How to Keep Deer Out of the Garden

To say that deer have been a challenge over the years is somewhat of an understatement. Deer love to graze around my garden. In fact over the last couple months we’ve watched as a family of deer has grown. Several fawns appeared in the garden and have been growing like the weeds. Gardeners and deer can coexist but as a gardener you have to use a variety of tricks to protect the plants you love.

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Deer Fences

The MOST effect strategy for keeping deer away from your plants is to put up a fence. Deer can jump high so most people recommend installing a deer fence at 10 feet tall. We fenced in our vegetable garden area by using 4×4 pressure treated posts and wire mesh fencing but only put it at about 6 and a half feet. That has been enough to keep our deer population of eating all my tomatoes. Deer are habitual grazers so if you can break the habit of where they like to eat they will change course and go toward easier to reach food sources.

Deer Repellents

Deer repellent is probably the second most effective method at deterring deer. There’s a variety of sprays available to use. Deer sprays apply directly to your plants that are vulnerable to deer. As the deer graze the smell/taste turns the deer off and they leave the plants alone in favor of something better. The downside is you have to reapply repellents after rains because they wash away. If you add this in to your garden routine you can effectively protect your plants against deer grazing. Deer Out is one of the more popular products and has some wash off resistance.

Some repellents use predator urine to scare away the deer and keep them out of the home garden. Don’t ask me how they collect it! You spray it in areas where deer go and when they catch the scent they turn away and go another direction. I’m not sure how effective these repellents are as I’ve never used them but the science makes sense.

I have also sprinkled blood meal in random locations. It’s a nitrogen rich fertilizer but it leaves the scent of blood in some areas that the deer can detect. The idea is to scare off the deer when they think a predator might be lurking in the area after a fresh kill. This works some but needs repeated applications as the rain will wash it away.

Deer Tolerant Plants

While planting deer tolerant or resistant plants is a great idea it isn’t always effective. I’ve tried this by interplanting hellebore with my hostas. It worked very well for several years but eventually the deer found the hostas and chowed down! I still strongly recommend this method of protecting plants from deer but it does need to be combined repellents.

Deer Prevention Devices

Radios

There are a number of devices designed to scare deer away but I haven’t used many of them. I’ve always wanted to try hooking up a motion sensor to a radio set to a talk radio station to try to frighten them off. The idea is to scare them with human voices.

Simulating Predator Eyes

I’ve also heard where setting up a pair of red lights in the garden set to motion sensors makes them think a predator is looking at them. There are some products that simulate predator eyes that may work but again I haven’t tried them. Since deer are red and green color blind I think it’s more the light itself rather than the color that matters. I think in order for them to be effective these devices would need to be moved around periodically so the deer did not get used to them.

Motion Sensor Sprayers

I tried using a sprayer on a motion sensor once. It worked by turning on when movement was detected. It leaked a little at the unit and we had a leaky faucet the house and I didn’t want to leave it connected.

Pets

If you happen to have a dog they make great deer repellents! They will keep the deer away while out in the yard but when the dog isn’t outside the deer may take advantage of the unprotected garden. If you are able to adopt a new pet it may just benefit you in the garden as well as becoming a new family member!

Prevent Deer Rubbing

In the fall and early winter deer will rub off the fuzz from their antlers. They use smaller sized tree for this that can easily be damaged. I learned about this years ago when they killed a tree by removing all the bark around the trunk! Since then when I plant younger trees I wrap a plastic mesh around it until the tree is old enough to survive a little damage every now and then. There are plenty of trees around for the deer to rub, I just don’t want them on my plants!

My Recommendations for Gardening with the Deer

Overall I think you need to use a combination of methods. Nothing will work 100% except for a completely enclosed fence area. Fences aren’t always practical though. They can be expensive and requires some labor to put together. Deer are habitual grazers and if you can disrupt their habit to get them on a new path you can control the damage to some extent.