The most effective fence I have seen is the one here:

Here is a link that might be useful: deer fence

I've found that we can plant a vegetable garden that is about 10 feet by 15 feet and put only a 5 foot fence around it and they will NOT touch it, unless of course the leaves go through the openings in the fence and then they will eat the leaves. They do not like tight spaces, and they do not go where they can't see on the other side (I think I heard this on Martha Stewart's program one time. She said that she has a stockade fence they won't go over. We have 2 1/2 acres and the deer virtually own our property. I just planted 8 PJM rhododendruns last fall and they ate every single plant. I can recall hearing that they do not like to walk on gravel, so I was thinking that I might try making a gravel walk path around the garden surrounding the house.

I live in the mountains of North Carolina (a newcomer) and my garden has been overrun with rabbits. Can anyone suggest flowers that they won't eat? thanks

A fence too high for deer to jump over will certainly keep them out: but I'm told that deer won't jump over a fence if they can't see what's on the other side. If that's true (and it makes sense - why risk jumping to your death?) then a fence that they can't see through should work too.

The no see over rule works well, and a 6' high solid fence will do the trick. If not, 8' is necessary, and they will clear that in an emergency, like being chased by a dog.

My veggie garden fence is only 6' tall, and 40 X 40 feet. I've never had a deer in there. The flowerbeds are a different story. The deer come right up to the house, look in the windows, and eat the plants. The most effective deterrents I've found are: placing dog fur in the beds (from brushing them), and black plastic mesh from the hardware store that you place over the beds. This works well if there is a background to the bed such as the house or a fence. You staple it to the background and make a tent which you can anchor with rocks. This way it's easy to lift up for work in the beds. Also, from a few feet away you can't see the stuff. We have a major deer issue here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, so I have a lot of experience with this problem.

I recently witnessed some fence damage done by deer that really floored me. The fence is brick and wrought iron. The wrought iron is in 8' sections between brick columns with a short brick border underneath the iron. The fence runs along a busy street so I know the damage occured because the deer were trying to run in front of a car.

The deer ran into one of the iron sections and knocked it completely down, pulling the middle iron post out of the brickwork underneath. In another spot they hit a section and bent two iron bars so much they looked like a half moon. On the roadside of both damaged sections there were big bunches of deer hair all over.

I have never seen such heavy damage to such a heavy fence, which makes me think that if its an emergency situation, nothing will stop them. Something to think about when considering fencing.

My next door neighbor left the gate of their fenced in garden open(after harvesting in the fall); the deer were getting in and started to panic trying to get out(they saw people in another yard). I tried to coax them out, but in panic one of them scaled a ten foot fence---not jumped, mind you, but clawed its way to the top and fell to the other side. And ran. And ran.........

So much for fences.

I once watched a deer climb a twelve-foot chain link fence. Just went chunk-a-chunk-a-chunk, climbing up with its hooves.

Brenda

We had deer coming into a residential estate to eat roses. We tried a lot of things. Blood meal worked the best. It has to be sprinkled liberally and frequently on and around the roses, but it keeps the deer from eating the roses.

I also got to the point where I could hand feed a couple brother bucks cherry flavored pipe tobacco. Then I could lead them out of the roses myself.

My now deceased neighbor has always had dogs that bark all night, keeping me awake. I complained a few times, in a nice way, and he said "they keep the deer out of our gardens."

The deer ravaged both of our gardens, he never admitted it of course, but I could see the damage and the deer tracks. His dogs also ravaged my garden! Digging stuff up and going potty! Stealing my cat bowls, getting in to my garbage.

After he died, I was talking to his widow one day this spring, while I was at the mailbox. I asked her if she wanted me to come over and plow her garden and help her plant. She said no, I'm tired of planting a food plot for the deer!

I don't think dogs do a good job of deterring deer.

I agree that deer are not discouraged by dogs. I have found deer tracks three feet from the dogs pen, almost as if they were teasing him. This evening we saw a doe and two fawns crossing our drive, They stopped about 30 feet off the drive to watch us pass. Tomorrow I'll let the dog spend the night out of his pen so he can socalize with mama and her two fawns.
Dan

YES a dog works!!! I have rose bushes in every part of my yard imaginable, but only ONE dog, who is tied up on ONE side of the house. Funny that the deer wont touch a THING on THAT side of the house, yet they'll buffet on my rose bushes on the opposite side of the house - where they KNOW the dog can't get to them!!!
Hmmm...coincidence! I think not!!!

Had some success some years with helium balloons & curling ribbon tied in the trees. Didn't work the 3rd year.

Also moved plastic lawn chairs around & over the strawberries to keep them out as well as laid down sections of wire flat on the ground for the spots they were entering the raised beds.

This year we put up temp fence posts & strung poly rope, but not electric. Deterred them some, but they figured out ways to get in to eat the raspberries & strawberries like last summer, but skipped the new row of raspberries planted this spring with wire supports. I think the wire scared them off from those areas and they could walk right up to it reaching over the poly rope.

I also put down cardboard flattened out for between rows & they didn't like walking on the slippery cardboard.

A bunch of criss cross tree twigs 1/4"-1/2" thick 18-3' long in front of the knock out rose bush & they stopped reaching over to it. They might prefer the young spring foliage over the summer.

Dog & human hair and hanging Irish spring soap on the fences only works part of the time.

The key is to keep it changing.

We have been successful with motion activated water sprayers. They cost about $50 at hardware stores or on Amazon, use a 9 volt battery and hook up to your garden hose. When someone/something walks in front of the sensor, they get hit with a moving blast of water. We have two of them that we move around in the yard; they are more effective than the human urine, the soap, blood meal, or anything else.

For rabbits - we use special fencing from the hardware store; it's about 3 feet tall and has narrow gaps at the bottom, wider at the top. I've heard that some people have to bury the stuff in the ground to keep the bunnies from burrowing under; we don't have to do that. It's effective with our rabbit problem, although unfortunately when the neighborhood elk herd comes through, they usually mangle a few of the rabbit fences (sigh).

At home, I have good luck with dried blood. We have a place in WI, way up in the woods with lots of deer. We are not there enough to do dried blood but I have had excellent luck (at home as well), with color changing solar lights. They are pretty inexpensive and I put them in groups of 2 or 3 about 20-40 feet apart around my flower beds. -The color changing lights give the illusion of movement and the deer think, (because I know what the deer are thinking....!), that they are the eyes of predators, i.e. coyotes. This effect can also be enhanced by hanging CDs face-to-face (shiny sides out), and hang them from tree branches about 3 feet off the ground. The CDs are extremely reflective and multiply the effect of the solar lights for little or no additional cost. -Hanging them from fishing spinners lets them move very freely. -I hang them from the scarecrow in the garden as well. And just when I felt like a real success, a groundhog moved in and tunneled under the porch regardless of any of the above tactics....
GC

Hello people!

Maybe you could give me an opinion...

I am excited about planting a garden this year.

Last year I tried but didn't have time to follow through - did have beautiful squash plants though, till one day I didn't!
Tonight I saw the culprit - DEER!!! - right in the front yard.

I live in suburbia with a hydro field and a creek behind the house. I guess the deer corridor through the hydro field.

...anyway - I am loathe to put time and energy into a garden to have the deer take it all.

here's my plan - what do you think?...

for the present;
hang soap
hang some reflective CD's
spray with egg/garlic/cayenne

then along the back border,
plant some garlic,
onion,
mint
and lavender,
then a row of high, prickly, cardoom (annual in my zone),
then lay a few strands of fishline across it,

Behind that plant a row of Jerusalem artichoke - the thinking being that I'll give them something they may like to eat before they encounter the barriers they may not want to cross...

I'm a little worried about the invasiveness of the Jerusalem artichokes, whether they'll eat it or not, or if it will just attract more deer to my yard...???

Thoughts?

Thanks!

The CDs sound like an ugly idea....I dont think it would look very good at all. But maybe thats just my preference.

Its more or less about training the babies to go somewhere else.

this is explains it in detail

Here is a link that might be useful: deer resistance

I live on the North Shore of Long Island. I have (or should I say had) 2 1/2 acres of garden including prize winning day lilies, irises, hyrdrangeas. Now all I have is barren weed-caked soil and deer. Tonight I saw my one remaining Casablanca lily bud which was on a stone patio up a flight of six steps outside my dining room doors -eaten. The deer have eaten every flowering shrub, yucca spikes, geraniums, roses, balsam even sedum and portulacas. There is nothing they don't devour. The shame of it is that nothing deters them. I have a very expensive Deer Tech sonic deterrent system which costs me $3500 to install and $2800 a year to maintain. The deer browse right next to the units. I have used soap, pepper, liquid fence, deer off, bobcat urine, blood meal, milorganite, garlic, perfume oils to no avail -the deer consider them a condiment. Recently, I started spending 1 hr each evening and again in the morning wrapping and unwrapping each lily bud in gauzy row cover fabric and fastening it around the stem so it looked like a lollipop. The deer simply ate right through it. Next I encased each lily bud in a freezer weight zip-lock bag -again they chewed right through it and ate the bud.
I am close to tears each morning when I visit my garden and see that there is no single blossom left. I used to look out my kitchen window to a sea of lilies. This summer the forest rats robbed me of the joy of seeing even a single flower. My border of phlox are gone and the replacements lasted one evening.

My husband and I became infected with babesiosis and he almost died from it. I had $6500 damage to my car last fall when I hit one.

I am sick of this infestation -they are nothing but vermin and the environment is suffering as a result. The new saplings are being destroyed and the understory plants that are home to small mammals, quail, pheasants and other birds are being denuded. During the rut, bucks can become vicious. One attacked my gardener and tried to gore him. He made it into his truck only to have the buck ram the truck damaging it to the point that it was undriveable. We feel like we are under siege. We are in the process of stringing 8' high barbed wire fencing around the perimeter of our property. Can you imagine living in a formerly lovely property that now looks like a prison?

Deer are a national epidemic that are causing environmental, economic, public health and safety catastrophes. Suddenly Bambi is no longer cute.
Our community has authorized culling -3 blinds and infrared cameras will be installed to track the deer and hunters will have access throughout the year. 21 deer were culled from my neighbor's yard just last year...that is the level of our populations. We also have albino deer because the herds are getting inbred.

If anyone can figure out a solution -they should get the Nobel prize!