Dealing with Deer

Posted on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 · Leave a Comment 

Winter is near, and, for most of us, so are the deer. They need extra food now, to get ready for winter, and some of what they eat – green leaves and grasses– are not readily available. So they are eating evergreen plants like yew, arborvitae and rhododendrons in our yards. There are steps you can take to help save your shrubs.

 

What can you do? You’ve probably heard the solution, but might not like it: an eight-foot deer fence around the perimeter of your property. Even then you might get an occasional Olympic deer that can sail over it. But generally deer are kept out by such a fence.

 

You don’t have to have a steel fence – lightweight plastic fencing will work, too. And you can use poles to support the fencing, straight young tree trunks you cut yourself from the back forty. And you don’t have to fence your entire property. You could put up temporary fencing just for the winter around a tree or shrub that is particularly attractive to deer that has been browsed in the past.

 

Burlap can be used to keep deer away from tasty shrubs

Recently I helped set up barriers around a pair of large yew shrubs. The shrubs are about 6 feet tall and wide, and in past they have been stripped bare by deer. I got four 8-foot hardwood stakes and drove them into the ground around each shrub– I needed a stepladder and a 3-lb sledge to do it.

 

The widest burlap we could buy was 44 inches wide, so my wife Cindy sewed 2 strips together to make an extra wide band. We draped the cloth over the stakes, and stapled the cloth to the stakes – all the way to the ground. We did not cover the top of the shrub, just the sides, so snow will fall through and not weight down the cloth. It worked well last year – the poor deer went hungry.

 

Garlic clips work well for me to deter deer

What else? There are numerous repellents that work to a greater or lesser degree. I’ve had great luck using little garlic clips that I get from Gardener’s Supply Company. Each has a clothespin type clip to attach it to a shrub, and has little cylinder filled with garlic oil. When you poke the device with a tool they provide, it releases the odors for up to 6 months. I use 2 per shrub, or more for bigger things or more attractive deer food.

 

Coyote urine is sold as a deer repellent, too. It is sold with one-ounce plastic bottles that have holes in the sides, a hanger on top and a cotton ball in the bottom. Dribble a little of their magic potion on the cotton, and hang it in a tree. Of course, you can also just bring your dog around the property and let him mark trees and shrubs. Some people hang bars of Irish Spring soap to discourage deer.

 

There are numerous sprays, too. Bobbex, Deer Away, Liquid Fence and Plantskydd are some of the most commonly sold varieties. Most use rotten eggs, garlic, or fish oils. You might not want to spray your plants the day of a garden party, but most odors disappear to us after a few days. If deer pressure is high, you might want to alternate which one you use.

 

Deer are creatures of habit. If they know you have good browse, they will come. If they think you have a pet coyote, they will stay away. No dog? Get dog hair from your local pet groomer. Some people hang sachets containing human hair out in their yard, or hang bars of Irish Spring soap to repel the deer.

 

There are ways to scare deer away, too, but most take some effort to set up. You could install a motion detector attached to a radio with an all-talk radio format. When the deer arrive, Rush Limbaugh comes on and scares them away, I suppose. I’ve seen motion detectors that attach to a hose, and send out spray when deer are detected. That only works in summer, obviously.

 

In areas of high deer population, gardeners sometimes choose their plants based on their appeal to deer. People, Places and Plants magazine (Now, sadly, out of business) asked its readers to rate plants eaten by deer. They published the results in Issue #45 (summer, 2004). Here is some of what they said:

 

Boxwood are generally not eaten by deer

Seldom eaten shrubs include boxwood, dogwoods, forsythia, and spirea. Occasionally eaten shrubs include blueberry, hydrangeas, lilacs, summersweet clethra, and viburnums.

 

Trees rarely pruned by deer include birch and ginkgo. Their survey listed occasionally eaten trees as Japanese maple, pear, pine, magnolia, spruce, willow and crabapple. I raised an eyebrow when I saw crabapple, as I frequently see apple trees that have been browsed by deer. Crab apples, I assume would be the same, but please let me know if I’m wrong.

 

In areas with lots of deer, it makes sense to plant perennials that deer love near the house, and those eschewed by deer farther away. So hostas and tulips, loved by deer, should be right near the house. The survey found flowers usually eaten include lilies, daylilies, hollyhocks, black-eyed Susans, and asters. Scented things like lavender, artemesia and oregano are generally of little interest, and those seldom nibbled include balloon flower, bleeding heart, astillbe, foxgloves, columbine, peonies, Russian sage, yarrow and monkshood.

 

For a more complete list of deer preferences, you may want to consult a book on the issue. One I like is Outwitting Deer by Bill Adler Jr. But remember, if you have a plant that is dear to you, fence around it – there is almost nothing a hungry deer won’t eat.  

 

Henry is the author of 4 gardening books. He is an organic gardener and long time UNH Master Gardener. You may reach him by e-mail at henry.homeyer@comcast.net.

Filed under Article · Tagged with garlic clips, how to repel deer in the garden, wrapping plants with burlap

Protecting Plants for Winter

 
          I know people who take down their Christmas trees right after Christmas. I am not one of them. I think of my tree as a holiday tree, or even a winter tree. I like to keep it up at least until Ground Hog’s Day, and once, when I had a really fresh one, I kept it up until St Patrick’s Day. I like trees outdoors, but having lights and green branches indoors helps dispel the gloom of winter.
 
          Because I keep my tree up longer than most, I keep my eyes peeled for trees set by the side of the road – discarded or unsold. I consider the branches of evergreens to be gold, and bring home unwanted trees. Why? I use the branches to protect delicate plants. You can, too, so don’t throw yours out when it comes down.
 
          Snow is a great insulator, and in recent years we‘ve had lots of snow most of the winter, starting in early December or even earlier. Not this year. It’s been warm and we’ve mostly had rain, not snow through November and December. Or we’ve had cold or snowy periods followed by warm days – a recipe for trouble. Plants do best if their roots don’t go though freeze-thaw cycles, especially plants in their first winter when the roots have not yet extended far and wide.
 
          Freezing and thawing of soil can push plants up out of the soil, or crack the frozen soil open, exposing roots to air – which is generally lethal. Which brings me back to those Christmas trees: I cut off branches and use them as mulch around or over new or tender plants.
 

Protecting Perennials

This year I planted 3 Himalayan blue poppy plants (Mecanopsis betonicifolia) to replace a clump that died in the winter of 2010-11. My ground is frozen now, and I want it to stay frozen, so I cut some evergreen boughs and placed them over those poppies. A 6-8 inch layer of evergreen branches will do much to keep the soil frozen if we have a few warm days. Of course a week of warm rain will penetrate even that, but there is only so much a gardening guy can do.
 
I have used Christmas tree boughs to protect tender shrubs by covering their branches, too. I lean the branches up against a tender rose, for example, creating a teepee that protects the above ground portion of the plant as well as its roots. Strong cold winds can kill flower buds – or entire branches of plants that really would rather be growing in Virginia, for example. I have occasionally piled straw or mulch hay over the branches for added protection.
 
Deer are not a problem for me: Daphne, my able-bodied, full throated corgi of great intelligence, is able to scare them away, even at night. I’m not sure how she does it, since she sleeps in her padded basket near the stove at night, not out protecting my shrubs. But deer rarely come – only passing to pick up fallen apples from time to time. (And once on Christmas Eve, before Daphne, they ate all my Brussels sprouts – though some think that damage might have been done by reindeer).
 

Protecting Shrubs in Winter

Deer repellents don’t work for long, and tall fencing for deer (8-feet is generally recommended to keep them out) is expensive. So what to do? Small shrubs like the yews favored as a front-of-the-house muffin-like decorations are easily wrapped in burlap, which will thwart even the most determined deer. Garden centers sell burlap by the yard, or in rolls. Wrap your shrub, and then keep it in place with some garden twine. This will also protect tender shrubs from winter winds.
 
Burlap is also good for protecting sections of the lawn. If your snowplow driver pushes sand and gravel up with the snow in a big pile at the end of the driveway, on your lawn, you will have lots of spring cleanup. If you lay down burlap (or black landscape fabric), you can catch all that messy detritus, making spring cleanup easier.
 
Don’t spread out a 20-foot section of material, however, as that would be impossible to move, come spring. Cut 6-foot sections and overlap them a little. If your ground is not frozen when you do this, I recommend pinning down the fabric with landscape staples.
 
One last idea for protecting plants in winter: you can spray your rhododendrons and azaleas with Wilt Pruf . It puts a clear waxy coating on the leaves to keep them from losing moisture and drying out once the ground has frozen and the plants cannot replace moisture lost on warm, sunny days. I’ve used this, and it does make a difference. According to their web site (www.wiltpruf.com) , the product is suitable for use by organic gardeners.
 
Basically I believe that plants should be able to survive on their own – without any special help from me. But I don’t always follow that rule, and protect plants, particularly young ones, from our cold winters.
 
Henry Homeyer is the author of 4 gardening books. His Web site is www.Gardening-Guy.com.

Copyright © 2014 Henry Homeyer

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