Deer Repellent for Plants

Deer Repellent for Plants

Deer are an extremely common garden nuisance for homeowners in rural areas, and increasingly, suburban and even urban areas with parks or woods nearby. The shy animals are widespread throughout the United States, and they enjoy eating almost any vegetation that is easily available to them. Though beautiful and majestic to watch, they possess voracious appetites for leaves and flowers can cause major damage to plants of all kinds, and utmost frustration to any gardener. There are a variety of deer repellents for plants available to suit various gardening needs.

The easiest to use and most cost effective deer repellents for plants are made right at home from everyday ingredients. A popular repellent is a mixture of one raw egg into one gallon of water, spritzed on whichever plants need protection. A hungry deer will eat just about any type of plant, and even cause damage to trees by rubbing his antlers on the bark. However, because deer are vegetarians, they are naturally repelled by the smell and taste of meat, which to them, includes any food that smells like eggs. Deer will avoid eating leaves and flowers that have been sprayed with this mixture, and gardeners need only to re-apply the mixture after rain or after watering the plants with a sprinkler. In the absence of rain, reapplication will be needed after enough time has passed for the mixture to rub off, or new leaves to grow. Deer possess a keen sense of smell and will be able to detect the egg and water mixture even when it is not noticeable to humans. In fact, the odor of the eggs will quickly fade to the human sense of smell after it has been sprayed, so gardeners need not be concerned about an eggy smelling garden.

Variations of the egg mixture include using more eggs per unit of water (up to one egg per cup of water), the addition of hot peppers or other spices, or adding soap to the mixture. It is recommended to start with one egg per gallon, because that is usually enough to be effective, and adding more eggs only creates a more expensive repellent.

Mixtures of only soapy water without eggs are also widely touted, but less effective as deer repellents for plants. Soapy water, however, might be preferable to homeowners with pets or small children who may come into contact with the mixture, because raw eggs can carry salmonella and other harmful bacteria.

Other deer repellents for plants include fertilizer itself. Blood meal, which is a byproduct of beef processing is powered blood, and is available as a fertilizer in many gardening stores or online. Because of the odor, it alerts deer that a predator may be nearby, and keeps them away.

While some plants are advertised to be deer repellent, a hungry enough deer will eat any type of foliage, especially in the winter months, when food is more scarce. Because of this, it is important to find an effective deer repellent for plants.