big stick.. ratio stupidity .. lol ...

1 to 9 ... go small to understand ...

one cup of goo ... to 9 cups of water ...gives ten cups of diluted goo ...but wont fill up your tank ...

so add a second cup ... and 9 more cups of water ... take notes ...

soon enough.. you ought to have one gallon for a one gal sprayer .... and ought to know.. how many cups of goo to add ...

most of us might only need to do this once or twice ... before it becomes ingrained ...

but with your ratio handicap .. it might take you a few more times.. lol ...

i would make sure to spray the undersides.. as it might last longer.. in case of rain ... but i never used the stuff... and that is speculation ...

if using measuring cup is overwhelming... you could go the teaspoon method ... but that would take a long time ...

i bet one of us.. could even convert to metric.. and tell us .... how to divide the common gallon into ten parts ... but that is my handicap ...

ken

i suppose you could convert to ounces and do some long division also .. ken

"Hello?" she asked? "Is this the Deer Hound Rescue Association?"

Holy moly. I thought there were 64 ounces in a gallon. Oops.
Look. My talents obviously lie elsewhere. WaYYYYYY elsewhere, I'm finding!

But thank you for figuring this out for me.
They were even here last night, looking in my back patio sliders. The cats looked back, I screamed and waved my arms and stomped my feet.
Do you think the deer twitching their ears back and forth is deer-speak for "Look at THAT idiot!? Must be a Syndrome she has."

It's easier to get another dog, though.

===>>> made me literally laugh out loud... lol ...

actually though... it might be easier to move ...

ken

I'm a chef, so I'm always calculating things like that.

You're welcome.

bk

i thought of that bkay .... and was coming back to say such ....

btw .... if you use the GW search for deer.. you might find a couple million topics about such ...

i like the mind pic of you dancing in the window.. with the cats and the deer.. questioning your sanity ...

ken

Ken, I might suck at math, but I'm far from a GW amateur. That was my FIRST and foremost thought. I've tried the homemade repellants, but we're getting rain every other day. VHS tape strung along the gardens. Hair (gross), I refused used personal items and I have no neighbors whose dogs can poop in my yard. Yes, all from GW

BTW. Other things I've learned, which haven't necessarily proved to be true:
Vinegar might kill a few weeks, but can actually screws up your soil's pH and kill your good stuff.
"Natural" ant and mice deterrents: Ants laugh at peppermint and cinnamon: They ate the cotton balls of peppermint oil and laughed and went around the cinnamon. Ask me how I know.
Snakes? I like 'em because they eat the minty fresh mice.
Peroxide and baking soda can damage the enamel on your teeth. I wouldn't suggest it.
Japanese maples need a lot of drainage. (Ding ding ding! Correct!)

Yes, thank God for GW. Ken, I always laugh when someone (naively) says, "oh, just do a search on.." In this day and age, any numb-nut that posing questions without searching first doesn't deserve the time it takes to tell them to do so. Just ask me how I feel about the redundant questions on the Kitchen forum. I'm too snotty to reply about (wait for it) doing A SEARCH!!!!! I wouldn't be there if I weren't in perpetual rebuild after a house fire.

After doing many searches on ratio calculators, I came here. To where deer smorgasbords are grown. I knew someone had to know and look. A chef. And I'm grateful!

Whew. I guess I should get something to eat. I'm a bit cranky.

Ok. I'm over it.
I just measured 9 pint glasses into my One Hundred and Twenty Eight ounce spray container, plus 1 pint of deer repellant.
I just sprayed an acre of the plants I care about. My hand is exhausted and I'm a sweaty but happier mess.

You've all been very patient with me. I'll let you know the (guaranteed) success of Deer Stopper.

"Wine," she muttered. "I need wine." "And a fan. A fan would be good." She wandered away in search of both.

My friend had two acres and deer were causing havoc with his gardens. Trying to apply deer repellent to that large of a property by hand is daunting.....as you've found out. I called my friend who has a tree service business and had him spray the entire property with his large sprayer. Maybe you could find a local tree spray outfit to do the same for you. It will save hand......but I'd still keep that bottle of wine on hand :)

Spray the yard with wine?
Just what I need. DRUNK deer at the smorgasbord!
And a tree service spraying them with it! HUh! (LOL!)

All you Michiganders. I'm a misplaced one my Bad Self!

Since you have three acres using Deer Stopper, Deer Away or any other repellent can be expensive especially when you have to re-apply after each rain. Every good commercial preparation and university studies show putrefied (rotten) egg as the best active ingredient. A mix of eggs sprayed with spices (garlic, cayan pepper or whatever) will be inexpensive. Blend them in a mixer and strain with cheesecloth to allow spraying. There is no end of recipes online, but egg is the key ingredient.

Studies have identified the rotten egg as duplicating the smell of well-fed wolf urine (who finds these things out, I don't know). I know Deer Away has egg, I don't know about Deer Stop. This will give good protection at a fraction of the cost. I assume spraying a commercial preparation would cost a small fortune over the season for 3 acres and I assume you might much rather spend that on more hosta, dinner or some other things.

Jon

i seem to think.. back in the day.. i ordered hosta from some place called freeman hosta ... know anything???

maybe iowa????

ken

I just have to say, at the risk of sounding like a nut, that I really like the suggestion of getting a new dog. I think that dogs can be the solution to a lot of our problems - for example: airport security. A highly trained/skilled dog would do a much better job of screening potential troublemakers than the faulty, intrusive and overly-expensive technology, or the sleepy and distracted humans. The dogs are not to be fooled, and their senses are a gift. They know what's up!

But that's off-topic.... So, sorry, but that's my soapbox moment for today!

Although I don't have deer (fenced yard), I do have a lot of rabbits and chipmunks, which my dog tries to drive off (but they're crafty, and the dog is old and slowing down). I've kinda given-in to nature... if the critters eat it and it dies, I just don't ever plant that again. Except in my pots on the deck -- I think the plastic forks have worked beautifully there!!!!

P.S. - I don' know nothin' 'bout no math, either.

I can do regular math. You know, fractions, %, multiplication, division, etc.

However if you start putting letters (X's and Y's) in math problems, my eyes cross and my brain checks out.

bk

Funny how people readily admit that they can't do math, but rarely if ever admit that they can't read or write. Although the latter may be self evident. Sorry for the interruption. Now back to your regular Deer Away thread.

I have two large dogs who would love to see a deer. They don't come around here no more.

Steve

Jon, at the risk of accusing you of silly optimism, and a buyer-in of "natural" (crap) er, stuff, please reread my (rant) post above about things one reads on the internet, and those lazy enough not to do a search before posing a question.

There is nothing I've read or found yet, that keeps rotten egg ON the plants after the rain.

Deer Stopper claims to be good for 100 days of you use their Plot Saver system. Which is easily duplicated without their particular ropes and stakes.

I appreciate the idea, but I might as well put salad dressing on my hosta beds.

Ken, no relation, although I should look 'em up in case they do offer family discounts.

I readily admit I can't read nor write -- in any other language than English. Math? eh. But geometry? I'm GREAT with geometry! Go figure.

Excuse me, but I forgot the part about mixing in a little dishwashing soap (Dawn or equiv,). I looked up Deer Stopper on Amazon and they do claim a heavy rain will not wash it off and they also recommend application once a month. Link-Deer Stopper

Of the 5 reviews one recounts spraying all her trees and plants and ten minutes later seeing 5 deer munching in her yard.....and in their description of plot saver ribbon they state ' Reapply PLOTSAVER deer repellent approximately every 30-day until the plot is developed and you want the deer in the area. '

....and from the 2013 Young Naturalist of the Year winner we have a study of commercial and individual ingredients commonly used as deterrents.

"Results
I assigned values of 0, 0.5 and 1 to the daily results in order to calculate an average effectiveness for each repellent (Figures 13-14). In my experiment, the putrescent egg formulation was the best white-tailed deer deterrent, which supported the hypothesis and answered the research question. Putrescent eggs scored an average effectiveness rate of 0.91, followed closely by dried blood at 0.88. The least-effective products were the soap and human hair, with rates of 0.22 each, and the control cob was eaten 84 percent of the time. Clearly, the commercial products were more effective than the homemade mixtures, and they were all more effective than not using any product at all "

Award winning study

My suggestion was not 'silly optimism' as you suggest. In fact I might be tempted to accuse you of not doing your homework before being so negative. Purified eggs are a good, cost-effective deterrent and there is a good reason it is a basic ingredient in most commercial deterrents including Deer Stopper which also has a type of sulfur and Capsaicin (ingredient in peppers) as well. Pepper is a common ingredient of buyer-in of "natural stuff" that can be found by researching legitimate sources by those not too lazy to educate themselves and those who do not reject things out of hand as 'crap', thinking they are smarter than those who actually try to educate themselves. Reread this and do a little research on your own, if at first you don't understand the results from people who have actually tested the theories scientifically and don't think they are smart enough to reject ideas without knowing the facts.

Deer Stopper seems to be an effective deterrent which can be fairly closely duplicated with natural ingredients at far less cost. Does it last longer? Maybe. Is it more effective than a home made spray, evidently. Is it worth the extra cost for the convenience and the incremental increase from 0.91 ( 91%? ) experienced with egg to ? ? Not to me, but maybe to you.

Have a nice day freeman.

Jon

Yes, Steve. However, I can read. Being deficient in math does not doom you. Not being able to read makes life very difficult.

bk