Deer deterrents?

[Serenity]

Thanks for the help, everyone! The fencing I'd like to do eventually but it's a big property and that's simply cost prohibitive right now. I'd be cheaper replacing the plants.

SageMother, I love that fountain. Even if I didn't have deer running amok, I'd still like one of those. Beautiful.

[tater03]

I hear you on the fencing. It is quite expensive and you would need to have a pretty high fence. Can't deer jump pretty high?

[SageMother]

I hear you on the fencing. It is quite expensive and you would need to have a pretty high fence. Can't deer jump pretty high?

Deer can jump fairly high but it is the chance they don't make it all the way over that could be a real problem.

Deer get caught up in all sorts of things because they tend to panic. If the deer doesn't get all the way over the fence then you have to contend with getting animal control out to remove the deer.

[justontime]

My brother has a bit of a problem with deer, I'm not sure what type of deer they are. He says that the sound of dogs puts them off and they don't like movement. He has some old fertilizer sacks hung in various places around the garden, they flap and make a crackling noise if the breeze catches them. He can unhook them and put them away if he wants to enjoy the garden. He uses old Cd's hung up to scare birds (the moving reflected light bothers them) and he thinks that these deter the deer too.

[brownthumb]

the bamboo water thing was in the movie Kill Bill, vol 1., during the fight scene between Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu

[hairycaterpillar]

Hmm. This reminds me..we have deer problems too, I remember watching a news article a few years back that said deer have an instinctive fear of lions. Lion dung has been used from safari parks and zoos to keep deer away. Apparently it is very effective.

We've tried everything. ..
can't get hold of lion dung though..

I'm thinking of making a kind of lion shaped scarecrow

[OliviaP]

You can get that Shishi Odoshi water feature here too:

http://www.primrose-london.co.uk/dee...-c-24_174.html

They also do ultrasonic deer repellers too, which I think are cheaper and would take up less space in your garden. Not quite as pretty though, for sure.

[davidbkeegan]

This may sound gross, but sometimes you can find coyote/wolf urine. I'm not sure if it works, but I've seen it and it's supposed to scare them away and odorless.

[Terisaccount]

I fought the battle with deer for 14 years in my last house. Deer get used to being near humans and get used to all the tricks we try: sounds, scarecrows, flashing sheet metal, big cat urine (zoos sell), Irish Spring, dryer sheets, pepper spray, 6 foot fencing, etc. My garden always lost, and I was starting to look like Bill Murray in his battle with the ground hogs. (Catty Shack) Roses (and other flowers) are deer truffles; they came for dessert and would stay for dinner, wiping out all my flowers, hydrangea, shrubs and many trees, even some described as deer proof.

I gave my roses away. With the "truffles" gone, I planted more of what they disliked such as most herbs, rhododendron, pyracantha, madrone, and needled shrubs and trees, and moved the vegetable garden to a compact rectangle on a ledge 3 feet up, completely enclosed in chicken wire.

Then I sat on the deck drinking my mint julep and enjoyed them, knowing the the ivy and periwinkle the poor starving creatures were eating will recover just fine.