How do you protect day lilies from deer in Bucks County, PA?

You need very tall fences. None of the products that are supposed to keep deer away work very well. I've tried nearly everything, but I'm slowly finding out plants that they won't eat. They even eat cacti here.

electric fence

I use Bobbex and have done for many years. I start spraying first thing in the spring and continue every two weeks until the bloom season is over. When you start early, they don't get into the habit of coming to your yard to eat. It has worked for me. I buy the concentrate, not the premixed. It is much cheaper that way.

Another vote for Bobbex. You do have to reapply while buds are still developing as Valerie said, but it has always worked well here.

My deer come in the winter and paw up the roots and eat them they don't even have anything hardly green on them.

I'm not in Bucks County, but I have had good luck with a product called Liquid Fence Deer and Rabbit Repellant. Start spraying early and often for the first few weeks. It smells awful until it dries, but apparently deer can still smell it after it dries. Good luck.

Have you thought about land mines? I have been battling them for years and it is very frustrating. Tall fences are about the only thing that I have found that are reliable. In my experience all the spray products work for awhile, but, then you will check your plants one morning and find them eaten down almost to the ground. This usually occurs just before the buds begin to open. Did I mention how frustrating deer can be?

Hire the A-Team? "I pity the fawn!"

Do a companion planting of Rottweilers.

I do the same as Valarie, except I use a product called PlantSkydd in the liquid form, I have had great luck using it.

I am watching this thread to see what others are doing. We have 8 rows on the farm that is 25 miles from my house and main daylily patch. We have a Lab and part hound mix here that keeps them at bay. I have tried sprays, Milorganite, marigolds, chimes, many things. I was so excited up to about one week ago the patch was full of buds! I think they were dining on the soybeans near by. A few days ago I went to the homeplace only to find one bloom in the field and Two Part Harmony in bud by the garage. I put a metal mesh chair over the buds. Many are eaten down to the grown and others, just on the buds are missing. Has anyone tried a motion sensor?

bluegrassmom said:I am watching this thread to see what others are doing. We have 8 rows on the farm that is 25 miles from my house and main daylily patch. We have a Lab and part hound mix here that keeps them at bay. I have tried sprays, Milorganite, marigolds, chimes, many things. I was so excited up to about one week ago the patch was full of buds! I think they were dining on the soybeans near by. A few days ago I went to the homeplace only to find one bloom in the field and Two Part Harmony in bud by the garage. I put a metal mesh chair over the buds. Many are eaten down to the grown and others, just on the buds are missing. Has anyone tried a motion sensor?

I have not tried a motion sensor, but I suspect they are worthless. The deer will figure out they are harmless. I mean I am a PERSON and they aren't even scared of me when I go out in my yard to scare them off, they just stand there. I could get very close to them if I wanted to. (not a smart idea though) So far my electric fence is working. I don't have the yard fenced all the way around, only on 2 sides, I hope they don't figure it out. I only need it to work for a couple seasons and then 6 ft chainlink w pvc mesh over that to 8ft is going to go up. Won't look pretty I'm afraid, but it is what it is.

Do deer eat the old heirloom orange ditch lilies? Are there any day lilies they don't prefer?

Oooo, good question

Charley

I spray with deer deterrent as well as use the Orbit Yard Enforcer motion sensor. They mostly do the job even if not foolproof. A good jet of water from the Orbit has produced wet deer hoof prints in the past and as an added bonus it has given my husband a jet of water at least once. He can attest to the instinct to flee.

Frillylily said:Do deer eat the old heirloom orange ditch lilies? Are there any day lilies they don't prefer?

I have large areas of ditch lily in my back field and the deer have never touched them. I have never sprayed or protected them in any way.

I have this odd spot in front of my house along the road-well the ditch

Trying to find something to grow there that will compete w bad dirt, full on sun, and bermuda grass. Would ditch lilies do that? Problem is the deer eat my lilies and these would not be fenced of course like the back yard. I could spay them though pretty regular since it'd just be a few.

Mine fight it out in the back field against all sorts of grass and weeds and they bloom every year with no deer damage. They make a pretty sight in the field. I can see them from my kitchen window.

I would certainly give them a try.

I see them growing in exactly such conditions all over the state here in Alabama.