While they are very beautiful animals to look at, deer can be quite destructive, and they certainly shouldn't be in your yard or yard. In fact, they eat almost everything except grass, so they're not a good substitute for a lawn mower either.
This article describes some of the simplest, least expensive, and most environmentally friendly ways to keep deer (and many other annoying animals) out of your yard and garden.
Steps
Step 1. Use human hair as a deterrent
Human hair can keep deer away, so get some from a local barber or hairdresser (who should give it to you for free).
- Spread your hair in your flower garden. The smell of the people to whom the hair belonged will keep the deer away.
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Put some of the remaining hair in a sock or stocking. Hang them in the garden for the same effect. Arrange them especially at the end of the rows and in the outermost rows.
Make sure the stocking looks nice; in this way you will keep the deer away without falling in style. If you put on an old sock or a horrible color, your neighbors may think you have bad taste
Step 2. Make some pepper spray
Use it to spray the plants you want to protect from deer.
Step 3. Grow plants that are not loved by deer
This remedy has a big footnote - deer, if hungry or curious enough, will eat just about anything. For this, none of the plants that might keep them away are safe remedies, but you can at least try. Some of the plants despised by deer include ornamental grasses, irises, foxgloves, yuccas, herbs and plants with a strong scent, such as sage, chives, lemon balm and monarda, etc. They do not even appreciate plants with thorns, such as echinacea, although roses seem to be an exception to this rule.
At the same time, keep in mind the plants that will attract deer to your garden. Plants such as tulips, chrysanthemums, hyacinths, roses, apple trees, beans, peas, raspberries, strawberries, sweet corn, agaves, dogwood, fruit trees, Norway maple, taxes and azaleas. In some cases, people plant these plants away from other parts of the garden to keep deer away; this is a risky method, as deer may be intrigued by the plant and decide to continue exploring your property
Step 4. Find deer repellent
You can use many of them. You may want to purchase some from hardware or garden supply stores. If you decide to do so, follow the application instructions. Homemade alternatives include mothballs (to hang in bags on low branches at deer height), thorny branches (to use as a fence or barrier), rotten fish heads, bone and blood meal, garlic, fabric softeners, etc. Not all of these options are eco-friendly - mothballs for example are a pretty active chemical, and commercial repellents may contain chemicals you don't want to use. Also you have to consider the potency of the smell; if some things smell too unpleasant, you will keep not only deer but yourself away from your garden!
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Many commercial repellents include odorless fox urine, coyote urine, or wolf urine as ingredients. As you know, these are products based on the urine of deer predators. This can inspire you to find other ways to keep deer away:
- Take the dog out to mark the ground. You will need to repeat this every few days, or after it has rained.
- If you live in an isolated area, you can mark your land regularly. If you don't want to expose yourself that much, you could collect your urine with a bucket when using the bathroom. Then you could take a spray bottle, fill it with your urine, and use it to wet certain spots in the garden. You should use a dedicated spray bottle for this, and never use it for any other purpose. Put a nice label on it!
- Soap flakes on the ground can keep deer away.
Step 5. Use deer deterrents that exploit noise, lights or create barriers
You can try many solutions, and in combination with other methods, you may be successful. Bright lights activated by motion sensors can scare deer (and thieves) at night, while reflective objects like CDs and foil strips can annoy deer by day. To make noise, you could use noise machines, gas guns (they are not cheap and are usually used to protect vineyards and cultivated fields), radio noises (which you can connect to the motion sensors of the lights), whistles and firecrackers. Barriers can include fences, invisible fishing lines, and sprinklers that suddenly turn on when touched. Unfortunately for your wallet, the enclosure will need to be at least 2.5m high or covered with obstacles to prevent the deer from jumping over it. To save money, fence off the plants you care about and not all of your property. A low voltage electrified fence can be a good solution if you like the idea of having and maintaining such a fence.
- Keep some plants in a greenhouse to prevent them from being reached by deer. Make sure you keep the greenhouse door closed at all times.
- Ask your hardware store if they sell nets that can be used over plants.
Step 6. Keep a dog
Deer do not like dogs because they are natural predators of deer. However, your dog will need to be free to roam around your garden, and it won't be very useful if tied up with a chain or locked in the house. Also, for this purpose, medium or large dogs are more suitable.
Step 7. Don't feed the deer
If you did, you would invite them to consider your garden as a source of food and you will not be frowned upon by the neighbors. You will also bring them close to the vehicles, resulting in an increased risk of accidents.
Method 1 of 1: Fences
Step 1. The ONLY really effective way to keep deer out of the areas you want to protect is to install a 2.5m high fence
Deer can jump over all obstacles lower than 1.25m with ease, and a 2m fence puts animals at risk of being trapped and injured.
Advice
- If the deer are hungry, some of the repellents won't work.
- Deer have a great sense of smell, and it takes very little repellent to keep them away.
- All repellents will need to be upgraded or replaced from time to time to ensure they function.
- Reusing a spray bottle that contained detergent is a great way to recycle and save money. Just make sure you don't spray chemicals on your sensitive plants.
- There may be some plastic bags or blankets hanging up so that they wave.
Warnings
- Do not spray any plants you will eat with any type of repellent.
- Wash your hands and rinse any containers you used after applying repellent.
- Do not use containers that have been in contact with urine for any other purpose. And wash your hands well after handling it!
