When I used ½" rebar for a trellis, it ended up far from vertical after the winter. T-posts have the advantage of a wing that you drive into the ground and that keeps the post stable. They're also cut in a "C" cross-section, which makes them inflexible, and have a heavy-duty outdoor coating and holes and hooks to hold fencing material.

I tried pushing one into the ground, and it was pretty easy to push over. So it would probably end up like your trellis:) Even small deer would be able to easily push it over, if it wasn't reinforced somehow. So I'd need to find a simple and cheap way to reinforce them, or it wouldn't make sense to use them instead of t-posts.

Metal fence posts are made for the purpose. Trying to use a cheaper, lighter substitute is false economy, IMO. It's not a matter of how large the deer are. Deer don't push fences over. They jump them. Instead, it's a matter of how strong the fence needs to be just to support itself under normal weather conditions, human impact, etc. You don't want it to gradually fall over as time goes by.

Jim

Oh deer!

I guess the question to ask back is... how would you fasten or station the fence post?

I use the said 10-foot electrical conduits fastened to the wood bed frames. They are quite sturdy when stiff top support is also added. For deer fences around young tree trunks, heavy duty steel fence posts pounded into the ground. Deers stay away as soon as ugly orange plastic nets were put on the post. For a larger scale of deer fence, the easiest and most practical solution for me was 7 ft tall 4x4 posts (or 2x4 if non-bearing) with concrete.

If you're just sticking the conduits into soil without fastening to a fixed structure, they will not hold up against deer or anything else much.

Have to chime in here =) I would definitely not suggest 1/2" conduit as stand-alone fence post OR trellis. The ones I use are supported at the base, because I have modular raised beds with 1.5" PVC pieces attached to the raised bed. I then drive in a piece of 2' rebar, slip the conduit over the rebar, and push it down into the ground 4" or so. That makes for a sturdy 7' upright that I can put a 2x2" or 2x4" crossbeam on for my trellis. I also take these down and stow them at the end of the season, and haven't had them bend so far. I think they could work as part of a fence but definitely not as a standalone, except for a very small and lightweight fence. Hope that helps!

jimster - I thought I read somewhere that deer will push a weak fence over. That was my main concern, since I'm using a different strategy to discourage them from jumping. And this is only a temporary fence, so I'd be happy if it survived one season. I'm only going to loosely hang chicken wire, or some lightweight welded wire I already have. I won't be stretching it, so I don't think it would get pulled over by tension, unless something ran into it. And the only thing likely to do that here, is a deer. The problem with the 1/2 inch conduit seems to be it's diameter. It's easy to push over because it slices through the soil, whereas a t-post is wider, and has that spade thing attached to it. I'd need to reinforce it at the soil line I think, to keep it from falling over. If deer wouldn't run into it, and bend the pipe, it might work for my purpose. But I was also thinking about using my posts to anchor some trellis lines, and conduit posts wouldn't work for that. So I probably won't use them. I was just trying to find something cheaper than t-posts.

bluebirdie - This is only a lightweight temporary fence, so whatever I use will just be pounded into the ground. Your right about them not holding up, if they're just stuck in the ground. I tried it, and realized pretty quickly it wouldn't work without some kind of reinforcement.

lantanascape - When I read one of your posts, it gave me the idea it might work. I knew you had supports at the base. I had just never thought of using them for fence posts. They seem sturdy enough to hold up 4 foot tall chicken wire. And if they were secured at the base, and deer didn't try to bend them over, I think it could work. But I'm probably better off looking for a deal on t-posts. I just haven't seen one yet.