Deer repellent for watermelon farm
Deer repellent for watermelon farm
The supple and succulent taste of watermelon taste delicious, doesn’t it? In fact, some folks love watermelon so much that they can devour it whole at a go. Well, sorry to break it, but it isn’t only humans that enjoy sinking their teeth into watermelon – deer do, too. By growing watermelon in your garden, you would be indirectly sending them an invitation signal.
Luckily, there are several repellent tactics that can be used to keep bambi out of your watermelon plants. Depending on your location and specie of deer you are confronting, not all the tactics here will work. The good news, however, is that one or two may work.
Repellent tactics for deer
- Spread human hair
Deer can’t stand the smell of human hair, and will always scuttle for safety the instance their nose smells one. One good thing about this type of repellent is that it is inexpensive and easy to source. Like most other types of repellent, it is needful for the hair to be reapplied as frequently as possible, especially after a downpour.
- Shreds of soap
While the scent of certain types of soaps like Irish Spring may be pleasing to humans, deer find it unbearable. To cut down on cost, it is best to use generic soaps that give off offensive scents, as they are cheaper than branded soaps. As with human hair, scented soaps need to be reapplied frequently, too. Only ensure the soap does not make contact with the watermelon to avoid contamination.
- Deer deterrent plants
Plants like marigold, lavender, chives and garlic are either foul smelling or bitter tasting to deer. Mixing this plants with your watermelon would create a barrier deer can’t easily compromise. During winter when food is scarce, combine other repellent tactics with deterrent plants, because deer when they are desperately hungry will eat just about anything.
- Deer and Rabbit MACE
Deer & Rabbit MACE is a form of commercially repellent made using natural ingredients like garlic, making it one of the safest commercial repellent spray around. It is both an odor and taste based repellent, in that it fouls the nose of deer, and even if they defy the nose wrenching smell, their mouth would be stung should they attempt to eat your melon.
The active ingredients in this product is putrescent egg and been proven in a university study to be the most effective means of repelling deer.
- Fencing
Probably the most effective repellent tactic for deer, fencing work best when erected to a height of at least 7 feet, and buried deep below to dissuade a deer that attempts to crawl through. If for any reason fencing doesn’t work for you, try electric fencing.
Electric fencing, as you may know, works by delivering small jolts of electricity to any critter that makes contact with it.
