From commentor Starfish:
I always felt left out of the summer garden photo sessions because I lived in a city, and all we had were a few potted plants that usually died due to heat or squirrels.
I moved at the end of June to a place with a yard, and I planted some lettuce. But I don’t know how to keep the pests out of the garden.
Do you have any suggestions?
***********
And, as the gardening season wraps up across much of the country, how are things in your gardens this week?
anthrosciguy
Old time pot grow in California swore by bloodmeal to keep away deer (or a 7 foot high fence) and Corry’s Slug and Snail Death for snails and cutworms. Now raccoons are gonna be a problem, especially if you try to grow corn. Maybe someone else can guide you there. Bloodmeal smells like predator scat and urine, from what I understand.
Amir Khalid
Damn, those are some big squirrels.
joel hanes
Deer (or hooved mice, as I think of them) just hate the sulfur dioxide smell of rotten eggs. You can purchase desicated bad egg powder from hatcheries, at some yard and garden outlets, or on the Web, and it will work. The problem is that it washes off in rain, and must be frequently refreshed even if it doesn’t wash off.
Because we’ve removed the wolves and larger cats and carnivorous bears, the deer have no predator, and are far too numerous over much of North America.
This produces overgrazed range and endemic sickness in deer (and an abundance of ticks carrying Lyme).
I wish there were a way to start a service company in this niche: “Call Wolf Enterprises, and we’ll solve your deer problem AND, if you choose, we’ll give you half the venison.”
Chief
The deer are beautiful. I do not regard them as pests but as fine specimens of Mother Nature’s bounty.
When we lived in southern Illinois, the sub-division was on a peninsula with a narrow neck & no hunting. We had lots of deer.
satby
There are deer repellents as mentioned, but a tall chicken wire fence will work better, and you can roll it up and store it when the season’s over.
OzarkHillbilly
.30-06, 150 grain. Watch out for children down range.
Napoleon
@joel hanes:
I call them rats on stilts. When I first moved into my house 15 years ago they were cute. Now they drive me crazy with everything they eat.
OzarkHillbilly
On the more serious side, I am going to enjoy some perfect Fall weather today (high 59, sunny) by continuing with the tasks of cleaning up the garden, moving and restacking firewood, and if I am feeling especially ambitious I will clear some more of the back slope in preparation for this winter’s terracing project.
Louis
@OzarkHillbilly: Gots to agree with you there.
Keith G
@OzarkHillbilly: I wonder….Does the “Stand your ground” doctrine apply to non-human intruders?
satby
The deer didn’t bother my garden much at all this year, but the stinkbugs were everywhere and ruined a lot of plants.
p.a.
@OzarkHillbilly: yes. And if the poster is vegetarian I will happily volunteer for the cost of butchery and shipping of the meat to me.
Mustang Bobby
@Napoleon: When I lived in Michigan they were “rats with antlers.”
Here in my part of suburban Miami in south Florida, we have another pest: peacocks. Someone once thought they would be an exotic addition to their estate. The buggers got loose, bred, and now they and their dog-sized turds are everywhere. The birds are nice to look at until they block traffic, squawk, and terrorize children and pets.
OzarkHillbilly
@Keith G:
As far as I am concerned, the “stand your ground” doctrine doesn’t apply to humans. Of course, I am also adamantly opposed to concealed carry. Both policies are tragedies asking to happen.
Stupid stupid stupid stupid….
WereBear
@joel hanes: I’ve always been in favor of bringing back the big predators. They keep the deer in check and are magnificent to glimpse.
MomSense
Oh my!
Lurker
Aye! The deer may be pests but they are such darn cute, beautiful, pests.
big ole hound
Venison and football are the perfect combination for a Fall afternoon.
BigHank53
For deer pretty much your only option is a fence. The black plastic mesh stuff fastens nicely to T-posts with zipties, so it’s relatively painless to put up. Or take down, if you don’t want to stare at the fence during the off season.
Some towns are starting to allow urban bow hunting. Get up on the roof and (a) there’s no way a stray shot can go anywhere but into the yard/garden, and (b) it’s really quiet.
JPL
My yard is fenced and I haven’t had problems. My neighbors see deer walking past but because of dense trees, my view is blocked. There’s a pond and 12 acres of open area behind me.
Is it safe to compost newspaper?
jeffreyw
but, but, but…Bambi!
aimai
@Mustang Bobby: We are having the same problem with roving gangs of turkeys and they are far less pretty. In fact that look creepily dinosaur like-maybe they are too juvenile to have interesting plumage? There is a gang of eight huge buggers, probably 15 pounds and a foot and a half high, that is stalking our street. You seem them strutting and slinking down the sidewalk and sauntering into the backyard scattering mulch and nibbling things. They don’t harm the garden but they are creepy as hell.
The Gray Adder
@Chief: And no garden, I take it. They ate my apple trees one year – nothing left but a stick. Had to start over. In the woods, they’re beautiful. In your garden or hope-to-be orchard, they’re pests.
low-tech cyclist
We’ve had very good luck with garlic clips. Before we started using these things, the local deer used to eat our hydrangea as soon as they bloomed. No more. (We live in southern Maryland, FWIW.)
Botsplainer
@Napoleon:
Having hit one on an interstate (and having to lock up my brakes on my street just this week), the goddamn things are a menace.
They’re not real nice, either. A couple of months ago, one was standing his ground on the lower patio, hissing at me and the dog.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL:
I use newspapers for weed fabric and when the season is done I just till it into the soil.
debbie
A couple of posts with a few rows of nylon fishing line strung between them. They’ll freak out because they can’t see what’s touched them. Works with Canada geese too.
Punchy
@Botsplainer: Hissing? Didnt know they did that. Whats the fear of a deer? They dont charge, right, and dont bite. Do they trample? I thought they spooked easily.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: Thanks..
dedc79
We fence off land, claim it as ours and ours only, proceed to lay out salad buffets, and then have the nerve to blame the deer for wanting a taste. How dare they? How dare we.
gelfling545
No gardening today. I am heading out for a wine tour of the Niagara Escarpment, a “pre-wedding event” for my baby sister, even though I mostly hate NY wines. Being her second time around, she & her fiance have everything they need so no wedding shower. Instead, being the type of people they are, they have asked guests to bring basic kitchen supplies to be donated to a local NPO that provides permanent housing for Vets who have become homeless. A big barrier to good nutrition is that even when folks have finally got a place & food stamps they have nothing to cook with & have to rely on processed foods & purchasing the needed equipment is really expensive. Sometimes she makes me so proud.
dedc79
@Botsplainer: yes, how dare that deer get in the way of your speeding car. Tell me, who got the worst of it in that incident? Why can’t it obey our traffic signals? Why can’t it look both ways before crossing? Why does it get so blinded by headlights? What is wrong with it?
You’re still here to comment, but something tells me the “menace” wasn’t quite as fortunate.
OzarkHillbilly
@Punchy:
Yes. Corner a deer and it will put a fore hoof right thru your skull. Or any other part of your anatomy with in reach.
Botsplainer
@Punchy:
They’ll ram you with their head, and some breeds can cause significant damage depending on how their antlers are configured.
The hissing was weird. It was a big male, maybe challenging me over a nearby doe.
Punchy
@Botsplainer: It must have been one of those 1%er deers if it was concerned about the nearby dough.
Roger Moore
@Mustang Bobby:
A neighborhood in the next city over is infested with peacocks, which spread from the LA County arboretum. They’re pretty enough to make it onto the city’s logo, but annoying enough that there are prominent “don’t feed the peacocks” all over the neighborhood. I’m a little bit surprised the coyotes don’t get more of them.
Citizen Scientist
No garden variety deer problems this year here in southern PA. However, the cabbage worms and leaf miners have been hell on our kale, bok choy, and broccoli rabe. Maybe I’ll be able harvest one or two plants from the fall crops.
Citizen Scientist
@Roger Moore: Peacocks: making a mess all over the city.*
*semi-obscure It’s Always Sunny reference.
jharp
“Do you have any suggestions?”
Shoot them.
tybee
@dedc79:
i don’t mind sharing some crops with them but they WILL share a member or two of the herd with me.
that reminds me, i need to defrost a venison ham from the last “buffet visitor”.
Cassidy
@tybee: That’s a fair trade.
keestadoll
Oh my those are some gorgeous bucks! Up in my neck of the (literal) NoCA woods, we’re in the waning days of deer season and more than a few of my neighbors are seeing such visitors in their gardens because well, deer know the time of year and know where they won’t be shot. To the problem of keeping them out of your salad: without question a fence is in order. These guys can JUMP too, so it has to be at least 7′ with a horizontal bar on the outside. I saw those garlic clips once before in a local ag shop. Might be a good choice for ornamentals, but for a food garden….I dunno. Shorter: BUILD fence.
Avery Greynold
Deer repellent paint balls? Is there a market for this? Would give a nasty sting that is (relatively) safe to humans, and leaves them with a smell they’ll regret and associate with your property. Fun to spread on your trees and fence posts.
StringOnAStick
We just had the first hard frost, which will be flowed by 2 or 3 more weeks of no frost and gorgeous late season garden weather; typical here in the CO foothills. I covered my tomato but I don’t think it was enough since it doesn’t look too happy on this bright blue day.
This year’s big winners were foxes, big litters all over our little town. The reason I know this is I have seen a lot of them, and unfortunately known several people who lost a beloved cat to them. Sightings of bobcat, mountain lion, coyote, fox, raccoon, skunk, etc. are common here, and yet people are surprised when they lose a cat. Indoors-only is the only way for a local cat to live more than a year or two here.
sherparick
@joel hanes: There is a predator (humans), but because shooting rifles and bow and arrows off in suburbia is frowned upon and easily missed.
A still common, non-human predator, Coyotes will go after fawns and sick deer. The surprising thing is suburbia and rural countryside of farms and wood lots is just great habitat for white tail deer. A big niche with not a lot of competitors or predators.
If you can put up an invisible fence and get a dog trained to stay within it and who is a good barker, the dog will keep deer, rabbits, and raccoons out of the yard.
I can’t endorse this product itself, but St. Gabriel’s Milky Spore has been great cutting down on the Japanese beetles and larva infestation in my yard. http://www.stgl.us/gstore/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=45&idproduct=3935
Leaving Texas
@JPL: It is safe to compost newspaper. Be aware that it is very “brown” (something like 25:1 C: N) and you will want to shred it to minimize clumping.
may
We are a month past the normal end to the growing season here in our corner of Northern New England, and still we have not had a frost. So while there are still tomatoes and eggplants to be had, we can’t cut the meadow yet as we have done for years because of the wasps. We also have had no monarchs in our milkweed. It has been an exceptional year for apples though and our ancient apple trees in the meadow are feeding not just us but the deer and the black bears that come regularly off the mountain out back. I gave up on a vegetable garden here years ago and don’t know how the people who built this place centuries ago did it. The soil and the altitude make it hard, but we have a great CSA down in the rich valley. We just enjoy the deer and they have stayed out of my potted herbs probably because they are so close to the house. But if I did want to keep them out, I would use a fence.
Digital Amish
@Mustang Bobby:
Oh god! Freakin’ peacocks! Had a neighbor in my rural neighborhood that thought they were a good idea. He tried several years to keep a couple. Luckily the coyotes took care of the squawking bastards after a few weeks. He finally gave up.
And yes, deer are just overgrown rats.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
The LA Times had an interesting story about our local urban mountain lion in Griffith Park. He seems to primarily eat deer (when he can catch them), but also the occasional coyote or raccoon. (Warning: there are a few gruesome descriptions if you have a weak stomach.) He will shortly be featured in National Geographic magazine.
Christine
I could live happily without hearing that expression “rats with wings/antlers/etc” about any animal that has the gall to keep living in human-dominated environments. The most destructive and dirty animal on this planet is the human being, who I love all the same. Sure, keeping populations down and protecting gardens are legitimate and necessary, but do you need to denigrate the animal as pests or vermin as well? Human solipsism at its finest… Also, I live in a place with a lot of animal life and I love the wild turkeys especially.
gray lensman
Try hanging chunks of Irish Spring bar soap from the trees and bushes with fishing line. This keeps
the elk and deer here in the Colorado mountains from eating the bark off of our aspen trees. The soap will last a while even in the rain and snow.
Stinks up the yard but I guess that’s the point.
Showering with Irish Spring will keep humans at a respectable distance too.
nwithers
There is this stuff you can buy at almost any hardware store called “liquid fence” the stuff is essentially a liquid mixture of rotten egg solids and garlic, so it is safe to spray on food plants . Spray the stuff around/on your plants about once a week (or after it rains) and it keeps the deer away. I helped my mom set up her garden in durango where there is a little herd of 4-10 deer that are completely un-afraid of humans, and the stuff works like a charm. she has had hoof prints in the beds, but no browsing.
The stuff is a bit smelly for a minute or two to our nose, so don’t spray it on your clothes. Also if you have dogs they will be VERY interested in the smell too.
Edit: Also wash your veggies before eating them, especially if you have sprayed recently, just a rinse and rub with water will do.
Starfish
@StringOnAStick: A friend in the area recently had his 21-year-old cat go missing.
DSC
1) Dogs–we have 8 at the moment and NEVER see the deer here on the Cumberland Plateau where they are abundant
2) heavy weight test fishing line, strung from fence posts or stakes, at about 18 inches off the ground –they can’t stand getting hung up–you can even put a few flags on it for humans
3) Double fencing around trees–you can use temp fence–we helped friends put fencing 3 feet apart–first row close to the drip line around the tree, second row three feet out–they couldn’t get over/past both and those s**t heads will break branches and eat all the leaves as well as the fruit
4) dogs
Mart
@satby: At the height of the drought last year the deer kicked down our chicken wire fence and ate nearly everything. Did not get too upset as figured they were desperate. Whether you think they are beautiful creatures, or large rodents, there are way too many to drive safely; especially at night this time of year. I recommend land mines. The US still has not signed the treaty banning them, so should be no problems using them.
Older
I’ve watched deer levitate over an eight-foot fence, so I wouldn’t trust a fence to keep them out. Some folks around here have fencing “roofs” over their gardens. I would expect to see deer on these roofs with their legs stuck in the fencing, but I never do, so I guess they have some kind of sonar or something that keeps them from jumping into such a trap.
Older
@WereBear: First they eat the deer, then they eat your dogs and cats, then they lie around on your back deck in case you might be moved to go outside and drink ice tea in the twilight.
CDW
Coyote scarecrows are used here for the Canada geese. Don’t know if they work with deer. Deer and coyotes seem to exist together peacefully in the wildlife refuge across the street from me.
Michele Quarton
Well I have done all the organics, now I use “Liquid Fence” to keep the deer away. Used it for 7 years, live in a wooded area with lots of dear, and this product works. Michele Quarton
Arclite
80 lb Yew longbow with steel-tipped hunting shafts. Mount their tarred heads on spikes as a warning to other deer. Enjoy a winter of venison steaks. Goes great with lamprey pie, black bread, and a hearty ale.
(Been watching a lot of Game of Thrones lately)
nellcote
My garden is on a long standing deer path. I spray once a week with the following and they leave everything including roses alone:
1 qt water
2 eggs (the older the better)
1 TBSP tabasco or other hot sauce or steep hot peppers in some water. It’s the capiscum that you’re going for.
blend, strain and spray. It only smells while you’re spraying not after it dries.
Jay C
@Mustang Bobby:
My mother once had a peacock come to “visit” in her back yard: she lived in Beverly Hills, btw: so they maybe weren’t as “exotic” as all that: but after a few days of early-morning “wakeup calls” – peacocks, apparently, are like roosters: if roosters played the trumpet, that is: and noticing that the peacock shit was eating away her terrazzo patio (true: years later after she died, we had to hire someone to re-buff the peacock “erosions” off the patio before we sold the house); the novelty value of the big birds wore off really quick….
Oh, and @ Anne Laurie:
Second Amendment solutions……
dww44
@nwithers: I too use Liquid Fence. For quite a few years. Buy it in a concentrated bottle for about $38.00 and then dilute. Good to spray weekly for 3 weeks and then taper off. After a period of rain, might want to spray again. Our deer eat everything and are especially fond of hydrangeas and liriope. Will also eat and mumch on azaleas.
nwithers
@nellcote: I’d say throw in a couple of cloves of garlic too. it should make it work even better