Oh Deer!

Blasted critters have discovered my pea patch just as they've started producing little pea pods. Weve put up a scarecrow and motion decector lights. Is there any thing else we can do?I plan on hanging pie pans and reflective ribbons on the fence. Pea patch is too big to cover in bird netting. I suggested to hub's, that he gets together with some of the neighborhood guys for a keg party and afterwards,they all go over and "hose down"the edges of the garden....LOL

Know somebody who put a radio out at night with some hard rock music. semed to work for them, but depends on how close your neighbors are I guess.

heard of somebody else puttign them battery operated motiondetectors out. When they cam ein the lights would come on and scare them.

neighbors are too close for rock musice....they'd hang me ...LOL

I read recently on one of the other threads where someone said that laying 4' dog wire on the ground around the area you want to protect will work. She explained that because the deer have their eyes on the sides of their heads they cannot see their feet and will not walk across the wire as they don't like the feeling and are leery that it is a trap. Sounds to me like the way a cattle guard works. I'm going to try it this year. If it does work, it's way easier than anything else I've seen suggested.

Karen

take it from someone who has battled deer for over 25 years. the only way to keep them out is to build a fence a minimum of 7 ft. high. all the other things you see advertised will work for a day or two but the deer are not dumb animals and it only takes a few days for them to realize that whatever you put out there won't hurt them. also, a deer will not jump a fence if he or she doesn't know whats on the other side so covering the fence with some thing that will prevent the deer from looking in is a great help. having a dog is a great help also. the dog doesn't have to stay outside. just the smell of him in the area will keep the deer away.

good luck

I have a fence that is 5 feet tall, then I run another single cable about 2 feet above that, never had a deer mess with my garden. They could probably jump the initial fence, but the extra cable would really get them all hung up. We'll see how it works this year......I actually don't have the cable installed currently, but its ready if I have a breach!!

Check out this site http://maxflex.com/index.html it does take a fence or a good dog. I have tried everything else so save your money and go right to fence!

I put a 10' fence around my garden and so far it is working. There is something else that I have found works for those items not in the fenced area. You could try it until you get a fence. I use netting from the fabric store. The kind in a bridal veil. It is not expensive and I wrap it around the tops of my small treesand they walk right by them now. I also use it for a strawberry bed that they were demolishing and roses when I need to. I put clothespins to hold it together. It actually works.

I too have tried it from panther pee to soap, to human hair, etc. Only the fence for large areas and the netting for the smaller.

Hope this helps,
Ellie

The netting, I would think, would work. I already have a roll of dog wire, so I'm going to try it laying down and see if that works. If not, I have posts I can use to put it upright.

Karen

There's so many dogs roaming our neighborhood,I don't think the deer even give them a glance any more.
Can't afford any more fencing. It's about 2 acres.I may try some bird netting over the ends of the rows that they come in on.

P

Just so you know, the bird netting has larger holes than the netting I am talking about and it is more expensive too. The netting I use is that of a bridal veil. It comes in many colors... I get green so it will blend in. The holes are maybe 1/32 of an inch large as opposed to bird netting which has holes, well I don't know, but large.

Just an FYI.

Ellie

Thanks Ellie.

P