Deer Repellent

[StuM]

Curious what actually works 

I am am redoing my back yard in a few weeks and a deer has begun to visit my yard frequently and I suspect she would destroy the new sod before it takes root.

I have taken 2 actions. First I got an ultrasonic repellent and second I put bars of Irish Spring soap where she frequently enters the yard.

Any additional suggestions?  Have my steps worked for others? what has worked for others,

Looking to protect my $$$ investment.

 

 

 

[billchao]

1 hour ago, StuM said:

Curious what actually works

A nice tall fence 😃

My vegetable garden is closed off on one side by a 3’ tall fence that goes to my concrete patio and on the other side by a 6’ tall fence I made on the other side with some metal hardware cloth. That’s not actually physically high enough to keep them from jumping in but enough to keep them from trying.

They like to eat the flower buds in the front yard though so we have to put up some temporary fencing around them and cover the smaller flowers with pots every evening since they’re mostly active during dusk and dawn.

Doesn’t stop them from coming into the yard and taking a dump everywhere, but they’re eating the neighbors’ flowers instead.

They don’t eat grass though? If you get a few tracks here and there, the grass will fill it in at some point right?

[StuM]

14 hours ago, billchao said:

A nice tall fence 😃

My vegetable garden is closed off on one side by a 3’ tall fence that goes to my concrete patio and on the other side by a 6’ tall fence I made on the other side with some metal hardware cloth. That’s not actually physically high enough to keep them from jumping in but enough to keep them from trying.

They like to eat the flower buds in the front yard though so we have to put up some temporary fencing around them and cover the smaller flowers with pots every evening since they’re mostly active during dusk and dawn.

Doesn’t stop them from coming into the yard and taking a dump everywhere, but they’re eating the neighbors’ flowers instead.

They don’t eat grass though? If you get a few tracks here and there, the grass will fill it in at some point right?

I have a 4’ fence that she easily clears. I really wanted to avoid the cost of changing the fence.

My concern with the sod is not her eating it, it is pushing it all out of place and generally screwing of up since it will be a while before the roots take hold.

[billchao]

2 minutes ago, StuM said:

I have a 4’ fence that she easily clears. I really wanted to avoid the cost of changing the fence.

My concern with the sod is not her eating it, it is pushing it all out of place and generally screwing of up since it will be a while before the roots take hold.

I’ve seen them jump 8’ fences when spooked. The tall fence comment was kind of facetious. The only reason they don’t jump into my vegetable garden is because it’s an 8x40’ area between the back of my house and the neighbor’s fence. It’s small enough that they think it’s an enclosure they might get trapped in so they don’t attempt to go in.

They don’t like strong scents. Things like lavender and mint can work in the perimeter of an area to deter them from exploring it. I don’t know if that’s feasible to cover an entire yard, though.

[Friz]

We have a ton of deer near me, and can only plant certain flowers that deer don't like to eat.  That said they usually eat some of them anyway if we don't treat the area....we use liquid fence deer repellent spray and it helps on plants.

I dont know if it would help with sod....you may need a whole lot of it....fair warning it stinks at first so spray it before you go inside if you go that route

[ChetlovesMer]

16 hours ago, StuM said:

Curious what actually works 

I am am redoing my back yard in a few weeks and a deer has begun to visit my yard frequently and I suspect she would destroy the new sod before it takes root.

I have taken 2 actions. First I got an ultrasonic repellent and second I put bars of Irish Spring soap where she frequently enters the yard.

Any additional suggestions?  Have my steps worked for others? what has worked for others,

Looking to protect my $$$ investment.

 

 

 

We have had up to 8 deer at a time in our yard. They would eat our hostas all the time. What we found that works is to put down a garlic spray. 

We tried the Irish Spring and I think the deer actually liked it more. Same with the mint. 

Here's the recipe me and my neighbors all use.

• 1 egg
• 2-4 tablespoons of garlic powder
• 1 drop of dish liquid.
• Mix this with 16 oz of water and let it sit in a bottle or jar out on your porch for a week.
• Then pour it into a lawn sprayer thing that hooks to your garden hose. (You'll probably have to pour it though a strainer or cheese cloth as it gets kind of chunky.)
• Spray the hose anywhere you don't want to deer to go or eat. You can spray it direct, by putting it in a spray bottle, but we've had good luck with the lawn sprayer thing. 
• When you get done mix up a new batch as you will want to reapply each week. 

Seems to work well for me and my neighbors who do this. 

[StuM]

Maybe too early to declare victory but my security cameras have not coughs the deer once since I did the soap & ultrasonic device on Sunday. 🤞

[Zippo]

Good luck with your deer problem. We've tried almost everything over the years. We've found that they will eat virtually everything but the weeds in your lawn. If they don't eat it they'll destroy it by rubbing their antlers on it during the rut. We've tried soaps, repellents, unwashed socks, fox and coyote urine, bags of mothballs and things I can't even recall. They were badly pruning my young fruit trees so I finally ended up fencing each individual fruit tree in my "orchard". There are fences tall enough to keep them out but that can be very expensive. You can also put two shorter fences separated by a few feet but then it's difficult to take care of the part in between the double fence.

The individual fences have worked well and we've also come to accept that deer are a part of our landscape and nature and we're gonna, occasionally, lose some plants.

But those dang rabbits are a whole other story...!

[StuM]

Well, success is fleeting.  The last several days she stayed out, to the best of our knowledge.  We would see her on the far side of our back fence but our security cameras never caught her in our yard.  But tonight we saw her jump into our yard over the back fence the quickly over our side fence.  Seemed she did not want to be in our yard so moved through as quickly as possible.  She stayed far enough from the camera that she did not trigger the motion detector.  It is possible she has been in our yard nightly. 🙁