Try These Ideas To Keep Deer From Eating All Your Plants This Spring

Karen Roe / Flickr

If you aren’t careful this spring, all your new flowers and little buds will be quickly eaten by deer. The area I live in is horrible when it comes to deer eating everything in sight.

Not only do they help themselves nightly to the salad bar, they use my backyard as their bedroom. My grass literally has imprints where a family of deer sleep every night.

I’ve tried a lot of things to get rid of them. While some of the deer repellents work, the problem is that they require constant reapplication after rain or a couple of weeks. As a result of always forgetting to reapply (and just being lazy), the spray repellents didn’t work that great for me.  So in my research, I stumbled across a new approach.

1. Spray Them With Water

Don’t want to go outside every time it rains and spray a stinky mix on your yard? You may want to consider trying a sprinkler that is designed to target deer (and other animals).

Specifically, a motion activated sprinkler that shoots jets of water when something moves in front of it. The sudden movement, noise and water will deter animals such as deer, dogs, cats and raccoons.

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Amazon

Here’s a demonstration of it in action:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=7jHYV6nJksw%3Fstart%3D20

You can find it on Amazon for $54.00. If your deer only venture into your yard at night and you want to avoid spraying any neighbors or pets, I recommend putting it on a faucet timer. Much like a timer for your interior lamps to go one and off when you’re not home, it’s made for faucets. It’ll also help you save water.

If you aren’t looking to spend that type of money, I suggest trying the following approaches. Again, they key to success is to reapply after it rains or every few weeks.

2. Homemade Deer Repellent

If you’re good at remembering to reapply after the rain, this concoction is your best bet. This version is slightly modified from the original recipe on Houzz.

  • 6 eggs, blended well
  • 1/2 of a pod of garlic, minced or finely crushed
  • 1 cup buttermilk, milk or yogurt (to make it super stinky)

Mix well and let sit for a few hours so the garlic can steep. Spray or drizzle on your plants. After it rains, you’ll need to reapply. Some people recommend to add 1 teaspoon of dish soap or vegetable oil to help the mixture stick better.

3. Deer Repellent From The Store

If you’re not into DIY, I recommend this pre-made deer repellent. It’s a little pricey ($32.99/quart), but dries clear, is odor free and is safe to use around fruits and vegetables. It also claims to work for 30 days, even if it rains. It’s the highest rated deer repellent on Amazon.

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Amazon
 

4.  Milorganite Fertilizer

Some of our readers swear by Milorganite Organic Fertilizer.  Apparently, the scent of the fertilizer keeps the deer away for up to 5 weeks.  Plus, you get a nice fertilized lawn.  A win-win. You can buy a bag of this fertilizer at Home Depot.  I haven’t tried this yet, but even the company touts this as an added benefit on their official website.   I’m going to buy a bag this weekend and will keep you updated as to how it works.

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About the Author
Will Schuerman
Will loves discovering and sharing tips to help make life easier. In addition to his passion for hacks and tips, Will is a former granola business proprietor and a life long techie.

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