How do I keep deer out of my veggie garden?

Question

I have an electric fence. anything else to keep them critters out?

Answer 1

If an electric fence isn't doing it, I don't know.  I guess I would try to fence around the garden and put a fence on top too.  We have deer at our lake house and they are so tame that you can yell at them and they just stand there and look at you.  I think if they are hungry, they will eat anything and no amount of ivory soap bars or human hair or human urine is going to keep them out.  I have heard that you can get large cat manure at the garden centers and put that around.  Maybe if they thought the King of the Jungle was going to come out and eat them, they would move along.  I have thought about buying bales of hay and feeding them on the edge of our property, but I don't want to encourage them and make the neighbors mad.  Good luck!

Answer 2

shoot them.

Answer 3

meragold flowers they hate them

Answer 4

put a wire fence around it and lights

Answer 5

You know that stuff for dogs, I think taht it's called bitter apple? Put that stuff on your veggie garden, or you could try some type of repellent, not neccesarily for deer.  Or just find out what deer hate and put it on your veggie garden,or get a higher electric fence.

Answer 6

Go To a hair salon and ask for their bag of cut hair, its trash anyways. deer steer clear of anything that smells human, our hair surely does, clean or not. they can smell us.

thats what I heard

Answer 7

Leg Traps

Answer 8

The marigolds and human hair will work wonders. Put the human hair in cheesecloth and tie it to the fence about 4 feet apart, all along the perimeter. Plant marigolds around the perimeter. You'll be ok with the deer.

Rabbit,s not sure about.

Birds: plant a mulberry tree in the yard. Birds love mulberries and will pick them over everything, then they leave your other stuff alone.

Answer 9

try putting marigolds around your garden.. Almost all critters and animals dislike these flowers.  goodluck =)

Answer 10

I know this sounds weird but human urine will do the trick. It works, I guess it confuses them or something.

Answer 11

Keeping deer out of the garden is perhaps one of the worst predicaments a gardener can find themselves facing. There are many deer deterrent and repellent products available, but many gardeners have been trying for years to come up with a homemade solution to this perplexing problem of deer control.

     One of the best solutions to keeping deer out of the garden is to guide the deer away from the garden. I'll cite an example here. I had a garden not too long ago that seemed to be right in the path of the local deer population. The deer walked this path almost every night and as they were passing by, nibbled any green shoots that were in reach. I knew I had to come up with some kind of control for the deer fast or there simply wouldn't be a harvest from the garden. In checking out the surrounding area in the woods around the garden, I noticed that our neighbor had set out a new salt l**k for the deer. The deer seemed to stray from their normal path for this new salt l**k. I thought that if I could block off their normal path and set out salt licks quite a ways away from the garden, then maybe the deer would make a new path and bypass the garden on their nightly stroll. Well, this seemed to work well this last year. I'm really confident that it may work in the future, but only time will tell.

      Some other suggestions for keeping deer out of the garden are listed below:

Dogs are considered a top deterrent for keeping deer out of the garden, unless your dog is the type that lays there, raises an eyelid and basically gives anyone permission to travel across your property. Some training could be in order for your pooch, should you decide to go that route.

Fencing or netting off your garden can help to deter deer, but this can become costly depending on the size of your garden.

Some people have been known to pee, yes pee, around the garden and get successful results. I personally have tried this, very early in the morning, mind you. Had I been caught by my neighbors, they might not have thought highly of the idea. By the way, my results with this strategy failed.

There is a product on the market that works off the basis of deer not liking the smell of rotten eggs. So some people have let eggs rot and then placed them around the garden perimeter, with mixed results

We have several pet cats around the house. The deer do not approach the area around the house, ever. This is my personal observation, of course. I think it has to do with kitties using the flower beds and that's where the deer like to eat and well, you know. I can understand the deer's point of view there. One reason I guess to have cats in the garden.

Growing plants that deer are not particularly fond of can also deter the deer from around your garden.

Ivory and Irish Spring soap grated around the garden have also been tried to help deter deer, but the results were also mixed.

Coyote Urine, purchased at your local hunting supply,  has also had pretty good results in deterring deer.

Scare tactics, like throwing rocks, spraying water, running after the deer through the woods like a mad man, yelling out wildly, can clearly convince the deer that you are quite off your rocker, and can possibly deter them until they believe you might be back on your meds.

     Whatever deer control strategy you decide to use to keep deer out of your garden, please remember that you must change your strategy every so often, as deer will get used to the same things and be right back in the garden, munching on your precious plants.

Answer 12

Dogs are considered a top deterrent for keeping deer out of the garden, unless your dog is the type that lays there, raises an eyelid and basically gives anyone permission to travel across your property. Some training could be in order for your pooch, should you decide to go that route.

Fencing or netting off your garden can help to deter deer, but this can become costly depending on the size of your garden.

Some people have been known to pee, yes pee, around the garden and get successful results. I personally have tried this, very early in the morning, mind you. Had I been caught by my neighbors, they might not have thought highly of the idea. By the way, my results with this strategy failed.

There is a product on the market that works off the basis of deer not liking the smell of rotten eggs. So some people have let eggs rot and then placed them around the garden perimeter, with mixed results

We have several pet cats around the house. The deer do not approach the area around the house, ever. This is my personal observation, of course. I think it has to do with kitties using the flower beds and that's where the deer like to eat and well, you know. I can understand the deer's point of view there. One reason I guess to have cats in the garden.

Growing plants that deer are not particularly fond of can also deter the deer from around your garden.

Ivory and Irish Spring soap grated around the garden have also been tried to help deter deer, but the results were also mixed.

Coyote Urine, purchased at your local hunting supply,  has also had pretty good results in deterring deer.

Scare tactics, like throwing rocks, spraying water, running after the deer through the woods like a mad man, yelling out wildly, can clearly convince the deer that you are quite off your rocker, and can possibly deter them until they believe you might be back on your meds.

Answer 13

plant an identical garden next to the real one, they will never know the difference.

Answer 14

that's all you really need. You could also use a scarecrow if you want. they keep the big animals away. Just get a long stick or shovel and cross it with a stick, then put a white t shirt on it.

Answer 15

My sister recently accepted the fact she has an "all you can eat buffet for deers".  She has tried everything I see listed above from the fence, hair, lights and a gun.  Deer seem to be magical creatures and if they want that garden, they will get to it.

Answer 16

deer are creatures of habit and can be trained/encouraged to travel around your garden rather than through it.

there are several basic concepts to keep in mind when dealing with deer: breeding season, does with fawns, available food sources, temperature and weather.

I garden in the same area as a very large resident deer population and have pretty good luck controlling what they disturb.

Barriers----protect individual plants with bird netting, or stakes. Twigs can be protected by wire wrapped loosly around the last few inches of the stem. During winter I lay pine branches over perennial crowns to block them from eating them. Large plants that block their view discourage deer from entering an area to eat.

Scent deer are very sensitive to smells:

coyote urine near the garden will make them wary because coyotes are their predator.

moth balls placed near a plant will discourage a deer from grazing on it (3 per 2ft diameter crown)

blood meal sprinkled near target plants will make the deer think there has been a kill in the area and the deer won't linger there.

human hair has a bad scent and texture to them sprinkle clippings over the plant you don't want them to eat

fabric softener sheets fastened to plants smell foul to the deer and they won't eat them.

egg mixed with a gallon of water sprayed on plants will leave a distasteful residue deer will avoid

Deer off is a product you can spray on plants with the same effect.

Ground red pepper sprinkled on plants will stop them from eating.

clippings of fresh herbs have a repellant effect.

I rotate through the list of scent controlls, using a different one each week and it keeps the deer skiddish in most of the garden areas i care for.

deer don't like to eat certain plants:

anything in the mint family, anything with fuzzy or hairy leaves, anything with a strong herbal scent, lavender, oregano, thyme monarda, coleus, salvia, russian sage, profusion zinnia, homestead verbena, artimesia, to name a few

there are lots of lists of plants that are deer resistant but that doesn't always mean they won't try the taste so protect new plants will barriers to keep deer from pulling them out of the ground.

bamboo stakes poking up randomly in an area will inhibit deer grazing also.

Answer 17

Buy a rifle.

Answer 18

Be nice and set out a salt l**k for them to have instead.  Be extra nice and remove it after you've harvested your garden but before hunting season starts.

Good Luck,

Answer 19

have you ever heard of a deer slug? they come in 10 and 12 guage varieties, and are simple to use

Answer 20

shoot it!

Answer 21

just go to your local nursery and buy a fence and some anti deer plants but don't use human hair or rifle or leg traps because the Deere's don't want to die you don't want to kill them and please please don't but a electric fence it will kill them. no spray. no rifle.  no traps. no electric fence. just fence and anti deer plants few lights here and there

Answer 22

Home Depot, or Lowes sell a spray the deters deer.

Answer 23

put human hair from a barber around the perimeter or an electric or barbed fence but the hair is more peta friendly :)

Answer 24

a fence

Answer 25

It's the height of the fence that usually does the trick.  A short fence, even electric, is easily jumped over.  If they jump over it and never touch it, the electric part doesn't do anything.

Answer 26

May sound weird, but "MALE" DOG p**s!

Answer 27

gun

Answer 28

human hair sprinkle it around the garden it will keep them out