Great idea! I know someone else on this forum did the same thing but you couldn't see what plants they put in theirs. They painted theirs brown. I always thought if I found one of those deers (and had a yard) I would do the same thing. TFS! LOL at calamity_j! Make sure you plant some arborvitae next to them. The deer seem to find that to be a delicacy too.

Maybe the deer that are most common east of the Mississippi are more agile than those in the West. Here, if the intent is to use ordinary fencing to protect against deer damage, it's recommended that the fence be at least 6 ft tall, preferably taller. For a number of years now, farmers and other rural residents in this area have constructed anti-deer fences that slant at a 45 degree angle. It's a design that's effective because, while deer can jump quite high and can jump considerable distances, they're apparently unable to execute jumps that simultaneously attain height AND cover distance. I'm linking to a WVU release on slanted fences with specs for building one. Obviously, slanted fences aren't a practical solution for most, but they're interesting as an example of the extreme measures taken by some to control an ongoing problem. Here is a link that might be useful: Slanted Fences

Hi Guys- I live in North Berkeley and all the plants in one of my raised beds look exactly like Irene's. What stinks is that I had first planted two plants from Spiral Gardens Nursery, who grow their own starts, and those did great, even in all the rain we got. Then I planted three plants that I got from Forni-Brown Nursery in Calistoga, which I am almost certain they grow their own starts (they sell mostly to the local restaurants in Napa Valley), and those did great. Then two weeks after that I went to Berkeley Hort and bought more plants, including some sourced from Sweetwater Nursery. While at Berkeley Hort I came across a Mortgage Lifter from Sweetwater, noticed that it was spotted, and brought it to the attention of a sales guy at Berkeley Hort and asked him if there were problems. He very patiently explained the "cold damage" and I believed him. Normally I'm totally paranoid, but I have shopped at Berkeley Hort for five years and never had any problems with plants there, and I consider their staff to be top notch. I also have bought lots of stuff from Sweetwater without a problem in the past. So I thought I should get over my paranoia and went ahead and got some plants there, including that spotty Mortgage Lifter. Planted those, rains came, and a week later, EVERYTHING in that bed had spots on them. Obviously this is all just my observations, but the bottom line is, I should have gone with my instinct and just left that Mortgage Lifter alone. Now it's a waiting game. I finally got to the point of not stripping any more leaves, even if spotted. It's now an experiment. The new growth has been pretty normal, no spots. I've drenched with Serenade twice, but it's expensive, so I've been using a baking soda/oil/castile soap "natural fungicide)" concoction. I can't tell if it's helping or if it's the dry weather that has slowed the leaf spots. I imagine that if I get more fruit set, the plants will only stress and get worse, and who knows if anything will properly ripen. I'm just hoping to get even a small harvest. We'll see. Good luck to you guys and hoping for the best for everyone!

Tnx corrine... I have the motion sensors set on 'test' mode. When they activate they only stay on for 5 to 10 seconds unless there is constant movement then they stay on until no movement is detected. I doubt the deer will ever get used to the lights, the radio, the noise and the swinging lights on the DeerScare... no signs of deer for six weeks now. Last year I tried ammonia in containers hung around, soap bars hung around, scare crows, and a radio playing all night long. Nothing worked for longer than a week. Star... The machine is powered by a 1.7AMP electric motor that is under the square metal box I built for over it as a weather protector. The motor could have been bigger (2 or 2.5 amps) since the arm that beeps the horn would hang if the arm stopped on the steel band that beeps the horn, the roller I made for the end of that arm helped. I might hunt for a larger motor over the winter, used washing machine motors are plentiful. I bought 2 electric motors at a metal recycling center for $5, disassembled both motors, cleaned them, oiled the bearings and reassembled them. They both worked. The one I used in the DeerScare is $90 new. View the DeerScare photos in the link below. For my application I had to grind down the the end of the motor shaft at an angle to start a piece of gas line hose over the shaft, rubber on rubber yields super traction. I used a 2"X1/2"ID piece of rubber gas line hose and started it over the shaft. I had to lightly heat the shaft with a propane torch to soften/nearly melt the hose to get it to slide over the motor shaft. The motor shaft/rubber hose is held pressed up against the bike tire with adjustable spring tension. The motor turns at 3750RPM which worked out to be a good speed for my application. I will try to post up current garden photos next week. We have over 32 bell peppers on eight plants, some peppers 6" long and turning red. We had many 40* nights the beginning of the season which caused a slow start for out tomatoes budding and setting fruit. Here is a link that might be useful: DeerScare Photos