They decimated our garden in Sequim in days - 16' of 5' tall trellised green beans in a night. The strawberry bed was covered with bird-netting stretched over 4x8 CPVC frames - gradually they worked their noses in under the edge of them and ate off everything they could reach. Eventually they trampled the netting and pulled it aside.
This being our first year veg gardening here, we consider it a learning year and have tried several deterrents - some work better than others. Criss-crossed CPVC hoops with birdnetting kept them off all the raised bed boxes (2x4 and 3x3) - until a buck tore the netting off the strawberry box with his antlers. Security cameras catch all the deer destruction - which has helped us better plan for them.
So far, the best deterrent has been motion-detecting impact sprinklers. We got 2 each of the Hoont Cobra and Orbit 62100 Yard Enforcer types from Amazon. The former is 24x7, the latter can be day, night, or both.
Also planning to try some 1" braided nylon aviary netting on 8' poles next year - sold in 50'x50' sections, a couple of them ought completely cover our garden. Not something I would have considered, but we had lots of trouble with robins this year as well. A B2E garden generates a lot of worm activity and flocks of them camped out on the garden throwing wood chips all over to get at them - lots of egg-sized holes where the robins excavated worms. They or some other creature also dug up all our freshly transplanted Walla Walla starts. Someone suggested it may have been quail which we have in abundance here.
Keeping them off our garden will easily double our garden expenses every year.
Thanks for commenting. Delayed reply - old guy medical stuff :-) I finished my horticultural blackberry pen, and trellises for same, which I hope with keep deer out of that. Those are too good to feed deer.
For me, aviary netting was not successful, because deer pushed it down. Steel fencing with 2" by 4" openings was not successful, because deer would push against it, grab leaves that poke through, then pull off entire branches, leaving gaping wounds. So now, I'm combining the two, with the metal fencing for strength, and plastic mesh to prevent the leaf and stem pulling behavior. My main objective at this time is to get the fruit trees above deer grazing height, so I don't have to maintain those fences, and can devote more energy to things I enjoy more. Beans, tomatoes, etc will still need protection, but I can handle that.
They decimated our garden in Sequim in days - 16' of 5' tall trellised green beans in a night. The strawberry bed was covered with bird-netting stretched over 4x8 CPVC frames - gradually they worked their noses in under the edge of them and ate off everything they could reach. Eventually they trampled the netting and pulled it aside.
ReplyDeleteThis being our first year veg gardening here, we consider it a learning year and have tried several deterrents - some work better than others. Criss-crossed CPVC hoops with birdnetting kept them off all the raised bed boxes (2x4 and 3x3) - until a buck tore the netting off the strawberry box with his antlers. Security cameras catch all the deer destruction - which has helped us better plan for them.
So far, the best deterrent has been motion-detecting impact sprinklers. We got 2 each of the Hoont Cobra and Orbit 62100 Yard Enforcer types from Amazon. The former is 24x7, the latter can be day, night, or both.
Also planning to try some 1" braided nylon aviary netting on 8' poles next year - sold in 50'x50' sections, a couple of them ought completely cover our garden. Not something I would have considered, but we had lots of trouble with robins this year as well. A B2E garden generates a lot of worm activity and flocks of them camped out on the garden throwing wood chips all over to get at them - lots of egg-sized holes where the robins excavated worms. They or some other creature also dug up all our freshly transplanted Walla Walla starts. Someone suggested it may have been quail which we have in abundance here.
Keeping them off our garden will easily double our garden expenses every year.
Thanks for commenting. Delayed reply - old guy medical stuff :-) I finished my horticultural blackberry pen, and trellises for same, which I hope with keep deer out of that. Those are too good to feed deer.
ReplyDeleteFor me, aviary netting was not successful, because deer pushed it down. Steel fencing with 2" by 4" openings was not successful, because deer would push against it, grab leaves that poke through, then pull off entire branches, leaving gaping wounds. So now, I'm combining the two, with the metal fencing for strength, and plastic mesh to prevent the leaf and stem pulling behavior. My main objective at this time is to get the fruit trees above deer grazing height, so I don't have to maintain those fences, and can devote more energy to things I enjoy more. Beans, tomatoes, etc will still need protection, but I can handle that.