First significant rain in near 3 months, so I’ll have to spray my trees probably Sunday and hope the deer don’t munch on them before I do.
Couple more dead ones beside KY 461 yesterday…road kill.
I only have .53 acres but i had twelve doe in my yard last week. I feel like the numbers are getting much larger in my area.
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I’ve been trying all sorts of things and the deer just keep coming. First I put up the black deer fence, 5ft tall. Worked for a week and then they started jumping it. I added a second row. Worked for a week. They started runing at it diagonally and jumping one fence at a time. Then I switched to 10ft tall t posts , and added rows of wire. They jump between the strands of wire. So now I thinking to buy more of the black netting game fence and run it along the top. But if the deer cannot see it aren’t they just going to jump in to the netting and tear it up? I thought about turning the second fence into an electric fence but I’m in the city so i would have to run a third fence to stop people from coming in contact with the electric wire???
I bought a kit from deer busters. It’s expensive but effective.
If you can improvise cheap posts, just buy the heavy plastic netting.
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We are finally going to bite the bullet and get a fence put up. Unfortunately we are only permitted 6’ so I’m going to have to work after it is up to hit that 8’ mark. More money than I care to put out and the yard will feel more closed in once all is said and done but I’m tired of suffering the machinations of these hooved villains.
My previous experience using repellants was decent but a bit more rain than expected or a slightly delayed spray left me open to some pretty intense damage. Not to mention the occasional browsing in spite of sprays.
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Deer can jump high… Deer can jump far… They can not however jump high and far at the same time. So “obstacles” on either side of a 6’ fence could potentially be as effective as a taller fence. Two fences with the correct amount of separation with one of them being even shorter possibly…
Just a thought.
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Deer detest blackberries thorns as do people. Thats why people buy thornless but i have my reasons for these heirlooms and their uses are many Blackberries by the gallons . Free fence around your orchard is one use for them. If i was in Africa and the lions wanted to eat me i feel i would be as safe as if i was home in bed with those berries growing around my orchard. One apple is very safe in the blackberry patch from deer. The blackberries are a haven for quail and rabbits. You might be trading one problem for another. Blackberries are just a fence of a different type. My orchard around the house is fenced and the outer orchard is not fenced. The deer eat leaves and berries from the edges of the berries patch but never go in the middle of the patch. Would you? The plants can grow up to 20 feet tall no problem.
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I’ve kicked around the idea of a hedge fence. There are a few options, blackberries being one. Others that I’ve thought about are Darwin Barberry, Seaberry, and Hawthorn. Sort of duel purpose. But in the end a traditional fence is what me and the wife agreed upon.
@wdingus I agree with the barrier. My property is fairly thin so I don’t have much room on the margins for much of a barrier. I’ll likely be planting something along the inside edges but I’m not sure what.
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Saw 3 more dead ones beside Ky 461 today…that’s thinning them some.
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Saw 3 bedded down inside my fenced orchard… Last night and tonight both. Three strands of electric doesn’t cut it, they duck under like it’s not there. This winter’s project is getting up some proper fencing. I have the posts in, just need to support/brace them and stretch the fence. May work on it some tomorrow…
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We successful keep the deer out by having a 4’ outer fence, and a 4’ inner fence with about 6’ in between the two fences. Our dogs and their house/my garden shed are in the area in between the two fences. The deer stay away from the interior garden and fruit trees because the dogs are patrolling this area between the fences.
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Almost cried. The deer went through and bent more than half the stakes and stripped the leaves (23 trees)
Time to go through and replace the original stakes with tposts and add remesh cages. I thought that the grow tubes would be enough. But we are in extreme drought condition in se Ohio so they are motivated by tender leaves. Poor trees were beginning to recover after being hit hard by jb. My daughter spotted a spotted lantern fly about a mile away. I guess that’s next
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I’m very sorry to see this. Years ago they at times nubbed my trees off at ground level. Nature and I arrived at a truce many years ago. It is a fragile peace with both sides suspicious of the other. I would consider a fence if possible. The coyotes come here frequently now and the deer mostly do not. Getting things back in balance was not easy though once i accomplished it the problems mostly dissappeared. If i can make a suggestion consider growing rootstocks like BET first. Train the deer with very thorny rootsocks they learn to leave alone. This thread will explain one of my strategies.
And then this one
@jvanheule above wisely mentioned dogs as a deers enemy as well. They do not give deer a minute to eat without harrasing them. If you do fence in an orchard a nice dog on patrol is hard to beat.
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