I had a major problem with the deer. In 2019 they ate everything and I have a pretty large daylily garden. About the size of half a basketball court I'd say. Ate my seed pods and everything.

In 2020 the DNR gave me a permit to shoot them in the summer. My buddy shot three and I shot two and I had very few problems in 2020 and 2021. I've since started hunting out there in the fall.

They really haven't been a problem since but I am seeing lots of tracks recently.

I've spent a fortune on milorganite and other things even human hair.... Having my buddies pee wherever they want, bringing the hounds out there.... Everything but a fence. Shooting them is the best option. We have an abundance of deer around here. I saw over 20 of them the other day across the street.

My advice is to shoot them if you can. They are a very healthy meat to consume and really good if you cook it correctly.

For me, I'm planting a food plot for them at the other end of my property so they can feast on that. That's hopefully going to make sure they are around in the fall so I can pop my 3 when hunting season opens.

Such destructive creatures.

Hair from your hairbrushes. I know this sounds gross but I have heard putting human hair in places where the deer can smell it. Also you might want wear old cloths for a day and make a scarecrow with it again has human scent on them. Just a thought.

Diggerofdirt said: Hair from your hairbrushes. I know this sounds gross but I have heard putting human hair in places where the deer can smell it. Also you might want wear old cloths for a day and make a scarecrow with it again has human scent on them. Just a thought.

I tried that when the deer were going after my impatiens one year. I actually trimmmed my hair myself and collected it to sprinkle on the bed. It didn't work. I also heard that deer will avoid Irish Spring soap shavings. That didn't work either.

None of these home remedies have ever worked for me. Fencing does work.

PlantSkydd is pretty effective but soooo gross! We have used it every few months on young fruit trees and it does work for a while, although rain will eventually wash it off. It's just suck a bloody, foamy mess to mix up and is visually unattractive. It is made from cow blood and rotten eggs, among other things. I don't think I would ever use it on my daylilies. I have rotated all kinds of other ideas, with some success.

I just finally committed to 7.5 ft high-quality deer fencing and 8 ft t-posts every 12 ft. Just need to erect it. Am looking forward to greater peace of mind. I'm planning on extending the t-posts a little and stringing white 1/4" acrylic line at the top and slightly out. Deer don't see very well and have a hard time judging distance, so a 3-d aspect up there should give them pause. And if they literally pause, they can't spring as high. Even though the deer fencing isn't UNfriendly to owls, I'm hoping that the line will alert the owls to the presence of fencing as the plastic is nearly invisible.

These deer are considering the trench for our irrigation line. The more mature ones already jumped over. They want to follow but they are nervous. Paused, they have. We aim to keep them nervous.

Diggerofdirt said: Hair from your hairbrushes. I know this sounds gross but I have heard putting human hair in places where the deer can smell it. Also you might want wear old cloths for a day and make a scarecrow with it again has human scent on them. Just a thought.

Cool thought, except a lot of deer at times are human friendly, so they won't care if it has a human scent.

re the PlantSkydd, I use the pre-mix liquid version, yes it smells (benefit if you are not fond of your neighbors), don't spray it on a windy day, also you don't need to spray it on the plants but rather around the plants(exception on tall Lillies, I will spray it on the upper leaves) I have used it for years and have never had a foamy mess, but than again it is the pre-mixed version which may be to expensive for very large plantings (I only have your basic suburban yard).

Yes overall fences are a long term solution unless, you cannot afford it, not allowed to install it or just do not want it.

Ok. I'm going to blame this guy for the deer problems. https://youtube.com/shorts/BgC...

👍 we have a neighbor that puts out a trough of food for the deer!

So sorry to hear it.

I have less deer in the daytime since getting a dog, but the deer come in at night to do their damage. I planted 2 rosy glow barberry around a prized daylily and then Lambs Ear outside of the Barbary. Mission accomplished, and the combination looks very nice too. I should probably invest in circling my entire garden that way……

Barberry are so prickly, but I have seen deer damage on them.

I can sympathize with loosing prized plants. I tried almost everything Here is the short list of what helped me get back many plants and flowers that I hadn't seen in years.

1. Motion detector sprinklers.

2. I also spray the perimeter of the property 3' wide with horticultural oil mixed with horticultural vinegar. That lasts for several weeks.

3. Plantskyyd. The money I have spent on plants is well spent on this product . I use the Plantskyyd pellets during spring thru summer. 4 large buckets all season. $120.00 total to save all my plants. Most plants when added up are worth far more. The pellets last for weeks and last longer. Plantskyyd has saved many plants from the destructive jaws of the deer and antelope that come from the forest next door .

Since using Plantskyyd many flowers like roses, hibiscus, grapes, trumpet flowers and more have all returned. Spring thru fall. Many are back that I haven't seen in years even a few daylilies, some are back healthy and blooming since using Plantskyyd pellets.

See more deer pests problems here.
https://garden.org/learn/artic...

I have used all kinds of repellants too. The urine thing was disgusting, and I nearly killed my young apple trees because it burned them. Milorganite is not available here, but it did work well. I had to invest in an electric fence. Mine looks like an ordinary white rope, but it has wire woven through it to hold the charge. I put the fence up in early April when everything is starting to come up, and take it down around the first of November. Within two days after taking it down, my entire garden had so many hoof prints that it was impossible to take a step in any direction without stepping on one. Every leaf on the strawberries was gone. They had pulled up most of the Iris I had moved recently. A friend had given me some water sprouts from her rose bush. I planted them in two places, and they were only 6" tall, but the deer found them and trimmed them half way. Through the winter they will trample my prickly pear cactus to eat every seed pod they can find. They will shred the leaves on the yucca plants, and eat any twig of my apples that they can reach. During the summer months, there are very few apples that fall that they don't get. Fortunately, there are plenty for all of us! They eat the leaves on the tame blackberries, and any leaf from squashes that escapes beyond the fence.

Yes, they are gorgeous to look at. Last year I had a doe with triplets and they would stand about eight feet from me with their wondering brown eyes. I couldn't bring myself to be mean to them- but they were all does! This year there were fawns everwhere! Went over there yesterday. I had ONE crabapple tree that was about six feet tall, and a buck had nearly rubbed it in half with his antlers. They will often stand out in the street under the street lights and play like children, but oh how destructive they can be!!! Unless hunters can decrease their numbers, there will be a giant herd next year- and I live in town!

Natalie said: My Dad has the same problem. Dogs don't work at his place. ... He buys a spray at Home Depot, and it works wonders, but I don't know what it's called.

@Natalie
Home Depot sells Bobbex, which a U of Connecticut study showed was the most effective repellent tested. It was second only to a fence.

Here, Home Depot does not carry it in stock. It can be special ordered and delivered free to the store (or your home if the order is for enough $$). It can be purchased ready to use in a trigger spray bottle or as concentrate to mix yourself. It isn't foamy. It is smelly. It repels by scent and also by taste. Stay upwind, wear long sleeves, long pants, gloves, socks. Toss them in the washer when you are finished.

We use it and they don't touch anything treated with it. We watch for the first evidence of "tasting" the early season daylilies. They usually like to try the green buds when they get about nose high. We lightly spray the ones they've bitten and any others with buds at that stage. It's not necessary to drench things.

As the season goes on, if we see more "tasting" we repeat that.

So far this episodic spraying has been enough. We also occasionally have to treat other kinds they've sampled, such as hostas and hydrangeas (especially oak-leaf in winter).

We are in the country with some natural around which do provide them with other things to browse.

There is a small group which resides on our property. They walk along one of the mowed paths. Sometimes they try to take shortcuts through the beds. I put hoses, pots, and chicken wire in the way to re-train them. They won't walk on chicken wire.

I wonder how the deer war is going there?

Pat

Bobbex works very well at keeping the deer from eating our small shrubs out front. I don't bother planting flowers any more.

mcash70 said: Bobbex works very well at keeping the deer from eating our small shrubs out front. I don't bother planting flowers any more.

Deer can cause so much damage to any garden. It is heart breaking when a gardener nurtures flowering plants thru winter - spring …just to have the deer gobble all the flower buds.

The gophers too around my garden are just as destructive. Over time tried all the various sprays and many techniques to eliminate them.
Gophers and moles both have at times turned my garden into a 50 hole mini golf course literally . The best way to get rid of them is by setting traps in the main runway. Takes time to set several traps and they work better than any other method.

I have increasing deer pressure due to a neighbor feeding them corn year round plus developments destroying the woods all around me. The Orbit motion sensors work well for most of the season until the freezing weather comes and then I have to take them down as the sensors can be damaged if frozen. It only took 5 days for the deer to discover the sensors were down this year. So wanting to keep them trained to go elsewhere, I tried spreading a bag of Nitro Organic that I had left from the summer and it stopped not only the deer from coming into my yard, but it stopped squirrels from digging in the beds to bury their winter stores of nuts and corn from the neighbors. The product is sold at Southern States and has a similar smell to Milorganite and it says right on the bag that it is a deer and rabbit repellant that works about 6 weeks. I used it for the iron and low nitrogen content on my grass and only had one bag left. It's cheaper than Milorganite. Discovered Southern States only stocks it in the summer here when I went to buy more. It's really expensive to buy online! So next year, I'll do a better job of stocking up! Even though all the daylilies are dormant now, I don't like the deer stomping on crowns in my beds.

I use this below or one called repel
I spray once a week usually front row back row

If it rains I re spray

I love our deer and photograph them
And have for over twenty years they bring their fawns to us and year after year we see family members

This does work
Safe for pets