Deer repellents

Deer repellents

\If you are lucky to have close view of deer, you would discover that they are indeed a beauty to behold. However, their graceful gait and innocent look sharply contrasts their feeding habits.

Deer are ferocious eaters, and for years immemorial, they have terrorized gardens, farms and yards of homes both in the country and suburban centers. Given the slightest opportunity, they would tear a garden or farm in sunder.

As a gardener of homeowner, the best you could do is to seek innovative and cost effective ways of repelling deer away from your prized possession. Let’s have a look at some effective deer repellent you can deploy right now to deer-proof your garden, yard or farm.

1. Repellent plants

Repellent plants are of two types: odor and taste based plants.

Plants like lavender and marigold give off scents which not only makes the nose of deer itchy, they also interfere with sensory ability.

Now, deer depend on the sense of smell to do a lot of stuff: find food, sense the presence of a predator, locate a mate, determine how palatable a food item is and lots more. So, anything that messes up their nose equally puts them in grave danger, and they will do anything to avoid such.

For optimal results, surround your real estate with either of these plants or both, in large quantity. Better still, you could try your hands on other repellent plants like oregano, cayenne pepper and catnip – they are also effective at keeping away deer.

2. Repellent spray

Sometimes, foul smelling plants aren’t enough to deter deer from snacking in a garden, particularly during times of acute food shortages – you need something with scent so sticking to make a stubborn deer take cover, hence a repellent spray.

Luckily, an effective repellent spray can be prepared right from the comfort of your home. All you need is:

• Milk
• Egg (preferably rotten egg)
• Water
• Shreds of soap

Add the three ingredients in 1:1:1 to a gallon of water, empty in a spray bottle (if you have) and then spray the mixture at the base of the plants in your garden or yard. That’s all.

But if you haven’t got the time to prepare a spray at home, or maybe the mere thought of doing so disgusts you, opt for commercial spray repellents. Talking about effectiveness, no repellent beats Nature’s Mace Deer and Rabbit Mace, a repellent which works against deer as well as rabbits.

3. Fencing

Fencing is the way to go if you wish to permanently solve the problem of deer invading your garden at all times. The good news is that you don’t have to spend so much buying building materials to construct a fence, or call in an expert, who of course would bill you greatly, to erect a fence.

All you need are cost effective materials like fishing wire and wooden or metalling poles to get the job done. The idea is to mount the poles along the perimeter of your garden and then run the fishing wire across them until a repelling barrier is formed.

To prevent the deer from jumping over, ensure the fence is at least 8 feet in height and that the poles are firmly rooted to the ground.