What Were Your Boons and Busts for 2019?

[Rhodie Ranch]

^^ you are right Thistle. Next door to my old place in Angels Camp, the neighbor's had two sprinklers to repel the deer. I swear those deer thought they were going to the spa, especially when it was 100 degrees day after day.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

I would not attribute a belief in the IQ of deer much weight at all. They are adept goats for sure, but ours find plants mainly because they are born to walk or run over large areas and stumble upon a delicacy at which point they "taste" it. If its good like a hosta they eat it all.

 

[thistlebloom]

I would not attribute a belief in the IQ of deer much weight at all. They are adept goats for sure, but ours find plants mainly because they are born to walk or run over large areas and stumble upon a delicacy at which point they "taste" it. If its good like a hosta they eat it all.

However they figure things out, the point is that they do and it can be a constant challenge in certain areas. They most certainly learn how to avoid or defeat many devices designed to deter them. The one for sure thing I use that always works is hot wire.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

However they figure things out, the point is that they do and it can be a constant challenge in certain areas. They most certainly learn how to avoid or defeat many devices designed to deter them. The one for sure thing I use that always works is hot wire.

This also works for the dogs that will chase the deer from time to time.

 

[bobm]

On our ranch in Central California, I had a 6' tall cyclone fence on our front of the property with a hot wire on top of it ... one day , I saw a doe and her yearling fawn jump that fence from a standstill . It did keep our horses in and 2 legged riff raff out though.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

Because deer startle by nature, our little 4 foot fence has been fine with the motion sprinklers. That is except one thing, which is a high speed night deer hitting the fence. I wonder if they get any altitude, but do not see tracks inside the garden even though it can be obvious where they hit the wire fencing.

 

[Zeedman]

Deer are smart enough to feed in the suburbs, and evade discovery in the daytime. They also remember where they found something they like, and will return repeatedly. Generations of fawns learned to go to my yard for the fallen apples.

In the rural garden, I use a 6' fence, with several hot wires so the deer can't step over/under. The wire works best as a deterrent... to discourage their first attempt at exploration. But if they get a taste of the garden before the wire is turned on, all bets are off; they will find a way back in.

You can increase the effectiveness of fencing to a great degree, by growing tall trellises of climbing vegetables 2-3' inside the fence. Although deer can certainly jump high enough to clear the fence, they won't do so if they don't see a clear place to land. That combination of tall fencing + trellises has proven to be reliable at keeping deer out of my suburban gardens - without a hot wire. Which is an unexpected bonus, since I like to garden vertically anyway.

 

[flowerbug]

Deer are smart enough to feed in the suburbs, and evade discovery in the daytime. They also remember where they found something they like, and will return repeatedly. Generations of fawns learned to go to my yard for the fallen apples.

In the rural garden, I use a 6' fence, with several hot wires so the deer can't step over/under. The wire works best as a deterrent... to discourage their first attempt at exploration. But if they get a taste of the garden before the wire is turned on, all bets are off; they will find a way back in.

You can increase the effectiveness of fencing to a great degree, by growing tall trellises of climbing vegetables 2-3' inside the fence. Although deer can certainly jump high enough to clear the fence, they won't do so if they don't see a clear place to land. That combination of tall fencing + trellises has proven to be reliable at keeping deer out of my suburban gardens - without a hot wire. Which is an unexpected bonus, since I like to garden vertically anyway.

also having some rocks/obstacles so they don't have clear landing or taking off points. we've never had deer jump the 7-8ft fence, but they have jumped a 5ft fence, in the winter, which was silly as there wasn't anything growing in there worth eating...

i'm thinking of putting up some runs of fence for beans to climb on eventually in one garden here so that i can stop growing beans on the fence along the edge as the deer stripped one of the plants back to almost nothing once they found them. it will also be sturdier fence than what is up now which is very old and getting wobbly.

 

[Zeedman]

It seems I left out some very important "boons"... getting the upper hand on two very destructive insects.

SVB - my initial attempts to destroy eggs as they were laid was not as successful as I had hoped. The moths just kept coming and coming - far longer than usual - and despite my best efforts, all plants eventually became infected. The moths were so late that even some of the squash were infected. A few vines began to wilt in the sun, and the frass visible at the bases showed that damage was becoming severe. But I tried using a portable water pick to flush out the larvae & open their burrows, and it worked. Some larvae were flushed out; for those that remained, I sprayed Neem oil into the now-open holes. I probably missed a few that were inaccessible from above, but enough larvae were killed to save the vines.

Japanese beetles - tried using traps, and one brand (Bonide) worked exceptionally well. I was emptying the bags at least every other day, into a bucket of soapy water. Last year, the beetles were swarming on my pole beans; I was spraying 20-30 a day with my insecticidal soap mixture. This year, the pole beans on one end were hardly touched, and the beetles were scarce throughout the garden. The flowering mallow that I allow to grow on the edges of the garden proved to be a good trap crop, and intercepted most of the beetles which got through. Only late in the season, as the scent lure began to weaken, did a few more beetles appear - and only on the Fortex. They don't seem to have a taste for yardlong beans, limas, or runner beans (except for runner bean flowers).

Cucumber beetles & squash bugs were no-shows this year... heart breaking, but I've gotten over it.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

It seems I left out some very important "boons"... getting the upper hand on two very destructive insects.

SVB - my initial attempts to destroy eggs as they were laid was not as successful as I had hoped. The moths just kept coming and coming - far longer than usual - and despite my best efforts, all plants eventually became infected. The moths were so late that even some of the squash were infected. A few vines began to wilt in the sun, and the frass visible at the bases showed that damage was becoming severe. But I tried using a portable water pick to flush out the larvae & open their burrows, and it worked. Some larvae were flushed out; for those that remained, I sprayed Neem oil into the now-open holes. I probably missed a few that were inaccessible from above, but enough larvae were killed to save the vines.

Japanese beetles - tried using traps, and one brand (Bonide) worked exceptionally well. I was emptying the bags at least every other day, into a bucket of soapy water. Last year, the beetles were swarming on my pole beans; I was spraying 20-30 a day with my insecticidal soap mixture. This year, the pole beans on one end were hardly touched, and the beetles were scarce throughout the garden. The flowering mallow that I allow to grow on the edges of the garden proved to be a good trap crop, and intercepted most of the beetles which got through. Only late in the season, as the scent lure began to weaken, did a few more beetles appear - and only on the Fortex. They don't seem to have a taste for yardlong beans, limas, or runner beans (except for runner bean flowers).

Cucumber beetles & squash bugs were no-shows this year... heart breaking, but I've gotten over it.

I read these bug reports as if they were the color play by play of a sporting event.