Deer scarer
Honeyheart
Posts: 40
Has anyone had any luck discouraging or scaring off deer from their gardens? I don't want to harm them of course but would like to deter them as they've eaten 3 young fruit trees, half a dozen geraniums, several poppies and 40 strawberry plants, all planted in the last 6 months ..... There seem to be lots of scarers on the market but I wonder if anyone has used one which has been successful. I would prefer it not to be activated during the day (i.e. One you can switch off during the day) and be battery rather than mains powered. TIA for any help.
Ps - fencing isn't really an option as I would need to fence an acre which I think would unaffordable.
Last edited: 30 October 2017 19:19:17
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Posts
I'm afraid it's almost impossible without using a physical barrier.
You could surround individual specimens. That's the ususal method. Chicken wire and posts will suffice. You only need to keep them aways from trunks of trees (especially when the trees are young) and the parts of crowns they can reach, but if you make them about a metre in diameter, that should suffice. The height is less important if you make the barrier wide enough.
Plants in borders, or veg plots, are more tricky. You could try the water scarecrows, which are battery powered and motion activated, but I don't know if they'll be effective enough, and you'd probably need quite a few.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Hi honeyheart, i'm afraid a barrier is really the only successful way of keep them out and it needs to be fairly high or they can jump over. Do you know what sort of deer you have, muntjac, roe probably? i have heard of hanging soap in the leg of a pair of old tights, on a post, apparently they don't like the smell, but i'm not sure what your success rate would be. It must be so disheartening when your hardwork is ruined ☹️ and costly....
Don't know if this works either, but I've heard that they don't like human hair. Perhaps a visit to the local hairdressers and barbers would be an idea. They would have lots of cut hair to get rid of!
Oops, should have said, the hair should be put around the plants the deer like to eat. Anything is worth a try
There is a product call Grazer.
http://www.grazers.co.uk/products/farmers-growers/
Its a spray on treatment but I don’t know how effective it is to be honest but I thought I would mention it as it may be of interest to you or others who suffer similar problems.
Has anyone tried the deterrents which work on a movement sensor and emit a loud noise and then on a light?
Last edited: 01 November 2017 08:46:46
I've had deer problems in the past 2-3 years. All the young shoots were eaten, roases, fruit trees and antything low growing!!!! It's sooo frustrating!! But last year the deer appears to have found new pastures. I had a lovely display of roases and new shoots from the fruit trees blossom and produced fruits. I'm hoping I've seen the last of the deer. I've not fence the plants. Found it was too costly!. I sympatise with you.