We have deer tracks in our garden, but plants are under the snow.

possum, raccoons, rats, rabbits and deer are a huge problem around Corralitos. The strawberry growers across the road and the my blackberry grower leasees and others have installed 8 ft. deer fences around their plantings. Apparently 8 ft is the max height deer can't jump over.

Our barking dogs keep most critters out of the garden...except gophers !!

Rabbits are the big culprits here. I used to have coyotes come around every once in a while and thin them some, but wow lately there are unbelievable numbers of them again. They seem to munch on the irises near the house where the snow comes and goes during the winter. They eat right down to the rhizome and of course that ruins the bloom for that year.

Joe.. I remember a couple years ago they ate all the roses at the ranch was looking forward to them was shocked as there are so many other things that are growing why would they pick those .. at least they left the iris alone.

Ed.. Thank You glad you enjoyed the pictures ! They help get me through the winter and were through the worst of it hopefully spring is right around the corner.

Elsa.. Glad I could help with the reference thread when I get home I'll share some more that were really good the past couple years at home for me .. You picked an excellent one in Absolute Truth it is my favorite of the Magical kids in 2013..I did a number of crosses with Joe's Magical as it is so good and had many wonderful seedlings bloom from it we moved to a new property and most of those seedlings from it were lost that year over a very tough winter to my delight Barry had also hit on Magical and started introducing quite a few things from it.. I stumbled upon Absolute Truth at Mid America and was amazed at how good it looked there ..was a row of it planted that was probably a 100 ft long at peak bloom everyone of them had perfect show stems, gorgeous ruffles and I counted 14 buds on one stalk look at the pictures of it in the database it is a must have!

Barbara.. I have not tried the sprays mostly because the ones I looked at will wash off as soon as they get moisture on them won't do me any good when it snows every other day in January - March but going to give it a shot in March when I get back plants lots of Tulips and Dafs this year for some early color and will definitely have to keep them sprayed have not seen the one you showed in the picture but will try to find it..

I like your other Idea I did try something similar we planted a half acre or so in the back of the property with a turnip mix for the hunters this year it worked really well in the fall they normally dig up and pull out plants out of curiosity in my field rows and cause all kind of havoc we find things blooming in the middle of the rows from deer biting them and dropping them all over it worked well until January but I think the problem is the deer can't find it now as the snow is to deep... they see the iris sticking out of the snow and it's something green to eat..so they go for it.

Tom.. What you are describing for the rabbits is what the deer have been doing here we have a couple cats that keep the rabbits in check so no issues here with them yet need to look into the electric fence for my field plants there it could work... but not sure of a good idea in the berms no way to fence it. I did try mulching them this year hoping if they don't eat them to the nubs may still get to see a bloom out of them don't think they can dig through frozen mulch but will see what March brings when I get back home.

Evelyn.. I like your thinking a web cam with a rifle if only it were that simple .. we opened it up to lot's of hunter's this season the problem here is we only get from Oct-Dec and they limit it to so many tags per person if I remember right Cali is open season on deer ? Really wish it was that way for us they are the number 1 pest and cause of accidents was really happy with the hunters this season almost all of them filled there tags and I thought that should put a dent in them and stop it for awhile but my Dad sent pictures a couple weeks ago and there are packs of Deer on top of them again.

I spent my Quarantine time this spring and early summer working on new projects for the future.. expanded the dirt around the berms and the side of my house with the plan being to keep all the new imports and seedlings close to the house and leave the commercial plants in the field thinking they will be better protected close to the house from animal damage. Time will tell if it helps with the deer was really happy how it turned out and the way the plants grew this year.

We liked the look of our previous property it had Iris wrapped about 6 ft around the edges of the berms and was very simple to work on them and maintain can get trucks in and out without too much hassle so planted all this years seedlings there.. Here's some pics from the phone camera of the progress with any luck the mulching helped protect them some and hopefully they didn't eat them all.

Dirt trucked in for the border of berms and compost added to the backside.


Widened the garden on the south and west of home plants grow well there.. new imports and favorite seedlings go in here




Ready to Plant



I got another 6 150ft rows tilled up and shaped for the future these will be ready to plant this July


Seedlings you asked about the greenhouse process .. this is how they look early May after 3 months of growing in greenhouse when it's time to plant we really like them this size as they take right off and most should bloom if not eaten by deer.


Growth on them this year pictures taken in September




Oct Freeze



January right before I left and no damage yet



Dad sent pics a couple weeks ago saying they found the plants in the berms and by the house



Current Situation pictures from wife telling me to stop worrying the plants are buried under lots of snow

Those photos sure tell your story, Brad: tons of soil, tons of work, tons of deer, now tons of snow.
How about fencing? Double electric fencing at staggered heights confuses most deer. If the outer perimeter wires are initially baited with peanut butter on foil strips at a time of year when the deer are moderately hungry, but not starving, they learn to avoid the area. It's not the eyesore that regular 8 foot deer fencing is. My friends who tried it this year used an intermittent current at first. It saved on electric, but one smarty pants buck learned to time it and get in and out between zaps. They said it did not cost a ton of money, but that was in reference to the materials, and not the electric bill.

What a beautiful property you have, Brad. It represents a huge amount of work.

AndreaD said:What a beautiful property you have, Brad. It represents a huge amount of work.

I agree, your property is absolutely gorgeous, and a labor of love.

Brad, how exciting to have all of that landscape to be creative with! Thanks for sharing your photos. Good luck with the deer!

It's really annoying to see the damage to especially the seedlings when you know it will take another year at least to see them. It makes it take so much longer to evaluate them. I now put up a small fence around the seedling beds to keep the rabbits out of there. I take it down after everything else is green and they have other things to eat.

wonderful photos of your labor of love and devotion to the landscape around your home.

cannot wait to see your gorgeous blooms this iris season!

I saw an ad for this kind of electric fence. Posts are PVC pipe with holes drilled for wire. Post acts as insulator and wires are close together and electrified. I wonder if this kind of fence might work for deer? It would be cheaper then some other kind of fence.

Thanks fo the photos, Brad. Your place is, and will be even more, beautiful!

Beautiful place,Brad and so inviting.You can tell a lot of thought and hard work have gone into all ot it!

Brad: with the others. Just beautiful!!!!