Yep, they like my hostas as well. And the rose bushes. Some of my neighbors have their entire yards wrapped in netting. Others just wrap the gardens.
I just watch my hostas get eaten - not like they don’t grow right back.
I have to share my apples with the deer.
But I was wondering. We have lots of deer hanging around and lots of dogs in the neighbourhood. How come they don’t chase the deer away? It seems you never see a dog and a deer nose to nose.
In Northern Alberta, the only thing that stops them is fencing, and netting.
Dear Deer - My dog is mad at you. You do not want Grissholm to be mad at you. Bite us you say. No problem. I just hope he bites off your testicles (if you have them) and doesn’t eat you whole whilst your heart still pumps.
I’m still bent that they are all gone.
I can’t plant then again…they take too long to grow up…
All your stub are belong to us.
Sincerest regret, D.E.E.R.S.
You need to fence anything you don’t want the deer to eat. It’s fairly easy and cheap to go to the store, buy some metal posts and a roll of metal fencing and put it up yourself. When I plant new bushes I do this when they are still small and would die if too much of them get eaten. It’s not really fair to expect them not to eat what’s freely available - after all, they have to live too, and I don’t think they deserve to die just because they make the yard less pretty.
You could also put out food that the deer like better than the sunflowers, but then they start hanging around more and I expect that’s not what you want.
At our place, the rabbits and the birds piss me off more. One year I planted tomato seeds in cups indoors and when the plants were big enough to go outside I put them on the back steps to acclimate for a couple days before I put them in the ground. The next morning they were gone - the rabbits had eaten them right down to the soil.
The birds will eat the raspberries, but the little buggers only eat half of each berry they find, which makes me nuts. I don’t want them eating at my house unless they are members of the Clean Plate Club.
I don’t know why many dogs don’t seem to care about deer. My male greyhound will go after squirrels and rabbits, and would even chase other dogs and cats if he had the chance. He’d really like to catch himself an SUV, but when we see deer on our walks, neither he nor our female act like they’re even there. It’s kind of weird.
Ivory soap. Hang bars of it from the trees, put it on fenceposts, etc.
Or invest in some cheap wire mesh netting, run a perimeter and get y’all couple-three car batteries. Ker-zap.
Deer knocked over my 7-foot deer fence, so I had to build (i.e., pay to have built) an 8-foot fence. So far, so good. They stick their heads through and chew whatever’s in reach (sunflowers, actually) but do not vault it. So far.
How big are these deer? Could you make a few good meals from one? Also if shooting is forbidden, would it still be legal to snare one then go out and dispatch it silently, and bring it inside for gutting and preparation? Would it make any loud noise if it was caught?
Hmm… I need a sandwich.
When I was about 18 I planted about a quarter acre of corn, nothing impressive but a bit of work nonetheless. I was quite happy when it started coming up in nice straight rows, just like a real farm, only smaller.
The plants were about 10-12 inches high when the geese arrived. They descended like a swarm of giant grey locust. When they departed there was nothing but weeds.
Get one of those gallon sized sprayers that you pump air into so it makes a fine mist. Then pee in the sprayer a few times and add a few drops of unscented mineral oil. Then spray whatever you don’t want the deer to eat.
Wow, this corn has a unique taste. I…I just can’t put my finger on it.
Honestly, all the spray on stuff may work - for a short time. If it rains, you have to re-apply. After a few days, it wears off and you have to re-apply. To permanently deter deer, build an 8 foot fence.
hgq - I think I would get arrested for such a maneuver. If not arrested…Chastized by my illustrious wife until the day I died…I can see it now.
And this one time…your father drank of 30 pack of Bush Lite and pissed in the gallon jar of pesticide spray, and spent the better part of the evening spraying the yard to ward off the deer…"
He spent the next 13 days in an in-patient psych ward 