I have not yet tried this, but you can bet I'm gonna give it a shot! I have tried pepper and garlic spray having the effect last only 3 -7 days if I was lucky! I had herd of this before but it never really sunk in that it just may work, this time I'm going for it! thanks for the info.

I'm definitely going to try this! The deer around here aren't scared of anything, so hopefully it will be enough to deter them!

I can confirm this works. Last year I had not one deer around my garden. I used me ladies old panty hose to put pieces of soup in and then tied them around my garden fence, I can promise you that not one deer came to my garden. The stronger the soup the better.

I posted to this about 2 hours ago and don't see it. I will try again as I think it will help others with the problem of deer.
I save soap scraps and place in an onion bag and hang several on posts in my garden . No deer.
A commercial apple orchard near me ties bars of soap in each tree.
Rabbits ate my whole row of beets. Here's how I solved that problem. I cut chicken wire into 16" or 20" wide pieces and as long as I needed. I then stapled the long sides to 2x2's the same length as the wire. Then straddled the row with the 2x2's forming a hoop about 10 inches tall. You could use any scraps of wood or you could make the hoop and pin it into the soil. I then pinched the end wires together. My garden is only 10 feet wide so it was easy for me. It worked perfectly. You could use tree branches if you have access to them.

The original scent Irish Spring soap has the strongest smell of any soap I ever tried! Didn't buy any more of it after one time.

Wonder if that stuff would work to repel insect pests? Or at least confuse the dickens out of them?

Interesting...

I have one row of field peas that is attracting a lot of attention from aphids and ants. I'm wondering how shavings of stinky soap (like Irish spring) would work as a deterent. Would there be any long term effects on the soil? Hmmmmm.....

Well, after 2 straight days before posting this topic I was growing my beans for deer food...I decided to try the Irish Spring soap. As of 7 days later nothing has been touched!!! Maybe the deer went on ...a diet. Or the soap worked? Just thought I would let you know...

Could you use an upside-down plastic cup to cover the soap against rain/hang the soap inside the cup? The soap would last longer, and you wouldn't get soap dripping on your soil.

Ppod, funny you should ask that; as I was also thinking along those lines, I'm having my brother try this because he really has a huge Deer problem, much worse than mine.

This makes perfect sense, deer have a VERY sharp sense of smell, best way NOT to see deer when hunting is to shower with soap before heading into the woods since most soaps contain perfume. The deer know that if they smell that perfume a human is nearby and they are in danger....

I have used it for my plants and for the most part it does help... but not in all cases...

I did not help with the roses, and lilies I have (it does reduce the incidents but I guess the flowers are stronger than the soap) :)

I've never used it in the veggie garden but I had great success keeping deer away from some Leyland Cypress trees that they were using as antler rubs. They had nearly killed a couple of them by the time I realized what was happening and there has been absolutely no further damage since I started using the soap. I cut a bar of original Irish Spring into 4 pieces and put each one in a piece of nylon hose. I tie several in the trees about nose height for a deer. They get replaced once a year. No scientific proof but it works for me.

Sandy