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New England Gardening

Deer! Oh My! Nasty critters!

last year

Have gardened here for 25 years, and today i got up to find dozens of daylily buds gone, as well as phlox and coneflowers.… Probably 15 years ago deer ate tulips then rose buds, but never again til phlox got eaten two weeks ago. I sprayed deer repellent today, but i have a lot of garden to spray!

There has been an uptick in rabbits this year but they've been eating bird seed not plants. Well , thanks for letting me vent.

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Comments (5)

diggerdee zone 6 CT
last year
The daylilies are the worst, imo, because once the deer eat the buds, that's it. The phlox will regrow and bloom, and the hostas return, but the daylilies - ugh. Vent away! It is completely reasonable lol.

I have a large garden to spray also. Although for me it's not the size but the fact that sprayers never ever work for me. Whether it's a spray bottle, a pump sprayer, a spray bottle I'm re-using or a brand new one, it might spray for ten sprays and then stops. My husband can't get over how our garage is littered with the bodies of unusable spray bottles. The other day after the deer ate some of my daylily buds I was so desperate to spray the remaining one I almost emptied a bottle of grated cheese to use it to sprinkle the deer repellent with!

I actually found some deer poop in the yard this morning so I will go (and attempt to) spray again this evening.

:)

Dee
Barrheadlass
Original Author
last year
I used all the spray I had an had trouble too. I’ve heard Lowe’s has gallon bottles. I keep finding more eaten stuff too, verbascum that had new buds, etc. I have over 100 kinds of daylilies and this sooooo annoying.
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Well Jack, you are wrong, again! I did not "do a search for 'are there any vegetables that critters will not eat' when you already knew the answer was no". You see, after I finished reading all of these wonderful and informative comments, I did further research and LEARNED (because I am still capable of admitting I don't know everything) that deer/critters in one area will eat some things while deer/critters in other areas eat other things and that most vegetables will ultimately be subject to deer/critter consumption. But you have to admit you have a way of going off topic.
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I tried Repellex last year. It didn't seem all that effective, as it takes quite a while for it to get into the plant system and by that time, the deer have eaten them. I didn't find a liquid form, it was tablets that you push into the ground at the root system. And it was hellaciously expensive. The instructions advised use of a spray on repellent until the Repellex took effect. Sheesh. I think you are probably right about the rabbits, deer are not supposed to like heucheras. I am going to try the Vicks Vaporub treatment that I posted about on here a couple weeks ago and see if it works. Sure tired of buying expensive repellents that may or may not work, and spraying them again every time it rains. So far the most effective commercial treatment has been Repells-All, which comes in a granular that you treat the perimeter of the beds, and a liquid that you spray on. The granular is supposed to last 2 months. I used it last year with some success. The best homemade one was a recipe by I think Don Dean that was posted on the AHS facebook page, but I can't find it now. Maybe I saved it in my favorites It had eggs and hot pepper sauces, that I remember. I added hot pepper sauce to the Repells-All liquid too. Sandy
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An interesting idea, madgallica. I also posted a query on the landscape design forum and someone suggested making the fencing look decorative in order to distract the eye from its anti-deer function; such as putting up finials on the post tops. This might help - small birdhouses there come to mind - but still, 6 ft. of fencing is a lot when you're trying to enjoy the bit of ocean view. Maybe the fence width idea would work, in the form of 2 fences: 1 higher but further away downhill (land gently slopes to old stone wall and then wetlands, which is where the deer hang out), and 1 on the actual enclosure perimeter, with large enough openings to frame the view but with top rails to discourage leaping in. (Oh, great: I've just designed an Olympic track deer hurdle.) Carol
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Comments (19)
Well that just sucks Celeste ! Your garden images and daylily images have wowed me in the past and I was looking forward to seeing more this year. Perhaps if the scapes are cut back to the crown the plant will rebound and put out new scapes? Is that a possibility.? I too love the pictures of everyone's "other " plants so never apologize for posting pictures of any beautiful plant . I know there are deer out there around us but have never ( knock on wood) had them enter our yard . Our only fence is around the back yard to keep the doggies in but I have daylilies planted all over the property .....and we have had no trespassers of the eating kind. We do have rabbits .......they have never touched a plant to my knowledge. again ( knock on wood) .but we are surrounded by farmers fields so we do see them out there odd times. I absolutely love your purple roses ..........I only have a few roses but I love them . They dont all like being here with the heavy clay soil and droughts we get though so I count my blessings they even survive. I cant count the number of roses I have bought , planted and lost here. I hope you get to see some rebloom on your daylilies in your border.
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roxanna
last year
last modified: last year
May I recommend this particular hand sprayer: SOLO is the brand. I got mine from the big A online, and it is a joy to use. Their hand sprayers come in two sizes, and there are also really large ones (backpack style, I think) if you have a lot of gardens. These work by pump-action, and I love mine! Just a PSA!

ETA -- the nozzles can be moved to spray under the leaves as needed, which is brilliant, IMO!!
Barrheadlass
Original Author
last year
Thank you Roxanne!
roxanna
last year
You're welcome, Barrheadlass. I use one for mildew spray on phlox and others (i part skim milk to 9 parts H2O) which is usually effective for me. The other sprayer is for foliar spray such as Miracle Gro. Which reminds me.... =)
Barrheadlass thanked roxanna

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