Caliloo, I'm not familiar with Neptunes Harvest. What is it.
Also, could you use a little liquid dishwashing soap as a sticker/spreader?
Deer control
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thehostagourmet
- Posts: 669
- Joined: Mar 10, 2003 10:38 am
- USDA Zone: 5b
- Location: Western NY, Zone 5
Deer off
George
caliloo I've seen canola oil used for that purpose. Can't it replace the Wilt Pruf in your formula?
Have you tested this before? Did it work for you? Do you spray it on?
MollyD
Have you tested this before? Did it work for you? Do you spray it on?
MollyD
MollyD's Hosta list
Lat: 42.89N, Lon: 77.28W
Lat: 42.89N, Lon: 77.28W
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Chris_W
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I've read a few studies on deer control/deterrent and most say the smelly products work better as a deterrent than the hot pepper or bitrex since those require the deer to actually get close enough to sample and taste test first, and my experience has been the same - products with blood meal and products with rotten eggs and garlic work the best as a deterrent, but if those fail you may have to start alternating with even more, and nothing is totally fool proof when the deer are starving.
And Molly, the fence doesn't have to be expensive. Fine plastic mesh 8' high held up with 2x2 or 4x4 posts is enough to keep them away most of the time, and if you were to spray it with rotten eggs and garlic and blood meal it would work even better.
From what I've heard, the soap bars work okay on ornamentals but not so well on perennials. And some female deer can be attracted to human pee - so be sure to eat lots of garlic and hot pepper ahead of time
And Molly, the fence doesn't have to be expensive. Fine plastic mesh 8' high held up with 2x2 or 4x4 posts is enough to keep them away most of the time, and if you were to spray it with rotten eggs and garlic and blood meal it would work even better.
From what I've heard, the soap bars work okay on ornamentals but not so well on perennials. And some female deer can be attracted to human pee - so be sure to eat lots of garlic and hot pepper ahead of time
Chris!
Neptune's Harvest is liquid gold IMHO. I found out about it on that other place reading the rose forum. After taking a whiff I decided to add it to my Deer Off mix and it seems to work both as a fertilizer and critter repellent.
Be cautious using ANY sticker spreader on the glaucous leaved hostas. In my limited experience canola oil and dish detergent will both remove the waxy coating and you end up with ugly spotty hostas wherever the mixture lands on a leaf. I have a blue seedling that I am quite taken with that looked wretched all last year because I forgot I had the full mix in the sprayer (I was spraying roses and DLs) and I sprayed it early in the season.
If you are looking for a great organic product to do all sorts of good in your garden - give Neptune's Harvest a try. I like the Fish/Seaweed 2-3-1.
http://www.neptunesharvest.com/
Neptune's Harvest is liquid gold IMHO. I found out about it on that other place reading the rose forum. After taking a whiff I decided to add it to my Deer Off mix and it seems to work both as a fertilizer and critter repellent.
Be cautious using ANY sticker spreader on the glaucous leaved hostas. In my limited experience canola oil and dish detergent will both remove the waxy coating and you end up with ugly spotty hostas wherever the mixture lands on a leaf. I have a blue seedling that I am quite taken with that looked wretched all last year because I forgot I had the full mix in the sprayer (I was spraying roses and DLs) and I sprayed it early in the season.
If you are looking for a great organic product to do all sorts of good in your garden - give Neptune's Harvest a try. I like the Fish/Seaweed 2-3-1.
http://www.neptunesharvest.com/
Spring - An experience in immortality.
- Henry D. Thoreau
- Henry D. Thoreau
Chris do you know if that kind of fence will also stop dogs (our own and strays) and rabbits? My other arch enemies. This year we're adding chickens to our animals and I expect they will bring their own brand of trouble.
MollyD
MollyD
MollyD's Hosta list
Lat: 42.89N, Lon: 77.28W
Lat: 42.89N, Lon: 77.28W
I just learned about Dr. Earth last night at the meeting, too, Alexa....It's organic..... 
http://drearth.net/index1.php?page=qa
http://drearth.net/index1.php?page=qa
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Bill Meyer
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Hi Molly,
Twice now I saw small herds (6-8) that were all female with one youngish buck. I went to chase one group off that were heading into Frelinghuysen Arboretum and the buck turned to face me down. He wasn't very big, but I didn't actually want to wrestle him.
We just stared each other down and he left with the others.
Usually it is all female or female and fawns though. I don't know how unusual it is for mixed sexes.
I've seen where they have squeezed under net fences that went to the ground - just pushed their way under. They exploit tears and gaps well too. The weirdest thing I saw was at a local nursery that was having trouble with deer getting into the hostas. They put up that deer fence with fairly heavy 2" black plastic mesh. There was a spot where something had chewed open the fence from about 3' straight down to the ground. It had to be a deer, because what else would chew it open that high?
........Bill Meyer
Twice now I saw small herds (6-8) that were all female with one youngish buck. I went to chase one group off that were heading into Frelinghuysen Arboretum and the buck turned to face me down. He wasn't very big, but I didn't actually want to wrestle him.
We just stared each other down and he left with the others.Usually it is all female or female and fawns though. I don't know how unusual it is for mixed sexes.
I've seen where they have squeezed under net fences that went to the ground - just pushed their way under. They exploit tears and gaps well too. The weirdest thing I saw was at a local nursery that was having trouble with deer getting into the hostas. They put up that deer fence with fairly heavy 2" black plastic mesh. There was a spot where something had chewed open the fence from about 3' straight down to the ground. It had to be a deer, because what else would chew it open that high?
........Bill Meyer
If you thought the auction was fun, come to the meeting!
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Bill Meyer
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- Joined: Feb 17, 2003 3:18 pm
- Location: New Jersey
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Hi Chris,
My thinking on that is that deterrents work fine until the deer figure them out. You are trying to fool them after all. Once they know there's tasty food in that smelly place they will ignore the smell. What I'm saying is that if the hostas are inedible then the deer will have no interest in eating them. Hostas aren't native so they would have no instincts that they are safe to eat - they try them and if they aren't edible they go eat something that is and don't come back - at least not the same deer that got a mouthful of some really hot capsaicin
One last-ditch measure you might want to try is something we experimented with in winter before the fence went up. We soaked Remay in one of the commercial repellants and wrapped all the evergreens. The theory was that they wouldn't see them from a distance as green food so they would ignore them. If they got curious they would smell the repellant and not the plant. It worked really well. They didn't touch anything. Looked a little strange though.
You could do that with your field-grown plants if they start coming in. Hostas should do OK under light Remay the way it is used on some ag crops for insect control. Soak it first it something really smelly. If they can't see them or smell them, they probably will just ignore them.
We're smarter than they are, but they're more determined. I saw somewhere that they eat 12lbs. or more of vegetation every day. They have to work at that. How big a bunch would 12lbs. of hosta leaves be? That's an ugly thought in a nursery.
.........Bill Meyer
My thinking on that is that deterrents work fine until the deer figure them out. You are trying to fool them after all. Once they know there's tasty food in that smelly place they will ignore the smell. What I'm saying is that if the hostas are inedible then the deer will have no interest in eating them. Hostas aren't native so they would have no instincts that they are safe to eat - they try them and if they aren't edible they go eat something that is and don't come back - at least not the same deer that got a mouthful of some really hot capsaicin
One last-ditch measure you might want to try is something we experimented with in winter before the fence went up. We soaked Remay in one of the commercial repellants and wrapped all the evergreens. The theory was that they wouldn't see them from a distance as green food so they would ignore them. If they got curious they would smell the repellant and not the plant. It worked really well. They didn't touch anything. Looked a little strange though.
You could do that with your field-grown plants if they start coming in. Hostas should do OK under light Remay the way it is used on some ag crops for insect control. Soak it first it something really smelly. If they can't see them or smell them, they probably will just ignore them.
We're smarter than they are, but they're more determined. I saw somewhere that they eat 12lbs. or more of vegetation every day. They have to work at that. How big a bunch would 12lbs. of hosta leaves be? That's an ugly thought in a nursery.
.........Bill Meyer
If you thought the auction was fun, come to the meeting!
My experience is the same as Chris.' When I used the bitrex-based product, I'd end up with a series of plants with distinct bites out of them for the rest of the season. So the combination of the deer having to try a sample and the nasty spots on the leaves made me switch to the smelly ones.
But Bill's point is also well taken. Deer will adapt. The key with any deer product is that nothing will keep a deer away if it is hungry. But in my neighborhood, there is plenty for them to eat - I just have to direct them to eat in somebody elses' yard rather than mine. You can't think in terms of driving them away... think about steering them way, deflecting their path. Deer wander and browse and tend to establish patterns in that wandering. You want them to find a different path and get established in that path.
I have a yard with two natural deer paths. The one that is fenced and sprayed used to be the regular "road" for a herd... I've now successfully steered them around - unless the fence sags or rips - then sometimes an adventurer decides to jump the fence. And the drawback to a fence is that if they DO jump it, you can actually have a deer kind of trapped with nothing BUT hostas to eat!
The second route the spray works, but it has to be done early and then regularly enough that they just get the habit of walking around rather than cutting through the yard.
So think like a deer. Know that they will be wandering and make sure you have the stink in place to make them take the other path, even if it is the "road less traveled by." That will make all the difference.
But Bill's point is also well taken. Deer will adapt. The key with any deer product is that nothing will keep a deer away if it is hungry. But in my neighborhood, there is plenty for them to eat - I just have to direct them to eat in somebody elses' yard rather than mine. You can't think in terms of driving them away... think about steering them way, deflecting their path. Deer wander and browse and tend to establish patterns in that wandering. You want them to find a different path and get established in that path.
I have a yard with two natural deer paths. The one that is fenced and sprayed used to be the regular "road" for a herd... I've now successfully steered them around - unless the fence sags or rips - then sometimes an adventurer decides to jump the fence. And the drawback to a fence is that if they DO jump it, you can actually have a deer kind of trapped with nothing BUT hostas to eat!
The second route the spray works, but it has to be done early and then regularly enough that they just get the habit of walking around rather than cutting through the yard.
So think like a deer. Know that they will be wandering and make sure you have the stink in place to make them take the other path, even if it is the "road less traveled by." That will make all the difference.