I'm so sorry that happened! I'm not a fan of repellents for reasons already stated. One thing that has worked is a motion activated sprinkler. They are width and distance adjustable. I also purchased a timer attached to the hose to have it come on - and be off - when I want. Nothing disgusting, no additional work, no unsightly paraphernalia and it has worked for me in keeping the deer and javelinas away from my roses. Here's a link to a page on Amazon with some choices.

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3AMotion%20Detector%20Sprinkler

Don't throw in the towel... your roses will bounce back - it's early enough in the growing season.

Another vote for the sprinkler! It's saved my garden, although I need a timer and one for the area where he enters my property. I had a doe foal in my little "back 40", and the baby buck now considers it his home. It was really sweet watching them together, but once I decided to revamp my yard I had to change my thinking. If only he would stick to eating all the invasive stuff.

A few people have posted about suspending white plastic bags. It couldn't hurt to try them.

Unfortunately the sprinkler would not work for me because my roses are fairly spread out and not in one bed. So I would need several sprinklers and it would not be possible to attach them to a garden hose. I guess I will have to stick with the stinky repellents.

Yes, i understand. My plants are also quite spread on two different levels so I have the sprinkler on their access to my top level. That's what i'm focusing on. I need to add another where they come through a space in my hedge until it grows in. That's where I plan to hang the bags until I can do that.

I also have deer problems - and have new bushes planted all around my yard. My main garden near the house and beside my garage - with all the hybrids and grandifloras - has an electric fence around it - yes, you heard right. So far - no deer eating the buds - but the buds are just now forming. The nearby Drift rose bed is sprayed with a product called Liquid Fence - and so far none of the buds have been eaten - except for a possible mite problem that developed this week and the buds are looking burned and eaten at the tips.

I use Liquid Fence around all the Climbing Rose areas in my 1 1/2 acre yard as well. So far - nothing is being eaten - but no blooming roses are here yet - I will report back here and bookmark this thread. I don't think I could mix up that stuff you are talking about - too squeamish. This Liquid Fence is based on sulfur or rotten eggs and is hard enough for me to smell as I spray - but not as bad as I thought it would be.

I like the motion sensor idea - but my husband and I decided to go with the electric fence for the main garden. I turn it on every night and turn it off in the morning and so far we have not accidentally been shocked!

Good luck!

I don’t have a deer problem yet but if I did I would install wooden stakes about 2 feet high (higher than the rose bushes) around one of the flower beds, paint them white and attach a 1/2 inch diameter pvc pipe to each stake. The pipe being just 6 inches long would just clear the top of the stake by an inch. Into that pipe I would insert a bare strong piece of wire (#9 gauge) that I would bend into an L shape.

The short part of the L being about 8 inches long, the long part being 3 - 4 feet long. To the end of the 8 inch piece I would solder an insulated (#14 black insulated twisted) wire that ran back to the garage where it would be attached to an Electric Fence unit. To keep the wire out of sight I would peg it to the ground about every 3 feet. After while the grass would completely hide the wire. The Electric Fence unit would be plugged into a timer that turned the system after everyone had gone to bed and off before they got up….

From the first stake I would run wires to the next stake, etc, etc — also painted white.

Thus, when the folks are sleeping you touch any of those wires and you get shocked. Since it is not firmly attached to the stake it can swing around out of the way should the deer hit them on their way out.

After the deer learn to stay away from the white stakes all I would have to do is drive white stakes around the other flower beds….

Every few months the ‘shocking stakes’ would get moved so the deer don’t learn which one don’t shock.

Would it work…. maybe, maybe not, can’t hurt to try…..

I live in deer country and was probably not the wisest idea to plant a large garden with roses. I also used to think it was neat to have deer in our yard but now I see them as nothing less than large rodents!

It has taken some experimentation (and money - man, deer repellents are not cheap!) but have had decent success with Liquid Fence and Plantskydd. I learned, however, that I could not spray around the garden but had to spray the rose bushes themselves. This spring I also sprayed Plantskydd beyond the garden creating a second fence, so to speak. The deer so far have only stood gazing from a short distance behind that line.

I spread blood meal around the garden during wet periods when spraying is impractical.

I want a large dog to chase those vermins off my property but but my wife says no :(

Deer Stopper sprayed at two week intervals protects my roses and daylilies. I've greatly reduced the number of daylilies in my garden to reduce the appeal as well. I don't use blood meal because the raccoons and foxes dig it (literally). I have been fertilizing the lawn with milorganite and maybe that helps. I would've fertilized the lawn anyway so better to use a possible deer deterrent.

I just saw another deer repellent that doesn't smell bad to humans - but deer supposedly hate it (Wintergreen scent) called Bobbex - and sold online. I think I'll either get Bobbex or Deer Stopper to alternate in the deer become used to the Liquid Fence that I spray around my climbers in different outposts around the yard. i have also not been able to spray the past few days (I spray about every 7 days) because of rain deluges - I hope nothing happens in the meantime!