Soap, hair or spice can fight plant-eating deer
http://lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200807 [2008-7-7]
Tag : pepper granule
While quick fixes are available at stores by way of sprays andgranular materials to repel deer, help may already be at home. Thepossibilities are endless, from bar soaps to hair to spicysolutions. The key is knowing what deer's noses don't like. They certainly don't like humans. And human hair, especially thosefrom freshly permed salon customers, works great, as long asgardeners aren't shy about asking stylists to sweep up severalhandfuls to place alongside their plants or hang above the groundin nylon stockings.
Sandy Wilfong uses dog hair to keep both deer and raccoons fromravaging her sweet corn crop. The employee at Zahm Greenhouses inHuntington, Ind., gets her hair from a dog groomer. "It absolutely will get the 'coon out of there. We haven't had theproblem with the deer, either," she said. The creek behind Bob Matthews' home in Greece, N.Y., is a populardeer hangout. During the growing season, there's an all-out blitzto keep them from harming his sunflower and vegetable crop. Matthews, who operates a gardening Web site, swears by agarlic-and-water spray applied every few weeks.
Other home remedies:
- Baby powder. If it's good enough for baby, it's good enough forbaby plants.
- Eggs. Crack a few, mix with 2 quarts of water and apply thesolution to plants. The eggs will decompose and deer won't like thesmell.
- Deodorant soap and dryer sheets. Soap shavings could be scatteredon the ground, or drill a hole in the soap and hang them fromtrees.
- Chili powder, cayenne pepper and hot peppers. Matthews suggestschopping some peppers in a blender and add water, let the solutionstand overnight, then strain it through cheesecloth and empty intoa spray bottle.
"I've never seen a pepper plant, sweet or hot, that's been botheredby a deer," Matthews said.
- Mothballs. They're dangerous around vegetables because of theirchemical content and work great in flower beds but could be spottedby curious children. Try crushing them to a less-detectable size.
"Something unnatural like soap, dryer sheets or human hair - Idon't want human hair on my tomato plants," Matthews said. "You'vegot to think logically about how you apply this stuff."
- Blood meal. The nitrogen-rich granular fertilizer repels deer butis attractive to dogs.
- Visual scare tactics, such as reflective material, flags,balloons, aluminum pie plates and paper streamers. Many won't workif the wind is calm.
A tall fence may outdo any home remedy.
An 8-foot fence is the most practical use around larger-scaleoperations such as orchards, said Steve Miller, a researchhorticulturalist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's FruitResearch Station in Kearneysville.
"Something in the kitchen cabinet is probably not going to work,"he said. Another option is simply knowing what plants deer like and don'tlike. Some of their favorite candy? Columbine, daylily, geranium, hostas,impatiens, pansies, redbud, rhododendron, roses and tulips, andmany vegetables, including beans, potatoes and tomatoes.
Annual flowers usually left alone by deer include dahlia, fouro'clock, flowering tobacco, larkspur, marigold, poppy, snapdragon,strawflower and vinca.
According to Dave Jensen, owner of Deer-Resistant Landscape Nurseryin Clare, Mich., some top deer-resistant perennials are barberry,bleeding heart, bluebeard, boxwood, butterfly bush, catmint,daffodils, foxglove, hellebores, hyssop, lavender, monkshood,mullein, ornamental grasses, meadow and Russian sage, and spurge.
While quick fixes are available at stores by way of sprays andgranular materials to repel deer, help may already be at home. Thepossibilities are endless, from bar soaps to hair to spicysolutions. The key is knowing what deer's noses don't like. They certainly don't like humans. And human hair, especially thosefrom freshly permed salon customers, works great, as long asgardeners aren't shy about asking stylists to sweep up severalhandfuls to place alongside their plants or hang above the groundin nylon stockings.
Sandy Wilfong uses dog hair to keep both deer and raccoons fromravaging her sweet corn crop. The employee at Zahm Greenhouses inHuntington, Ind., gets her hair from a dog groomer. "It absolutely will get the 'coon out of there. We haven't had theproblem with the deer, either," she said. The creek behind Bob Matthews' home in Greece, N.Y., is a populardeer hangout. During the growing season, there's an all-out blitzto keep them from harming his sunflower and vegetable crop. Matthews, who operates a gardening Web site, swears by agarlic-and-water spray applied every few weeks.
Other home remedies:
- Baby powder. If it's good enough for baby, it's good enough forbaby plants.
- Eggs. Crack a few, mix with 2 quarts of water and apply thesolution to plants. The eggs will decompose and deer won't like thesmell.
- Deodorant soap and dryer sheets. Soap shavings could be scatteredon the ground, or drill a hole in the soap and hang them fromtrees.
- Chili powder, cayenne pepper and hot peppers. Matthews suggestschopping some peppers in a blender and add water, let the solutionstand overnight, then strain it through cheesecloth and empty intoa spray bottle.
"I've never seen a pepper plant, sweet or hot, that's been botheredby a deer," Matthews said.
- Mothballs. They're dangerous around vegetables because of theirchemical content and work great in flower beds but could be spottedby curious children. Try crushing them to a less-detectable size.
"Something unnatural like soap, dryer sheets or human hair - Idon't want human hair on my tomato plants," Matthews said. "You'vegot to think logically about how you apply this stuff."
- Blood meal. The nitrogen-rich granular fertilizer repels deer butis attractive to dogs.
- Visual scare tactics, such as reflective material, flags,balloons, aluminum pie plates and paper streamers. Many won't workif the wind is calm.
A tall fence may outdo any home remedy.
An 8-foot fence is the most practical use around larger-scaleoperations such as orchards, said Steve Miller, a researchhorticulturalist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's FruitResearch Station in Kearneysville.
"Something in the kitchen cabinet is probably not going to work,"he said. Another option is simply knowing what plants deer like and don'tlike. Some of their favorite candy? Columbine, daylily, geranium, hostas,impatiens, pansies, redbud, rhododendron, roses and tulips, andmany vegetables, including beans, potatoes and tomatoes.
Annual flowers usually left alone by deer include dahlia, fouro'clock, flowering tobacco, larkspur, marigold, poppy, snapdragon,strawflower and vinca.
According to Dave Jensen, owner of Deer-Resistant Landscape Nurseryin Clare, Mich., some top deer-resistant perennials are barberry,bleeding heart, bluebeard, boxwood, butterfly bush, catmint,daffodils, foxglove, hellebores, hyssop, lavender, monkshood,mullein, ornamental grasses, meadow and Russian sage, and spurge.
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