Help! Deer ate strawberry plants!
2ajsmama
11 years ago
Featured Answer
Sort by:Oldest
Comments (9)
dirtdigging101
11 years agomyfamilysfarm
11 years agoRelated Discussions
Deer Ate My Lilies
Comments (9)I've had that happen numerous times since we have so many deer around. Yes, they will grow back in time. Just feed them good and find something that will keep the deer away. The Internet is full of tips from people who have had some success with certain remedies. My favorite is Milorganite. It smells awful but I put up with it just to keep my daylilies. You'll have to reapply every few months according to how much rain you get. I'm going to pick up several bags today. Not cheap but worth it but you may want to try other tips from other growers. My 10 year granddaughter suggests that I sit up all night with a gun! (LOL) I know how disappointing it is to find my daylilies nipped off. Before I started using Milorganite I went away on a trip and was looking forward to seeing the new blooms when I returned. Deer had eaten most of mine. So heartbreaking! The only upside was that I didn't have many daylilies at that time. Now I have about 10 times as many and I would be totally devasted if that were to happen. You have my sympathy. I hope you find a remedy that works for you. DD...See MoreDeer ate my blue rug junipers
Comments (6)Those must have been some hungry deer!! Deer will eat junipers (and no, it doesn't kill them) but they tend not to be on the top of their menus unless there is not much else to browse or they are very hungry. White tail deer commonly browse on native junipers throughout the southwest and the Rockies and there have been numerous online reports of deer browsing more ornamental species as well. Prickliness has nothing to do with it - deer will browse all manner of conifers (including monkey puzzle or Araucaria) with very prickly or sharp needles. They do tend towards those with less terpenes however, if given a choice....See MoreThe deer ate my hellebores
Comments (13)George (et all) you don't have to have an unattractive garden to have one that deer don't eat in. Deer can be low to high pressure and what they eat will depend on how many and how much habitat is left. There are TONS of things that you can do to deter them. There are lots of plants that can be planted that they won't eat, but like what was already mentioned a starving deer will taste most anything and possibly eat it! I live in a medium to heavy pressure area depending on the season. In years prior I have lost most every hosta in my yard, along with other items like Rhodies and small leaf hollies. I have learned a few things to help prevent deer damage. Stinky plants. Anything with a strong odor will be by passed by deer. The strong odor prevents them from being able to smell the air which is one of the ways they stay alert for danager. There are a lot of commerical "odors" that can be bought and sprayed onto plants. There are also recipes that you can make yourself. Milorganite smells awful it is an organic fertilizer and it is a wonderful deer deterent!!! Predator urines are also good placed around your yard in plastic containers in a manner that would mimic their behavior (i.e. marking a tree here and there around your property) There are sachets with blood meal in them (or you can make your own using muslin sachets) blood meal screams danger to a deer and will help send them out of the yard. There are clips that contain a potent combo of garlic and almost rotten egg. These clips you clip right to the stem of the plant in danger and they do work! In areas of taste there are systemic tablets that you can plant with your new plants. The plant takes the tablet up into its system and when the deer bite it, well it isn't the same sweet flavor they knew and loved. You can make things using garlic, hot pepper and rotten eggs to spray on your plants. Mix it with wilt proof or something similar for extended life. You can also buy premade sprays as well. I am by no means a bambi lover but I am realistic and as more and more land is developed and more and more apex predators are killed off there is nothing left to hunt the deer to keep the populations in check. I will not give up gardening because of the deer I will just work with every possible item to run them off my property. If you make it hard enough for them by assulting their sense of smell and taste they WILL go elsewhere for their meals. I mean they are like us, they want to eat where they food and atmosphere are nice! There is a book called Deer Proofing your yard and Garden that has a lot of information. The site I linked sells products that work great. I have a multi layers of denfense for my garden beds and I have a profusion of flowers and plants growing and looking great. It is the first year in four years that I have hostas! Here is a link that might be useful: Deer Busters...See MoreDamn deer ate my lettuce.....
Comments (10)If you plant it they will come. Sometime I've had luck with human hair (and dog hair pulled out of the dog brush too) and blood meal, and sometimes not. Human urine, predator urine (you purchase it), and commercial and homemade deer repellants offer some degree of protection, but the hungrier the deer are, the more likely they are to ignore those and eat your plants anyway. The only thing that works for me is fencing. Our main garden's fence is 7' tall and since we raised it to that height, deer have only been in the garden once, and that was when I forgot and left the gate open all night. "Our" deer live here on our land at least part of the time (way back at the back of the property) so they are used to seeing us and smelling us. I think for that reason they may not be as prone to be spooked by the smell of human hair. We feed our deer about 300 or 400 feet away from the garden (in winter or in severe drought) and that helps 'train' them to hang out back there. Still, sometime I look up from working in the garden and see a deer standing just outside the fence staring at me. Sometimes they run off when they see me and sometimes they don't. Paula, Our deer's favorite plants are okra and hollyhocks and I cannot grow hollyhocks in the flower beds without fencing the bed or putting deer netting over the hollyhocks. If I don't have the okra in the fenced-in garden, the deer eat every bit of it....they'll eat it right down to the ground. The deer also eat my sunflower plants the same way if they are grown outside the fenced garden although I don't see them eating native sunflowers in our pastures. I planted a lot of hostas our first year here and then lost all of them---several dozen of them---to deer the second year. Around here we call hostas 'deer chow'. Lynn, I doubt research has been done on the use of human hair in gardens in that manner. I suspect it is likely to blow away before it can break down. I've colored my hair for so long that I'm not even sure I remember its natural color. Dawn...See Moremyfamilysfarm
11 years agohappytomato2008
11 years agoveggievicki
11 years agodirtdigging101
11 years agoveggievicki
11 years ago2ajsmama
11 years ago
Related Stories
GARDENING GUIDESGreat Garden Combo: 3 Wonderful Plants for a Deer-Resistant Screen
Protect your privacy and keep deer at bay with a planting trio that turns a problem garden area into a highlight
Full StoryGARDENING GUIDES10 Deer-Resistant Native Flowers to Plant This Fall
Learn about natives that embrace some kinds of wildlife but resist grazing deer
Full StoryFALL GARDENING9 Deer-Resistant Flowering Shrubs to Plant This Fall
These exquisite shrubs will attract your attention but won’t tempt the deer that roam your neighborhood at night
Full StoryFALL GARDENING6 Deer-Resistant Flowering Vines to Plant This Fall
Have a major deer problem? Here are some of the only vines that have a chance of not being eaten
Full StoryPETS6 Ways to Help Your Dog and Landscape Play Nicely Together
Keep your prized plantings intact and your dog happy too, with this wisdom from an expert gardener and dog guardian
Full StoryCONTAINER GARDENS7 Deer-Resistant Flowers for Your Summer Containers
Grow these as protection for edibles or just for their colorful beauty — deer might not like them, but everyone else will
Full StoryGARDENING GUIDESOh, Deer! 10 Native Flowers That Stand Up to the Herds
Keeping a garden amid hungry deer can be hard, but these plants should fare well
Full StoryGARDENING GUIDESTop 12 Summer-Blooming Perennials for Deer-Resistant Drama
Can you have garden color, fragrance and exciting foliage with hungry deer afoot? These beauties say yes
Full StoryGARDENING GUIDESGreat Design Plant: Calycanthus Floridus
This U.S. native plant — also called Eastern sweetshrub, Carolina allspice and strawberry shrub — is an aromatic and a visual treat
Full StoryGARDENING FOR BUTTERFLIESGreat Design Plant: Lungwort
Yes, the name is unfortunate. But the flowers and foliage are delightful, and this perennial is easy to grow and shunned by deer
Full StorySponsored
2ajsmamaOriginal Author