Fences, repellents help deter garden-hungry deer
We either love them or hate them – there seems to be no middle ground when it comes to deer. Their antics, grace and wild beauty are irresistible and entertaining.
On the other hand, all that cuteness evaporates when you realize that while they are entertaining you, they are actually treating your prized garden plants as their personal salad bowl. Cute becomes a string of unprintable words and a vague reference to venison stew. Protecting gardens from deer in the winter is as much of a challenge as it is in the summer.
Accept the fact that there is no such thing as a deer-proof plant and that lists of deer-resistant plants should be taken with a grain of salt. If they are hungry, they will eat anything. In fact, their stomach chemistry changes in the winter so they can digest woody plant material.
Don’t feed deer. It’s fun to watch them, but it isn’t good for them and is frowned on by wildlife experts. It may even be slowly starving them to death. Because their stomach chemistry has changed, they may not be able to properly digest the grain or corn you put out. Feeding deer also draws in more animals that fan out to your neighbors’ gardens or get hit on the highways.
Apply commercial deer repellents once a month to plants they seem to like. Most commercial products have a fixative agent that holds the spray on the plants even in bad weather. Rotate a couple of different brands so the deer don’t get used to one. I’ve had good luck with Liquid Fence and Plantskydd in rotation, paying close attention to rhododendrons, low-growing junipers, hemlocks and hellebores.
When the deer population gets too dense it may be necessary to erect temporary or permanent fencing around particular plants. Tomato cages with a wire surround work for small plants. Any wire that keeps a deer nose out will work. For larger plants and trees, set up a fence that is taller than the deer so they can’t reach over it. For areas close to the house I am using wooden tree stakes and deer netting to make natural-looking and mostly invisible cages. For areas farther away from the house I set up more-permanent metal T-posts surrounded by chicken wire. Once the plants are above browsing height I will remove them.
Arborvitae hedges are irresistible to deer. They nibble the tender branch tips as high as they can reach, leaving the shrubs with a unique pruning job. Repellents don’t seem to work well, so the only option is fencing them. The fencing needs either to keep them far enough away or be tall enough that they can’t stretch their necks to reach the plants even when they are standing on a snow berm. A neighbor uses a two-strand portable electric fence set about three feet out from his hedge. Other people set up deer netting on temporary 8-foot stakes or wrap them with mesh netting.