deer damage

[low_delta]

Deer are eating my flowers. This is our seventh spring in the house, and I've never seen deer damage before. I guess because winter was so long and snowy, they're looking in new places for food. After the first attack, I had hopes the tulips would bloom anyway, but after a second and possibly third attack, there's not much left. After eating the

Comments

[calicougar]

Go out in the dark of night and make a pee boundary around your flowerbeds. I'm serious.

[low_delta]

Seriously? Why won't that work in the daytime? (joking!)

Any idea how long that remains effective?

[virginiadear]

Probably until the next rain, or until the scent becomes undetectable (easier for the deer than for you to determine), which is why dogs, male cats, coyotes, wolves, and others refresh the markings around their territory.

[leeneh]

Fence.

[squid_ink]

its the only way.

pee doesn't work, the deer don't give a crap (no pun intended LOL)

[rhodielady_47]

Calicougar's suggestion is a very good one and the least expensive

[low_delta]

I thought of a motion detector system. Seemed like a lot of work. Billy Bass sounds pretty easy, though. I'm just not sure I can deal with having one out there. And an opaque fence defeats the purpose of having a flower garden.

I could deal with not having tulips, but I'm worried that since they found the salad bar, they'll be back for all the other tasty plants.

I think the urine or Liquid Fence idea sounds like the best idea. (I'm the hubby, BTW.)

Thanks!

[rhodielady_47]

Just don't let "Mrs. Grundy" catch you "marking" your territory or the local police will be repeating THAT story to all the incoming rookies for the next thirty years.

I hate to tell you this but if your deer problem really gets bad you could always serve them corn and apple slices that have been soaked in antifreeze.
Deer are one species that is very quick to over-populate itself and starving deer in urban areas soon start stripping lawns and gardens of everything remotely edible and causing thousands in damages. (Poisoning is a far more merciful death than slow starvation or at least I've always thought so.) I do hope I haven't offended you with this but you may need the information.
:[

[low_delta]

Not offended, but I couldn't do that. But I don't think they're getting out of hand. We're in the country(ish), and there are a few hunters around, plus coyotes. And cars take their share. I seldom even see live deer.

It was a long winter, and they finally discovered my yummy tulips. I need to either dissuade them from my garden, or remove the tulips.

[amergina]

My sympathies. I counted nine deer across my and my neighbor's yards this winter, so I completely understand your frustration.

(I do not live in a rural area. I just happen to live in an old neighborhood with two creeks and enough undeveloped wooded land to support a herd of deer.)

I use liquid fence for my shrubs. Also planting daffodils mixed in with your tulips helps protect the tulips, especially if you plant early blooming dafs with late blooming tulips.

But boy, the deer do love the tulips.

Another trick you can use is to lay metal hardware cloth down on the grass around your beds. Deer don't like the feel of it on their hooves. You'll have to pull it up when mowing, but it should be pretty invisible most of the time.

Good luck!

(My deer even eat some poisonous plants. Like my hellebore and my mountain laurel. I shake my fists at them. A lot.)

[low_delta]

I'll definitely try mixing daffodil bulbs with the tulips. And the urine or Liquid Fence idea sounds pretty good too.

Interesting about the hardware cloth. I wonder how wide it must be to keep the deer from crossing it.