Deer – what can you do about deer eating your plantings? First of all, let me tell you that I feel your pain. There’s nothing worse than feeding wild animals with your expensive and lovingly cared for specimen plants. Also have you seen those rows of evergreens with the bottom six feet cleaned off, that is just heartbreaking.
Deer potions and old legends
There are lots of experts who will tell you predator urine, dial soap, blood meal, and other potions will work. Sorry, but not true. If a deer is hungry enough, there is not much that can stop it. Think from the deer’s point of view; as long as you keep alert and post a lookout from your herd to watch out for predators, what’s the big deal.
And the soap thing looks ridiculous. Have you ever noticed that when you open a new bar of soap the smell is overpowering and after a couple of showers it’s barely even there? Try that with the torrential rains after a month.
There are also noisemakers and moving objects and other nonsense. The only animals they scare are your neighbors and you might get a surprise visit they’re worried that something’s wrong at your house.
Of course, you can always put up a fence, and they’ve been know to be very effective, but I’m not really a fence person.
A herd can be persuaded to dine elsewhere – the legend
So what works? The only success (and it’s very limited) I’ve had has been with coating the plants with a substance that makes it smell bad and taste bad and as a bonus painful for them to eat it. Rotten egg spray is the winner.
There are probably a few of you thinking that arsenic would be just the ticket, but one substance is much more benign that you can make yourself – it’s pepper spray, the hottest pepper you can buy. And use fresh stuff – anything older than a month get some fresh one. My mixture calls for water and equal parts of cayenne, habanero & white pepper (about a tablespoon of each in a pint of water). Spray this on the plants and your protection will last until the first rain. Then you have to spray it on again. There are available commercial pepper waxes that are supposedly less water soluble and will last longer but I haven’t tried them.
On top of starting a vicious cycle of spraying and raining and spraying, you may find that your particular deer herd develops a fondness for their greens with a Mexican spice. Also if they’re hungry enough they will eat anything and everything. These ladies below will tell you that.
Their favorites to avoid planting in Sudbury
So what do deer like to eat, i.e. what should I not plant?
- azaleas
- arborvitae (old varieties)
- white pines
- dogwoods
- mountain ash
- any kind of fruit bearing trees
- maples
- vinca
- strawberries
- raspberries
- sweet corn
- tulips
- any kind of yew (an all time favorite).
You’ve probably got some if not all of these in your garden. So there’s not anything you can do about that. But if you’re planning new gardens and have deer problems plant these at your own risk.
Deer-resistant shrubs and plants do exist
So what should I plant? There are some shrubs and plants that are what I would call “deer-resistant” either because they don’t taste good or have a texture that the deer avoid. There are some exotic ones, but the common ones you might select for your garden or already have
- boxwood
- American holly
- spiraea
- andromeda
- blue spruces (actually most spruces)
- arborvitae (new varieties)
For shady spots, deer keep away from a few but they love most anything that will grow there.
If you have a shady garden, there are some perennials that the deer avoid unless there’s nothing better to eat.
- astilbes
- bleeding hearts
- lily-of-the-valley
The fresh sprouts of your hosta lilies are one of their favorite treats, so try to keep them away from your favorite specimen plants.
For sunny spots, my herd is a bunch of picky eaters
If you have a sunny garden, deer tend to avoid anything with a strong scent
- wormwood
- geraniums
- woodruff
- lavender
- mints
- oregano
- rosemary
- sage
For obvious reasons they will eat but don’t like spiky textures
- nettles
- thistles
- woolly lamb’s ears
For some reason I can’t explain, they also don’t like
- butterfly bushes
- digitalis
- coneflowers
- baby’s breath
- Shasta daisies
- almost any kind of irises.
In summary, It’s too late this year to plant many of these things this season but keep all this in mind when you’re planning next year’s gardens. They are real solutions .
Besides being a really good gardener, Mike Hunter is an excellent RE Broker.
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