The biggest factor in what will be effective against critters is the density of their population. I live by two large wild life preserves and have a neighbor next door who feeds the deer, so the population is very large and completely unafraid of humans. Rabbits also have come to love the diversity of plants in our yard, and because we have several acres of woods (why don't they just stay there???), their population is abundant as well. I have used sprays containing bitters, peppermint oil, eucalyptus oil, and any other smelly thing you can imagine, have gotten hair from the barbers, used fox and coyote urine (expensive as all get out and so nasty to use), even went so far as to use mothballs before I found out how toxic they are, had the men in my family run out in the early morning and pee around the plants, tried interplanting with mint, garlic, etc., and nothing worked for more than a short period. And I don't think I have a single plant out of the hundreds I grow that has not been browsed at one time or another, regardless of how many Pest Resistant lists they may be on. Soaps are effective if your critter population is not too large; contrary to what most folks think, it is not the perfumy smell of Irish Spring that repels, it is the tallow (fat) content of the soap. A friend who runs a commercial apple orchard tried it over the winter with absolutely NO success and felt it was actually detrimental in keeping pollinating bees away the following spring. Pepper sprays are a taste repellant--if you have a lot of deer or rabbits, they each need to take a bite of the plant to realize it's been sprayed as they don't tell each other that what you've sprayed tastes nasty, which means if you have lots of pests, they will still eat down your plants before they all become aware they've been sprayed. Actually, the one time I used a pepper-based spray, the rabbits ate everything I'd sprayed overnight--I think they thought it was a flavor enhancer. Several years ago I used a garlic based spray but there were certain things such as zinnias and sunflowers that were eaten off despite it. By early August the critters were used to it and ate anything and everything I had sprayed, and the only thing it continued to do was give me a huge craving for garlic bread every time I applied it. I have heard that Milorganite does work well as a repellant; however, it is not considered organic (it contains sludge), so I've never tried it. One of the great things about the 20% egg spray is that if you whir it up in a blender and spray it immediately, it will not clog up your sprayer. There is no need to ferment egg sprays--it is not the stink that keeps animals away, it is the smell of the protein from the eggs (if stinky smells kept rabbits/deer away, I'd simply drape my husband's socks around the yard). And at a concentration of 20% eggs, the spray does not wash away as quickly as one with a lesser content which means applications can be less frequent (you will need to experiment to determine what is necessary with your garden). Plants (such as lilies) which are deer and rabbit magnets I spray after every hard rain; other things get sprayed I would guess maybe every six weeks. The best testimonial I've had for this spray is from a friend of mine who lives on an island. Years ago a rabbit farmer on the island gave up his business and released dozens of rabbits, which, well, bred like rabbits. There are no natural predators on the island so the rabbits have destroyed almost every plant, even girdling large trees. I gave her the recipe for the egg spray and she has a garden again. She makes up several gallons of the stuff and sprays EVERYTHING. She even uses it over the winter, spraying in late fall and on days in the winter when the temperature reaches above freezing. The neighbors she has passed the recipe on to have had great success as well, and she kids me that they are going to erect a "St. Kate" statue in my honor, lol. I have also not seen any effect on wanted wildlife, such as bees, butterflies, frogs, toads, walking sticks, etc. I spray it on the plants next to the water garden and it has no effect on the tadpoles, polywogs, and dragon fly larvae. Of course, this means it will not be harmful to bad bugs either--you'll still have to use something to control insect damage (I use organic products with Neem oil for that). Forgive me if I sound overly enthusiastic about this, but it has worked so well for me and has made gardening fun again. I can go outside in the morning and look forward to seeing what is in bloom, NOT what has been eaten off during the night. Here's to a great gardening season! Kate

I have had a different experience. I live in the woods and I have a neighbor that feeds the ever-multiplying deer too, but that device called Scarecrow did work for us. Its not the same name, but its motion activated and hooked up to a hose to shoot water and make a hissing noise. They really didn't like the noise, they jumped if someone activated it even if they were an acre away. Sometimes they would still get the hostas that were out of reach of it, but only super rarely. But they didn't go near it to get the daylilies all around it. My backyard (where the Scarecrow was) is fenced with a 4 foot chainlink (they can easily jump it) and now I don't use the scarcrow at all because I got a large dog. (Dogs give you their own problems, but the deer don't even come inside the chainlink at night when the dog is never out to get the hostas anymore.)

I've been battling deer for the past 20 years in NJ, Long Island, and PA, and I can say that the first really effective deer repellant I've come across is LIQUID FENCE. The only other product that comes near it is Hinder. Believe me, I've tried all of them, even concentrated garlic tablets. There are a lot of "snake oil" products on the market for deer control. Most of them are completely ineffective, a few are slightly effective (if you want to spend a day each week spreading it). Here's the skinny on deer prevention (and I recommend, as I said, Liquid Fence--yes, it stinks! that's why it works!) As a member of the American Rose Society, I received several years ago some information about their deer prevention program at the test gardens in Shreveport, LA. Mix your repellant (preferably L.Fence) @ one-to-one rate with water, place in plastic container covered with lid, punch holes in the sides (before filling, obviously), and place at 10-15 foot intervals along the border of the protected area. This way, the repellant will not evaporate over time. It will be effective regardless of rain. Remember: the key to deer control is to be PERSISTENT.

I'm another satisfied long time Bobbex user, my new property has deer almost daily, often for hours at a time - they bed down on the lawn and make themselves quite at home. My issue with the Bobbex product is that it requires spraying so infrequently, often a new growth spurt will take place and I'll have new foliage I haven't noticed that is not protected and that will be munched back. It seems to be most true of roses though, and I've given up on those, I'm not going to grow them this location. My goal with this house and acre was open, welcoming, friendly to neighbors and 2-footed guests, I do not want a stockade type fence and given the steepness of the lot in back, fencing would limit my own access for maintenance from the street below. Anything over 4' across the front doesn't meet city code either, making a three sided deer fence mostly useless. I'm learning to work around them - it's been a process ;)