ram the fence and rip through it (I saw them do it several times when I was chasing them out). For weeks they came through every night and destroyed years of my work. I am cursing the contractor that assured me that plastic deer fencing was adequate. I had to replace the entire fence, but the damage to my trees can’t be undone. Now I have a 9’ high metal deer fence and the bastards are back to grazing on my neighbors’ weeds.
If it is just individual trees that need protected, I think a circle of cattle panel works really well. Here is a link to a discussion. Contraption for rolling cattle panels into free-standing tree protection It is much more durable than the flimsy welded wire fence I’ve used in the past, and it can be moved fairly easily for mowing. I also have a 60’ x 100’ area fenced in with 7’ to 8’ plastic deer fencing. It has worked ok for about four years but I’ve had to make various repairs every year. Twice last winter the top monofilament tension wire snapped. Don’t know if it was deer or wind, but after several years the wire seems to be getting brittle. I’ve done a really good job keeping the weeds at bay for three sides of the fence, but for some lazy reason I neglected the fourth side and it is getting overrun with Morning Glories.
The idea of a ring of 20 lb monofilament fishing line spaced vertically every foot around a garden to protect the garden from deer would not work against White-Tailed Deer in the Minnesota / Wisconsin area. I tested the concept around a birdfeeder, and it did not stop them.
The deer must have gotten used to the repellant spray I was using, what are my chances these young ones (grafted a year ago spring) recover this year with any measurable growth or even survive until next year? They’ve lost over 90% of the foliage that they had (Rubinette apple & Seckel pear):
Deer here in Western Oregon are much less afraid of humans than deer I encountered while living in Virginia and Maryland. One this year has been ridiculously brazen. I have chased her out of both orchard fences when I was in there! She just follows me in if I don’t close the gate behind me. I’ve chased her out of the barn, where she’s been eating the feral cat’s food and trying to get into the metal trash cans that I use for goat and chicken food storage. I put some mineral out for her thinking that would stop the behavior.
We have people repairing flood damage and I should have said they couldn’t be on property while Mom and I were in Portland for two days for medical appointments, but I didn’t. They left the gates open. So now we have no beans, kale, or broccoli, the strawberry , blueberry, and huckleberry plants have been stripped of at least 75% of their leaves, my tomato plants have broken stems, and most of my younger trees have virtually no leaves now, including pawpaws, which deer aren’t even supposed to like. There’s poop everywhere, so when someone tried to tell me the doe wasn’t in there very long, I gave him a tour, snapping pictures of all the damage as I went, to make a point. I’ll spare you 40 pictures of poop, some of it very loose.
Some of this year’s grafts won’t make it; it’s over 90 degrees all the time now and I am gone several days a week all month so I can’t water them daily.
Most look like this, with most but not all leaves stripped, and may recover?
So sorry to hear you had so many lost annuals and had damaged plants from people leaving the gates open.
Many of my munched 1 year seedlings survived being munched in August. I had helpers remove tree cages around young trees in November… all were eaten to the ground, and maybe half resprouted. Just giving you a prognosis.
I’ve owned the Scarecrow for 13(!) years (Contech CRO101 Scarecrow), and it’s a great tool to have in the deer-fighting arsenal. It does leak a bit—planning to retighten it today to stop the water leakage.
if you dont want shooting on your property, ask they only use archery. silent but still deadly.
