Got Deer?
Everyone seems to have issues with the deer coming into their yards and making a meal of all of their shrubs and plants.
The dilemma: how can you be environmentally friendly, creature friendly, and still manage to keep the deer from extinguishing your garden?
This is a question I struggle with always regarding wildlife. I’m sure I’m not alone. What I try to do is create a balance. I love seeing wildlife in my yard. However, I also know how much time, effort and money goes into creating a landscape, so I don’t want it to be eaten in by a herd of hungry animals. I certainly don’t want to inadvertently poison them or any other creature, so I have to be careful about what I use.
If you already have plantings in your yard that deer like to eat, you may try repellents. Repellents discourage deer feeding by giving the plants an offensive taste or odor. Repellents vary in effectiveness from herd to herd and location to location – if the deer become accustomed to a specific scent or taste, that repellent is rendered useless. For this reason, it is best to alternate several types of repellents, rather than to rely on just one.
Odor-based materials, especially those containing putrescent egg solids, are considered to be more effective than taste-based products. There are a wide variety of odor-based repellents to choose from, including Deer Away, Deer-Off, and Hinder. One product I found to be useful is called “Deer Stopper”. It smells like rosemary and mint, which is most likely why the deer don’t like it. Examples of taste-based repellents are Chew-Not and Miller’s Hot Sauce Animal Repellent. Follow the label directions for instructions on how to apply these products.
Since preventing deer damage is easier than stopping it, repellents should be applied before deer become established in an area. Begin applications in early fall to reduce winter browsing. A major disadvantage of repellents is that they must be continually renewed.
Deer are creatures of habit. If you watch deer, they have their own “roads”. They travel the same way most of the time. You may be able to re-route them if you can create a barrier or disturbance before their route becomes ingrained.
Fencing: deer don’t like to jump into small enclosures. If you have a narrow garden, a 4 foot high fence may deter them. If you have a larger garden, permanent, woven wire fences at least eight feet tall create the most effective barrier, but are worth the considerable cost for only the most valuable plantings. These fences must completely encircle the area you wish to protect, with no gaps that deer can exploit.
Many people hope deer will leave their plantings alone if they feed them. This is not effective and is illegal in New York State. However, most of us don’t have that much land to contend with and generally want to do more to keep deer away from the landscape. Therefore I would suggest using plants that are not as tasty to them. Mind you I said “not as tasty” since a hungry deer will eat anything to prevent starvation. Keep in mind that deer preferences can vary from location to location and from herd to herd. If you are unsure of the resistance of a certain species or variety, you can set out a few plants in an area with moderate to heavy deer traffic. You will soon know if the deer find the plants palatable. Unfortunately, as more resistant plants are used, the likelihood that the deer will adapt to eating them increases.
For information with list of deer resistant plants, see http://www.rocklandcce.org/hort_lab2.htm
or contact Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Rockland at 845-429-7085 x3.
Thank you, and…. Happy Wildlife Gardening!
Laurie Lago Rispoli, Master Gardener
