A sideview of a deer with spots.

Keeping deer out of your yard can be intimidating.

A mother deer and a spotted fawn can paint a pastoral scene in your back yard, but to some gardeners, this picture means that Bambi and his mom are munching their plants, flowers, shrubs and vegetables.

You’ve heard all the remedies on Facebook, Next Door and even some garden bloggers’ sites, but the truth is home-grown deer repellants do not work. I’ll get to that in a minute.

Don’t waste your time shaving slices of Irish Spring soap or making regular trips to the local hair salon to retrieve human hair. No matter what friends tell you, these old wives’ tales are just that: tales from old wives.

Lengths of aluminum foil or aluminum pie pans hung from your fences, motion-activated water sprinklers or leaving moth balls near your plants are not effective in the long run.

At this time of year, every mama deer teaches her fawns how to survive the coming winter. They’re everywhere, mostly at dawn and dusk, foraging on tender leaves and flowers of daylilies, hydrangeas, roses – the thorns don’t bother them – blueberry bushes, numerous foliage plants and even, tomato plants. They’re not afraid to come into your yard, cross your driveway or sidewalks to find nourishment.

But your gardening life doesn’t have to be ruled by what deer may eradicate from your landscape. There is hope.

Physical barriers

If a deer is hungry enough, she’ll eat anything, but there are ways to slow her down. One of the best ways to deter them is to create a physical barrier.

Build a deer fence. Deer can jump six or seven feet in the air, but they have terrible depth perception. If they can’t see a clear landing area, they will hesitate. We’ve built six-foot tall wire fences around our vegetable gardens and fruit orchards, using tall posts, six-foot fencing and two more feet of wire at 12-inch intervals. The wires are hard for the deer to see, but it only takes one or two to try it before they turn their attention elsewhere.

Using low-voltage electrified fencing sends a stronger message. The light shock will not harm the deer. With my 80-plus hybrid tea rose bushes in four separate beds, we’ve installed wire fencing plugged into an outdoor outlet and grounded for safety. The fences stay on all year and work like a charm. Just be sure if you have visitors, especially children, unplug them.

Keeping them away

Reducing deer foraging can be only a regular spraying program away. Effective commercial deterrents such as Liquid Fence, Hinder, Bobbex and Deer Away do the trick, but the key is consistency.

Be prepared for the strong smell, but it will dissipate in 12 to 24 hours. It still works for longer than a week unless we’ve had multiple days of rain.

Available in liquid form, these products are applied to foliage with a pump or backpack sprayer. Commercial repellents won’t harm the deer, but the smell and taste are not appealing to them and can keep them from browsing. Alternating these products will increase their effectiveness.

At the beginning of the growing season – for me that’s mid-February – apply every 10 days. Reapply at least 4 to 5 times through the spring and the deer will stay away. Every year I diligently spray my hydrangeas, clematis, daylilies and the miscellaneous roses not growing in my hybrid tea beds. As my cherry trees and azaleas start to leaf out, they’ll get 3-4 applications as well.

You can use Milorganite for the dual benefit of repelling deer and providing a slow-release low-nitrogen fertilizer. A byproduct of wastewater treatment, it’s made from treated sewage sludge that’s safe and good for plants.

Here at Rose Lane, we’ve used these techniques for the past 15 years and had great success. Just remember two things: a consistent program helps reduce foraging, and no matter what nothing completely prevents deer from eating just about anything if they’re hungry enough.

Photo: courtesy Pixabay