Has anyone ever used a bug zapper to keep deer out of their garden? My husband is a firefighter and his captain told him that he always uses a bug zapper to keep deer away from his garden. He has it hanging on a pole next to the garden and keeps it plugged in all night long. He says the noise it makes scares the deer away. Has anyone else ever tried this and have you had any luck with it? I really would like to find a "chemical free" way of keeping the deer at bay and this sounds like a great solution if it really works!
Keeping deer out of the garden
- Thread starter gumpsgirl
- Start date
whatnow?
Chillin' In The Garden
That's too funny... a bug zapper of all things.
My favorite chemical free way to keep deer away is to keep a dog. But, my wife isn't a dog person. Of course, she wasn't a chicken person, either, so maybe I should just go out and get a dog.
Here is the list of non and pseudo non chemical repellents, from my dodgy memory:
Fragrant soap shavings
Human hair clippings
(The list of scent things is longer, I'm just drawing a blank)
BIG fence
Double row of not so big fence (see next for explanation)
Fence and an obscured landing zone to prevent jumping over (deer need to see the spot they intend to land)
Dog
Motion controlled sprinkler
Pepper sprays
Lawful deer harvesting (poaching is a pet peeve of mine)
What has worked for me depends on the weather. In a drought season, nothing (short of major fence project) will keep deer from eating your gardens since you'll be competing with a survival instinct. I just use a 36" 2"x4" fence. We lost a bunch of trees 2 years ago and the debris is stacked along the property line where the deer used to come onto the property, disrupting thier normal route.
Harvesting (deer) by my neighbors seems to have improved things, also. I can't take credit for reducing the numbers, I'm not accurate enough.
My favorite chemical free way to keep deer away is to keep a dog. But, my wife isn't a dog person. Of course, she wasn't a chicken person, either, so maybe I should just go out and get a dog.
Here is the list of non and pseudo non chemical repellents, from my dodgy memory:
Fragrant soap shavings
Human hair clippings
(The list of scent things is longer, I'm just drawing a blank)
BIG fence
Double row of not so big fence (see next for explanation)
Fence and an obscured landing zone to prevent jumping over (deer need to see the spot they intend to land)
Dog
Motion controlled sprinkler
Pepper sprays
Lawful deer harvesting (poaching is a pet peeve of mine)
What has worked for me depends on the weather. In a drought season, nothing (short of major fence project) will keep deer from eating your gardens since you'll be competing with a survival instinct. I just use a 36" 2"x4" fence. We lost a bunch of trees 2 years ago and the debris is stacked along the property line where the deer used to come onto the property, disrupting thier normal route.
Harvesting (deer) by my neighbors seems to have improved things, also. I can't take credit for reducing the numbers, I'm not accurate enough.
Rosalind
Deeply Rooted
The only thing that has worked for me, and I have tried most of the things on whatnow's list (pepper spray, soap, hair, dryer sheets, predator urine scent from the feed store, wire "deer fencing") has been a solid 6' wood fence with a securely locked gate, a very large dog, and my neighbor shooting them.
You can train raspberries and such up the sides of the fence, if it's any consolation.
You can train raspberries and such up the sides of the fence, if it's any consolation.
patandchickens
Deeply Rooted
It depends totally on how much the deer WANT to be in your garden.
If they're like "Enh, whatever, c'mon Bambi let's go try the next restaurant around the corner instead" then I am sure a bug zapper will work, as will most of the other customary suggestions.
If they are fairly peckish, it is worth trying the customary suggestions as being likely to encourage the deer to eat the neighbors' gardens instead. But you will probably still lose something sometimes.
If they Want Food And Want Food Now (pounding of hooves on table) then you need a giant fence (either vertically or horizontally) to keep them out of the garden. However you may be able to divert them from some particular plants by hanging bars of Cashmere or Irish Spring soap in net bags from those particular plants.
If they are ravenous with hunger and sufficiently desperate, I would not count on much less than a 7-8' fence keeping them out. I've seen hungry deer repeatedly dare an area protected by a large dog, trying to catch him sleeping. I don't think those deer would have cared one tiny bit about bugzapper noises, motion-detector lights or sprinklers, or any of that stuff.
Pat, extremely glad that we have few deer in the coupla miles around our house, for whatever reason that is. Probably the mosquitos ate them all
If they're like "Enh, whatever, c'mon Bambi let's go try the next restaurant around the corner instead" then I am sure a bug zapper will work, as will most of the other customary suggestions.
If they are fairly peckish, it is worth trying the customary suggestions as being likely to encourage the deer to eat the neighbors' gardens instead. But you will probably still lose something sometimes.
If they Want Food And Want Food Now (pounding of hooves on table) then you need a giant fence (either vertically or horizontally) to keep them out of the garden. However you may be able to divert them from some particular plants by hanging bars of Cashmere or Irish Spring soap in net bags from those particular plants.
If they are ravenous with hunger and sufficiently desperate, I would not count on much less than a 7-8' fence keeping them out. I've seen hungry deer repeatedly dare an area protected by a large dog, trying to catch him sleeping. I don't think those deer would have cared one tiny bit about bugzapper noises, motion-detector lights or sprinklers, or any of that stuff.
Pat, extremely glad that we have few deer in the coupla miles around our house, for whatever reason that is. Probably the mosquitos ate them all
Farmer Kitty
Chillin' In The Garden
I use marigolds! The deer are in the yard and field right around the garden but not the garden.
whatnow?
Chillin' In The Garden
Ahhh... I needed that chuckle.patandchickens said:Pat, extremely glad that we have few deer in the coupla miles around our house, for whatever reason that is. Probably the mosquitos ate them all
