Pond Boss
Posted By: azteca How to keep Deer away. - 11/17/21 09:04 PM
Hello.

How do you keep Deer away from your fruit trees and shrubs.

I have electronic repellents near the house, but in the field where there is no electricity I tried this.

This year I install white bands

https://i.ibb.co/f8K7jCs/IMG-2043.jpg

Do you have anything else.
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Posted By: anthropic Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/17/21 10:14 PM
Judging by my results, set up a deer blind. No more deer!
Posted By: buck dog Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/18/21 01:28 AM
kill em and grill em!
Posted By: RAH Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/18/21 11:00 AM
I put 6 in the freezer last year and there are plenty left. My wife won't let me take the one she named that comes and eats apples next to our house...
Posted By: Theo Gallus Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/18/21 12:07 PM
Some have deterred deer by hanging soap on the susceptible plants.

Way-high fence is the only sure deterrent I know.
Posted By: Tbar Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/18/21 12:21 PM
https://www.peatnson.com/images/products/original_10395_1.jpg
Posted By: Journeyman Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/18/21 12:49 PM
Go to the dollar store and get the cheapest powdered Cayenne pepper. Shake it all over the shrub, preferably while the morning dew is still on, so it sticks. They'll learn quick, the shrub is no good to eat.
Posted By: RAH Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/18/21 02:11 PM
Human hair from a barber shop. Used kitty litter.
Posted By: Augie Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/18/21 03:39 PM
Best way I've found is to own a couple big dogs and leave them outside at night.

You can never shoot enough of them to save your trees.
Posted By: gehajake Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/18/21 08:34 PM
For my fruit trees I just made round hoops out of woven wire and set them around them, I also raised mine up so that I can mow under and around the plant, and a little piece of drain tile around the base to keep the rabbits from chewing on them. Ill see if I can find a picture.

Attached picture T__00037.JPG
Posted By: FishinRod Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/18/21 10:59 PM
I have tried multiple methods on my trees.

I have game cam pics of the deer standing on their hind legs to eat the tops off of trees in 5' tree tubes. I also have pics of them knocking down the tubes.

I have also set little barbed wire fence enclosures around my trees. It works well, but it utilizes a lot of materials AND it is a pain to climb through to weed or prune the trees.

I finally tried the patented GEHAJAKE Elevated Hoops System (as shown on some of the trees in his pic).

It works very well for the tree-deer situation on my farm. I give it two thumbs up!

(I have a $35 t-post puller from Tractor Supply that works superbly. When the trees finally grow out above the deer browsing height, it will be quite easy to remove the hoops and posts, and then re-use them on any new plantings.)
Posted By: azteca Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/18/21 11:58 PM
Hello.

Thanks for all your suggestions, if the white stripes don't work I will try your ideas.

These white stripes are waterproof so even if it rains they still move in the wind.

It seems that these white stripes mean a danger for the deer as when they feel danger they raise their tail which is white to alert the other deer.
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Posted By: Augie Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/19/21 02:57 PM
Originally Posted by FishinRod
(I have a $35 t-post puller from Tractor Supply

You already had a superb t-post puller. You just didn't know it.

pull a t-post the easy way
Posted By: Theo Gallus Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/19/21 03:58 PM
We got one of those t-post pullers. When attached to a front end loader by a chain, it pulls t-posts almost as quickly as the FEL and chain do without it.
Posted By: azteca Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/22/21 07:07 PM
Hello.

I don't know if it's because of the ribbons but this morning there was plenty of Deer trail and they didn't touch the Serviceberry (Saskatoon berries).

To follow up.
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Posted By: FishinRod Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/23/21 05:50 PM
Azteca,

Does your family eat the Serviceberries?

I had a friend recommend I plant some for human consumption!

I also think they would be good for deer browsing. (I would protect them until they were well-established, THEN let the deer have at them.)
Posted By: azteca Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/23/21 09:58 PM
Hello.

Here I have Plum,Cherry and Apple trees, but nothing beats Serviceberry to attract Deer.

It is a little normal with its hundred of branches it is a large shrub 12 to 15 feet it remains easily accessible to Deer.

Yes I eat the fruit in July it's very good.
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Posted By: FishinRod Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/24/21 12:50 AM
Thanks azteca!

I have lots of sand plums. I have also started American Plums, persimmons, and pears.

I think Serviceberry would definitely be another good one to add to our mix!
Posted By: RAH Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/24/21 10:06 AM
I believe that there are different types of serviceberry and that some are not favored by deer.

https://www.thespruce.com/nine-species-serviceberry-trees-and-shrubs-3269674

https://njaes.rutgers.edu/deer-resistant-plants/?search=serviceberry&submit=Search
Posted By: azteca Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/24/21 02:39 PM
Hello.

As you will see on the sites that RAH gives to us, the Serviceberry are subject to several diseases.

Then you need varieties resistant to these diseases.

First
Serviceberry Alnifolia northline.

The most resistant, grow quickly and produces fruits quickly and makes lot of suckers.

The other varieties I have, are all varieties of the species Alnifolia, fairly disease resistant but less than Northline.

Hoeywood 10-12 feet
Smokey 12 feet
Isaac small 3-5 feet
They make suckers but less than Northline.

The other varieties of the species Alnifolia that I have tried are not resistant to disease.
.

All the varieties that I have here are all eaten by the Deer, and they must absolutely be protected.

I don't know the other species.
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Posted By: FishinRod Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/24/21 04:31 PM
Thanks for the additional info, RAH & azteca!

Our state forest service has one type of serviceberry for sale. Presumably it is resistant to the common diseases in our area.

I did not know that there were so many varieties! I will try to find out the exact one before I put any in the ground.
Posted By: esshup Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/26/21 05:07 PM
There are solar powered electric fence chargers out there. That's what I would use. Set up an electric fence around the orchard.
Posted By: RAH Re: How to keep Deer away. - 11/26/21 11:32 PM
Folks bait them with peanut butter on aluminum foil bent over the wire so that they don't just learn to jump the fence.
Posted By: azteca Re: How to keep Deer away. - 04/27/22 05:37 PM
Hello.

The test seems conclusive.

All the places where I put these white ribbons, especially where there are apple trees have not been touched,
https://ibb.co/WDd1mcL
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Posted By: Theo Gallus Re: How to keep Deer away. - 04/27/22 06:02 PM
Originally Posted by esshup
There are solar powered electric fence chargers out there. That's what I would use. Set up an electric fence around the orchard.
We have a big solar fence charger on half of our property. It easily contains cattle and keeps the weeds burnt off a half-mile (times three hot wires) of fence.

It does, however, have limited effectiveness in the Winter here, with short days and cloudy skies.
Posted By: SherWood Re: How to keep Deer away. - 04/27/22 07:38 PM
Originally Posted by azteca
Hello.

The test seems conclusive.

All the places where I put these white ribbons, especially where there are apple trees have not been touched,
https://ibb.co/WDd1mcL
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Thanks, I am going to try that. I built a very large garden that I really don't want to fence in. The deer have been walking through it but nothing that has popped out of the ground is very big for them to eat just yet. White ribbon sounds cheap and easy which is my kind of thing. (Don't tell my wife I said that. She'll think I'm talking about her.)
Posted By: Dave Davidson1 Re: How to keep Deer away. - 04/27/22 10:37 PM
I’ve tried hot wire and found that deer sometimes lunge against it. Some times it works but not 100%.
Posted By: Pat Williamson Re: How to keep Deer away. - 04/27/22 11:18 PM
We use deer and rabbit repellent from tractor supply and it actually works… smells to high heaven though……
Posted By: catscratch Re: How to keep Deer away. - 04/28/22 11:44 AM
The 5' cages work best for me. Even if I could get them to stop eating them with ribbons or chemicals they seem to like them as rub trees.
Posted By: Snipe Re: How to keep Deer away. - 04/29/22 03:45 AM
Motel/Hotel soap bar in a piece of pantyhose hung on tree/plant. More it rains the more it's smells like Ode Defuffoo #5 (perfume)..
Posted By: gehajake Re: How to keep Deer away. - 04/29/22 09:57 PM
since this thread started I planted a patch of blueberry plants and put an electric wire around them powered by solar, and it barely deterred them at all, they chewed em down a good bit, they still alive tho, since the weather has warmed up, longer days and more sunshine it seems to be working a lot better, I also heard of a style of electric fence that is supposed to work great for deer, you put a three wire fence up, I gotta google the dimensions again but seems like on wire about 24" off the ground and another at about 3' then a third wire about 24" to the inside or outside of the other two staggered in elevation from the first two, something about making it a wider fence to jump over and a little harder to slide under. I was going to figure out how to make a standoff to attach to a fence post to hold the other wire out like that, may be able to mow up under the wire and a little easier to put up,,, but alas, I got busy and havent got to it yet.
Posted By: Heppy Re: How to keep Deer away. - 04/30/22 03:12 AM
gehajake,
My in-laws had a terrible problem with deer eating their landscaping until an old farmer told them to put a single strand of electric fence about 6 inches off the ground. I doubted that would work myself but 4 years later and they no longer have any problems with deer. It sounds crazy I know but you learn something new everyday. For fruit trees at the cabin I cut 10 foot sections of 2x4 fencing wire, drove 2 T post on opposite sides of each tree and formed a circle around each tied to the T posts about 10 inches off the ground to bush hog. I’ve had no problems with deer since I put them up last summer. The T post idea came from someone on here but I can’t remember who did it, maybe RAH?
Posted By: esshup Re: How to keep Deer away. - 04/30/22 04:15 AM
Turn the power to the electric fence off. Put a piece of tin foil on it, and smear some Peanut Butter on the tinfoil. Turn the fence back on. The deer will lick the tinfoil and won't like it a bit.....
Posted By: Hirsch56 Re: How to keep Deer away. - 04/30/22 04:07 PM
The key to fence away deer is to place 2 rows of fence about 24" apart. If you want to try a low wire perimeter, you should have better success with 2 rows of wire.
Posted By: gehajake Re: How to keep Deer away. - 05/01/22 01:59 PM
Originally Posted by Heppy
gehajake,
My in-laws had a terrible problem with deer eating their landscaping until an old farmer told them to put a single strand of electric fence about 6 inches off the ground. I doubted that would work myself but 4 years later and they no longer have any problems with deer. It sounds crazy I know but you learn something new everyday. For fruit trees at the cabin I cut 10 foot sections of 2x4 fencing wire, drove 2 T post on opposite sides of each tree and formed a circle around each tied to the T posts about 10 inches off the ground to bush hog. I’ve had no problems with deer since I put them up last summer. The T post idea came from someone on here but I can’t remember who did it, maybe RAH?

It may have been me that talked about a fence off the ground for mowing purposes, I did that for my fruit trees several yrs ago and love it.
As for the wire 6 inches above the ground, that may work great, Ive been doing that at home around my garden for yrs to keep coons and possums out of my tomatoes, a hot wire about 4 inches off the ground then a grounded wire about 4" above that with another hot wire about 4" above it, the whole thing is only about a ft tall but I haven't had a varmint or a deer in my garden since, I just figured I got lucky on the deer part, didnt realize that low wire may have been keeping them out.
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