Homeowner Forum / Lawn and Garden / January 2008

There may be some special home brew but more than likely it would wash
away as well.

I have heard of success with a big rubber or inflatable snake. A motion
detector that turns on lights seems like it would work, though I don't
know how expensive that would be and the deer might get used to it.
Maybe play a tape of coyotes howling? It shouldn't be too expensive and
wouldn't have to be too loud, I wouldn't think. Then there's an electric
fence?

Alternatively, You could plant something they like better away from your
trees and plants. Maybe they'll fill up before they get to the trees.
Some kind of grass, oats, clover. Then again, this method might attract
more deer.

Alan

I read the label on Liquid Fence and decided that I could do that and more.
I use 5 dozen eggs, two quarts of whole milk, 10 oz of garlic powder.    I
have an old egg beater .  I beat the eggs and half of the garlic and half of
the milk and then put it in a 5 gal bucket.  I add about a pint of Molasses.
Seems the sugar is good for the mix. Then repeat with the rest of the eggs.
Fill the Bucket up to about the 4 gallon level.  Put this out in the sun for
a week or two with a cover. You will have to strain this mixture when you
are ready to use it, probably four or five times other wise the garlic will
clog the sprayer.  Use two quarts of this mixture in a 2 gallon sprayer
along with  a heaping tablespoon of Habanera powder
http://www.redsavina.com/ you can buy it here.  Then if you are really
devoted, you  can add a chemical which is the main ingredient on  a lot to
the repellents.   http://12.98.152.21/induspro_test.htm check this out.
This is the main ingredient in Ropel and other repellents. It is $200 for
one Kilo but one tsp is strong enough to be detected in 1000 gals of water.
If you look at the label on the deer repellent you will see that the
concentration is about  .05 % the rest is water.  I also use a couple of tbs
of Palmolive just for grins. And as long as I am spraying I use an once of
Seaweed to the gallon.

As involved as all of this is, it only helps when conditions are good.  When
it dries out and there is not a lot of forage, the deer will eat anything
and everything.  During the extend dry period of last year they ate my
prickle pear and everything else. GOOD LUCK

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT  "GOOD LUCK" MEANS CHECK OUT

http://www.garagelogic.com/onthenet.htm

from 3 -6 on week days.

"GolfNut" <> wrote in message

I have been fighting them for years - about ready to give up.

Fences don't work unless well over 6 feet high.   Just today, I saw a doe in
my back yard jump a six foot fence into my neighbor's yard.

Electric fences don't work.  A few years ago, I put an electric fence around
a garden.   I used four runs of wire separated about 12 to 14 inches.
Within a week, I saw a deer get onto the fence and get tangled, and the last
I saw of most of the wire, it was trailing behind the deer as it ran off.

When I plant bushes or trees, I put a 4 foot fence around the plant, leaving
room for the plant to grow.   I stake it to the ground with 3 or 4 pieces of
3/8 inch rebar (cut to about 3 feet long).    I keep the wire about a foot
off the ground so I can mow and trim around it.    If the bush/tree limbs
start pushing through the wire, I may add bird netting over them.    I leave
this fence up for a few years until the tree is tall enough the deer can't
reach the leaves or the bush is older and less tender (I suppose) and then I
let the deer eat off the lower part they can reach, if they want to.

Sorry, I don't think there is a good answer to your problem except to get
rid of the deer, and I don't know how to do that safely and/or legally.

Bob

The more logging the more deer are blamed on for the problem.  The true
problem is logging federal public land does not increase forest health but
make parts of the once fertile forest to appear as pathogens.  We are the
pathogens.

Not sure how well this works, and maybe not so well in large areas, but
there is a product called the "scarecrow" it is a motion activated
sprinkler --- I bought one but it was shipped to me broken so I can't tell
you yet how it works. You could always get an outside dog that chases them
away (I discovered that the one I am petsitting at the moment enjoys doing
that.)