The blue SDB is Demance and the yellow is Catamount. Both were hyberdised by my Dad.

They look awesome......I love the dwarves....they have such pretty patterns on them! Am rethinking the repellent if it smells like cat urine!

RobinD said:Am rethinking the repellent if it smells like cat urine!

I'm far from sure whether the ordinary deer and rabbit repellent works well. But the rabbit in my front yard that is getting increasingly bold about ignoring me seems to be eating other things after I sprayed repellent on plants it had previously eaten. So that is some evidence that repellent works.

A human only smells the clove oil in that repellent and within hours after application, that smell goes from too strong down to being pleasant, at least to me. I like the smell of cloves. There are several brands that all seem to be the same formula. Even at the initial too strong, it isn't a particularly unpleasant odor. The other ingredients that animals are supposed to smell sound unpleasant when you read the label, but you would never guess by the smell that it is anything other than cloves.

Something is eating my Viola Sororia in my back garden almost as fast as it grows. That was despite use of the repellent. I don't think the rabbits go there. I don't think it is the deer. I don't even know whether it is animals vs. bugs. But other than that, none of the plants with fresh applications of the repellent have been eaten, including plants that get eaten otherwise.

Meanwhile, the weed and feed had a dramatic (hopefully not just short term) impact on the dandelion bloom. When I applied it, the first modest fraction of the dandelion were blooming (which tends to massively accelerate). Those flowers promptly flopped over and never went to seed and no more bloomed. The dandelion leaves are all still green, but hopefully the plants are dying. The Viola Sororia in the lawn (which nothing ever eats) wilted a little from the weed and feed, but not enough to stop blooming. The weeds that aren't blooming yet are even harder to judge. But if the impact on dandelions lasts a while, that alone is worth it.

I love the smell of cloves, so I'll try the Bobex....the deer eat my Anastasia lily buds & my alstromeria plant.....that's it....they don't bother anything else....oh, rosebuds, too!

RobinD said:I love the smell of cloves, so I'll try the Bobex.

Sounds like I confused you.

I was talking about other brands in which the clove oil is more dominant.

I never used Bobex myself. But so far as I understand, its other ingredients smell worse to humans and the cloves just mitigate that, rather than being the only component you can smell. It is other brands with the simpler formula in which cloves are the only component humans can smell.

The others who discussed Bobex above should have a more informed opinion on whether it works better than the common formula and whether it smells worse.

Robind, The smell goes away after awhile. Only the kritters can smell it.
I dosed my gardens a month ago, no damage so far.
Just to be on the safe side I will dose again in June if I don't need it befor.

Was horrible the moment I applied it.. next day after it dried .. I didn't smell anything

Onewish1 said:Was horrible the moment I applied it.

Can you clarify: Does that mean (in that brand) the cloves don't cover up the other smells or does that mean you don't like the smell of cloves?

The brands I've used have an excessive smell of cloves when first applied (too much to be pleasant but not particularly unpleasant) which reduces in a few hours to a pleasant smell of cloves and the next day to a faint smell of cloves.

ge1836 said:s a month ago, no damage so far.
Just to be on the safe side I will dose again in June if I don't need it befor.

Does the product label and/or your experience indicate it lasts two months?

I'm using a brand that claims it stays effective for 6 weeks. Rhododendron leaves I had sprayed with it were eaten about a month after use. I don't know whether that means they were eaten by some other critter that doesn't care about the repellent or means it doesn't last that long.

The deer and rabbits here tend to destroy an entire plant in one night, rather than nibble. So the first hint that spraying is needed might be when there is nothing left to spray. (Whatever ate those Rhododendron leaves just nibbled).

I distrust most directions on repellants so I will forgo the costs of more frequent spraying.
BOBEX dilution of 3 cups to 2 gallons of water is supposed to last a season aka about 4 months.
I check every day to see if there are leaves eaten, so far so good.
I do plan to spray when hostas are up and lilies are budded mid to late June.
Liquid Fence was applied every week,after three years it didnt deter the deer so I switched to another brand ,that lasted a few more years , now I am using a new brand. I am used to the smell. When I count up the thousands of dollars and endless painful hours of labor ,the smell is low on my "never use again " list.

I bought the cheap stuff twice (different brands) from the clearance shelf at Walmart. So there isn't much cost involved.
This year (for the first time) I weeded and mulched most of the Hostas as they were emerging. Last year, the deer and rabbits destroyed the Hostas right after they were weeded and mulched (which was after they were full size). Deer and rabbits show a very strong preference for the plant they eat to not be mixed in with other plants, especially not with LOTV. So weeding and mulching makes it look nice but also creates the problem.
The Hostas are about 5 inches high now and have a growth spurt each time there is some sun following the previous rain. So I think I need to spray them frequently to cover the new growth.
Earlier this spring, I transplanted a lot of Campanula volunteers from all over my yard to one patch near my front door. Rabbits immediately ate all of it down to the ground, even though they ignore Campanula everywhere else. There is just a bit of recovery in those plants, and I'm using repellent frequently so new growth will be protected. I think I missed my chance to have them flower there this year. But maybe they will recover enough to flower next year. Last year, I waited until the volunteers had flower buds before transplanting there, so I had mediocre flowering there (compared to the more successful transplants in back). But none of the front transplants survived the winter, so I had to try again. The back cluster of last year's transplants have more foliage now than I thought Campanula ever get and look like they are developing two stems for every one I transplanted. Hopefully that will translate into lots of flowers. Nothing ever ate Campanula there, but I'm playing it safe using repellent there as well.

I don't have that much trouble with the critters.....they really don't eat much, but a lot of my stuff is fenced or in raised beds with stone walls....they don't seem to like the raised beds! The bed they like is facing my neighbor's house, unfenced & level.....I know it's deer, although I had trouble with turkeys eating my coral bells.....Would love to feed the spring birds, but the bear destroyed my neighbor's feeder last week......don't know if a repellent would work on the feeder!

I didn't smell cloves while spraying .. I guess just urine

Now my lilac is blooming. These photos (even the less zoomed one) were taken from far away with a lot of zoom (because this angle from closer would involve standing on a ladder in the middle of a giant rhododendron). I never know when the anti-shake will work and when it won't. These were hand held, and I'm far from steady, so I think it worked. But I ought to be less lazy and just bring the tripod out for such shots:

Pretty color!

I've got more irises blooming and my lilac

We have been having an increasing amount of tunnels. Either moles or voles, not sure which. I also think we have a groundhog that tried finding a way under our chicken coop. I think the chickens are the problem. The rodents like all the free food they find from me feeding the chickens. I've heard the groundhogs will steal the eggs. I have lots blooming here now!

Very pretty pictures

Two Dwarf Iris Plus Voldy's Mink

A few blooms in between the rain and chilly weather.

Thank you all for such pretty photos! I took photos of my first dwarf iris to bloom....also some tulips....I'll see if I can get them on the site!