Deer

Yank to Al - I know deer is already plural - it just didn't have the effect I wanted.

You folks are hilarious! I didn't know gardening could be so full of one-liners!

We have such good times on the Northeast forums - only nice people!

Funny how Al is the arbiter of spelling & grammer. He just doesn't seem the type.

Pun intended?

Did you mean 'grammar', Dave??!

I could say "definately" as so many do even thought it's definitely spelled wrong.

I don't point out people's errors until I get to know them. One recent exception - I was at a meeting at school where they were explaining the math program that my district uses. The 'math specialist' put up a problem from a recent standardized test and said 'Now what's wrong with this question?', referring to the math question itself. I immediately pointed out the grammatical error in the question. He laughed and gave me the NY State education website to report it.

I give extra credit to students who find the spelling and grammar errors in my handouts. I *pretend* that I do it on purpose so that they will have an excuse to carefully read the material - the truth is - I just can't type.

No spellcheck, Cat?? What grade do you teach? Funny, I am going to a Broadway show tomorrow with my HS English teacher. We re-connected a couple of years ago. He lives in Meriden, CT.

Yeah - I have spell-check - and this is really embarassing - I teach MS Office to Community College students and am constantly telling them to use spell check. At least students can't say that I intimidate them!

Cute!

Uhm....yes, both the pun and the misspelling were intentionally done..um..to make the humor more pointed.

Regarding the Deer Scram (1) is there a similar product for squirrels? (2) do you have to replace it everytime it rains?

http://www.nixalite.com/ropel.aspx

That's the link for Ropel but it also discourages birds.

Is your problem that the squirrels are digging in your beds? I have no cure for that.

For digging, I use minced garlic and it works reasonably well. I use it when I plant bulbs or small plants. Just spread it all around near the planted area. Being Italian, I love the smell as well!

Yum! I burned the garlic butter last night.

Okay - so I spend all this money to develop a fragrance garden - then I put minced garlic in the garden to protect the plants that I can no longer smell because of the garlic . . . sigh.

I think we need to rename squirrels. If we call them tree-rats maybe local authorities will be more eager to erradicate them - or at least do some serious population control in urban areas.

The garlic loses its smell quickly but the squirrels are rubbing their nose right in it so it continues to smell strong to them. I've been doing this for years.

Okay - I will see where i can get cheap garlic Thanks. lol

Well, my Deer Scram arrived late yesterday afternoon. I got home in time to quickly lay it down around my (remaining) tulips and vulnerable shrubs. I smoothed out the mulch on the beds to see if I'd find footprints this morning. This morning: no footprints, no further evidence of night time chewing. It worked!

Here's a really curious thing, don't know if it is related. There were a tremendous number of crows in the yard this morning. You know, the kind that hang around roads and eat the road kill. Since Deer Scram apparently smells like dead animal to deer, I wonder if it also attracted the crows to the yard, looking for dead animals? If so, that's okay, I'll take crows over deer.

That's amazing! We have a large crow population and the thought that they'd be attracted to the Deer Scram never occurred to me.

pirl, it immediately struck me as odd when I walked outside today. I just never see that many crows in my yard. I know they tend to meander in packs, and I've certainly seen them in masses in many places. I know that's not unusual, and it may indeed be a coincidence. But seriously, it felt like "The Birds" movie. I have never seen so many crows in my yard (and only in my yard, not the neighbors') at once.

Funny coincidence - mine arrived yesterday too! I'll put it out today.

Wow - just finished putting it around the perimeter of the garden and half of the 25 lb. pail is gone!! This can get very $$ pretty quickly since they recommend re-applying every 30-45 days and after heavy storms. Ouch. I'll have to limit it to specific borders instead.

Take care of the perimeter and all should be well. The driveways are often the stumbling block.

I mentioned the crow thing to three local people and they all agree, ckk, that it's quite likely and made perfect sense. Now I'm itching to try it in just one circle to see what happens. Someplace I can see from my window here in the guest room.

Oh, Victor, forget about after rains, etc. and forget about every 45 days. It kept them away from us for about 15 months with just one application. The very best time for applying it is late October into November as the deer establish their feeding patterns, per their advice on the radio gardening show. It even works through snow.

I have been informed that planting licorice plants are a great deterrent to them becoming uninvited guests to your property... How hardy are they in the Mass.New Hampshire, Maine area I am still investigating

Well, I still have crow visitors in my yard. They seem to only be in the areas that I put Deer Scram. I feel kind of bad - I guess they'll figure it out eventually.

Bob, I never heard that about licorice plants. Have you ever grown any?

I am totally gonna make squirrel pie out of the one that has been digging up the tete a tetes that I planted on my corner. I planted one set of bulbs three times and I came out the next time to find the whole thing out of the ground neatly laid beside the hole they dug. I don't know why. The third time was on the 8o degree day we had so it fried before I got to it. They never disturbed the establishe daffodils and I don't know why they had it in for this one plant.
Martha

Bob, Is it red or black licorice plant. I have a sweet tooth. ;)

Martha, could it be that the squirrels have buried acorns in that spot in the past? Perhaps they're confusing your tete a tetes with acorns, and when they find out that it's not what they want, they leave them and walk away.

who can interpret the mind of a squirrel? They might make that mistake once, but three times?
Martha

If you are what you eat - no wonder squirrels are nuts!

I have a moderate deer problem here. I spray Liquid Fence on the emerging buds, but it doesn't seem to discourage browsing by the deer, although it has helped a lot with the azaleas. It may be that some buds emerge after I have sprayed. I also have a plastic fence but it is open to the front(South) where the daylilys grow. Any comments?

I have used two expensive 'Money Back Guarantee' products this year - Liquid Fence and Deer Scram. Neither worked. I had better success in the past with Milorganite. I didn't use it this year because they jacked up the price big-time and I wanted to try these other products. Also, Milorganite does stink for a few days. But I think I will try it again. Only foolproof method is an 8 foot fence completely around the garden. That's just not practical for me.

So what happened to danthedeerguy?

Attacked by does in heat. Never heard from since.

danthedeerguy still mia???? I think he was insulted by all the people that actually eat venison.
We were out riding(harley) thru parts of Jersey we've never been(we never take a map) anyway, we get to this town and there were no people anywhere just deer standing on every corner and at least 1 in every yard. It was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen. It was like a 'b' movie or something.

thinking he was just looking for customers? http://www.massdeerservice.com/

Well, that's a pretty clever web site! I'm not sure "customer" is the right word, since it's a free "service." I'm not a big fan of hunting, but I've seen a grossly overpopulated range - a large, fenced preserve - and it wasn't a pretty site. Sans wolves, hunting is probably necessary. What about contraceptive salt licks?

Julie