Landscaping In Deer Country
Deer are a frequent problem in many urban-wildland interfaces, and browsing can be severe, causing owners to give up in frustration.
There are popular approaches to deal with this problem.
Fencing can be caging or netting individual shrubs; permanent property line barriers, or temporary deer fencing around a new area (where physically possible.
) Temporary fencing is usually done with a see-through infill such as welded wire or polypropylene mesh, or poultry netting, with tee posts or round or square steel or wood posts.
Choices partly depend on how good the fence needs to look.
There are companies who sell complete deer fence kits.
The fencing should stay up for two or three growing seasons, partly depending on how small the plants are when they are planted.
When caging individual plants, be sure to leave plenty of room for plant growth or you will soon be re-doing the cages as the plant grows through the mesh.
A temporary cage still needs to be sufficiently large and solidly built-and remember, adult deer weigh enough to apply a lot of force to a post or to loosely attached mesh.
With larger, cages, it's also important to leave a way to get in-you'll probably have to weed.
In Northern California, deer never browse ferns, grasses, or conifers.
They usually leave aromatic shrubs and perennials alone, such as sages and rosemary.
Most other broadleaf plants will be browsed when first planted.
Deer-resistant plant lists are easily available, but it's very hard to be absolutely sure-deer tastes can be individual, and hunger can drive them to eat plants they don't like.
Nonetheless, these lists are a good starting point.
There are popular approaches to deal with this problem.
- Sprays such as Deer-Away, Not Tonight Deer, Liquid Fence, Irish Spring soap, etc.
Unfortunately these often do not work, or work for a short period of time.
As the year progresses, other sources of food become more scarce and deer are more willing to eat leaves that may not taste good to them. - Fencing, either temporary or permanent.
7 feet high is safe; 6 feet can be jumped but sometimes deer won't if the area is not already on their route.
Caging trees temporarily is useful-the trees will eventually grow taller than the deer can reach. - Choosing deer-resistant plants.
Some plants are never browsed in a particular area; some are browsed when young but left alone when they mature.
Fencing can be caging or netting individual shrubs; permanent property line barriers, or temporary deer fencing around a new area (where physically possible.
) Temporary fencing is usually done with a see-through infill such as welded wire or polypropylene mesh, or poultry netting, with tee posts or round or square steel or wood posts.
Choices partly depend on how good the fence needs to look.
There are companies who sell complete deer fence kits.
The fencing should stay up for two or three growing seasons, partly depending on how small the plants are when they are planted.
When caging individual plants, be sure to leave plenty of room for plant growth or you will soon be re-doing the cages as the plant grows through the mesh.
A temporary cage still needs to be sufficiently large and solidly built-and remember, adult deer weigh enough to apply a lot of force to a post or to loosely attached mesh.
With larger, cages, it's also important to leave a way to get in-you'll probably have to weed.
In Northern California, deer never browse ferns, grasses, or conifers.
They usually leave aromatic shrubs and perennials alone, such as sages and rosemary.
Most other broadleaf plants will be browsed when first planted.
Deer-resistant plant lists are easily available, but it's very hard to be absolutely sure-deer tastes can be individual, and hunger can drive them to eat plants they don't like.
Nonetheless, these lists are a good starting point.
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