Is Your Property Frequented by Deer?
It sounds odd to most people, but suburban landscapes can support more deer than wilderness areas. That is because deer are browsers that prefer edge habitat and rely on broadleaved plants, twigs, buds and nuts. Suburban yards produce a tremendous amount of edge habitat and desirable forage.
Deer population numbers vary a lot from season to season and year to year. When deer populations are high, anyone who gardens may become frustrated with the damage they cause.
The best bet is to employ a mix of strategies to reduce deer impacts in your yard so that you can play host to native plants and the wildlife they support.
Use more deer resistant plants around the perimeter of your property and using more vulnerable plants in the areas closest to your house where you frequent the most. You can also try this on a smaller scale, planting deer resistance plants around the edge of a planting bed or surrounding more vulnerable plants with a ground cover of highly scented plants that deer typically avoid.
To discourage browsing, first select plants that deer find less palatable, which include spiny, hairy, and aromatic plants. Less preferred forest plants include ericaceous shrubs (Mountain Laurel, Rhododendrons, Blueberries), American Holly, Pawpaw, spring ephemeral wildflowers (Bluebells, Spring Beauties), White Wood Aster, Jumpseed (Persicaria virginiana) and Christmas and other ferns.
Sun-loving plants include, among others, native grasses (Virginia Wild Rye, Purpletop, Indian Grass, Purple Lovegrass), eutrochiums and eupatoriums (Joe-Pye Weed, Common Boneset, Purple Mistflower), tickseed sunflowers (Bidens species) and False Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides) and Prickly-pear Cactus. For the most part, deer also avoid eating asters and goldenrods, plants in the mint family (Hoary Mountain Mint, Pycnanthemum muticum, and Narrow-leaf Mountain Mint, P. tenuifolium) and blackberries.
Not every year is the same. Some years there might be summer drought (reduced plant growth), a poor nut and acorn year, and excessive snow cover. All these things affect what food is available for deer and therefore may change what they are nibbling on in your yard.
A little nibble is okay, especially on mature plants. They will recover. Constant grazing, particularly on young plants, is detrimental and will likely mean failure to thrive and/or death.
Male deer also damage trees by rubbing their antlers in the fall. Consider protection for this reason, too.
FENCING
Fencing remains the most effective option. Newly planted trees and shrubs may require enclosures to prevent browse on tender young shoots, or the planting of larger specimen trees.
Install a single 8’ high fence or two, 4’ high fences installed 4-5’ apart.
Place 4’ high fencing 18-24” from furthest branches. The fencing must be tight to keep deer from leaning in to eat. If needed to occasionally prevent tree rubbing, drive galvanized metal pipe until level with the ground. The pipes will not be visible, but posts with netting can then be easily inserted and removed.
Or you can use wire strung between posts. From the wire, hang scent bags with a strong-scented soap and/or human hair, along with white nylon cut to look like a deer tail. These will help prevent the deer from breaking through the lengths of wire.
REPELLANTS
Repellents can be effective if used regularly and appropriately. Focus on vulnerable plants and understand how different repellants work. Some rely primarily on odor, some on taste, and some combine both. Be sure to research safety issues with any repellant.
Odor repellants can be biological or chemical (soap, mothballs, other substances) and are applied to a general area and/or plants. Many people try variations of human hair, sweaty t-shirts, dog or coyote urine to minimize deer browse. Be sure any biological repellant is humanely collected and that chemical repellants are safe for humans and pets.
Taste repellants use substances such as hot sauce or home recipes usually made of peppers, garlic, rotten eggs, along with an adhesive, to taste bad and burn a deer’s nose. They may also smell bad initially but are most effective when the deer nibbles a leaf.
Alternate between taste repellents and odor repellents. Start with taste repellents in early spring before plants start to leaf out. Switch to odor repellents when leaves are fully out, and then continue to alternate.
For all new plantings, spray immediately with odor repellent. Train the deer to stay away!
Certain fertilizers have a repellent effect, which will allow for about four weeks of protection. For example, spread a smelly fertilizer like Milorganite or Coast of Maine Fermented Salmon at half-rate when plants are emerging. One month later, spread the other half amount. Do not fertilize again for the year.
MECHANICAL REPELLANTS
Mechanical scare devices, which use noise, light, or water to startle deer, have some initial usefulness, if not disruptive to humans. Chimes and noise makers that operate with the wind can help. Be sure to alternate tactics and move them around, or the deer will stop reacting.
For more information about how to deter deer on your property:
