About the DMSO and pets roaming the yard, if you wanted to be very cautious I'd let it dry before letting pets wander. Ask anyone that has horses and they'll tell you that they rub all kinds of linaments and medications onto horses with DMSO. Some people rub DMSO directly on their own skin at full strength. It's about as harmful as putting an ounce of alcohol into a solution of a gallon. About those items at Lowes - geez, the reviews at Lowe's own site are mostly terrible. About the Milorganite. I'm a lawn freak and use three tons (no kidding!) of the stuff on my property per year. It works, but the deer get accustomed to it after a while. The same thing with Blood Meal.

I had the same experience with an anti-rabbit spray that included oil - it dissolved the bloom on my blue hostas in hideous spots & splotches and that's how these leaves stayed all summer. I hated it. Of course, this didn't hurt the plants, just destroyed their beauty for the season. I was upset that the recipe didn't include a warning about leaf discolouration, after all what's a garden if not for aesthetic enjoyment?! If I ever spray plants again, I'll be sure to avoid any with th bloom (including gold ones with bloom like Zounds, and green ones like Black Hills), but stick only to the shiny leaved ones. That sort of selectiveness makes the exercise almost not worth the trouble for me. An alternative is to coat a quantity of coarse sand with the "spray" recipe, and throw that on the ground around the plants. That's the basis for a preparation called "critter ridder" - the peppery smell repels animals from coming in. People say it works very well, so I may try that yet. Digs.

I agree, a new forum of Deer and Rabbits would be great. The DEER found my garden this year, after 5 years of perceived safety. They found it, and they won't leave it. I'm sure rabbits too helped. I'm been obsessively reading, frustrated, at all the methods to maybe repel... I have 2 dogs, but the deer come at night when we're all sleeping... I am very odor sensitive, so leery of the sprays that stink, though I KNOOW they dissipate quickly. Also, with SO SO MUCH rain, I'm so afraid they'd need applied again and again. In GARDENERS SUPPLY COMPANY magazine, I found 3 interesting things.. though I don't know if they'd work. Has anyone tried any????? One is 25 clips of concentrated garlic that reportedly repels deer and rabbits for up to 6 months. These "clips" let the odor out while protecting from the weather, you're to clip to whatever every 1-2 feet (yes, that could be a lot of area, depending on what's being eaten)...But that interested me...Anyone try??? Also, one is called Deer Fortress, it's odorless to humans (important to me) in amper-proof containers that work for 3-4 months. Portecting a 4-8 foot area. Use stakes or handg from loop (contains dried blood). It's expensive (to me).. but I'm wondering if anyone has tried? THen one is simply a "pungent citrus soap" hung in a bag from trees and shrubs that lasts for 12 months. Somehow I doubt that would work. Or if they did, why not use a soap I could buy cheaper that deer don't like. They ate things they are supposed to hate (and no, they weren't starved, they have other houses all around with nice things)... they devoured the blueberry plants. Finally I moved what was left of the plants, and after 4 days they haven't returned to that area (I don't trust them!)... they loved the oakleaf hydrangea... EVEN THORNY THINGS, like FIRETHORN, they had to taste... It's not their fault, people keep building and building and cutting down trees/woods for unneeded MORE commercial things- more stores, more walmarts, more McDonalds.. Still.. I bought online granules that were guaranteed to be safe, nontoxic, good around kids and pets, etc. When it arrived, the bottle said everything differently... wear gloves, all these emergency precautions, etc. etc. In other words, I was afraid to use... It seems, from browsing, there's no guranteed repellent, unless you can get all that fencing...I could be wrong.. Amy

I started adding a shade garden around the quiet side of the house last year, still working on it but almost finished. I truly believe that the deer know my bf and his whole family are hunters so they know better than to come around our place! unfortunately theyre not so timid when it comes to hanging out and feasting on the plants in the shade garden. in the past 3 days theyve mowed down half of the hostas. it pisses me off bc I just spent so long planning, prepping, and planting but theyre just hostas, they can be replaced. HOWEVER!! They also took off the tips of one of my hydrangeas (annoying but I can live with it) and now theyre getting mighty close to a very sentimental hydrangea that I just transplanted to our yard last month from my bf's parents (his mother passed away recently). if any of those tick infested oversized rats even think about tasting that hydrangea I will hunt down him and his family and shoot them myself. Anyone have success repelling deer? Store bought spray? Homemade recipes? Motion sensor lights or sprinklers? ill try anything!