Deer solutions
-
- March
- 16
Did you catch my story on deer in today’s Journal News?
I’ve been fighting deer for years and have found a few things that work in my garden.
As I said in the article, there are lots of very effective deer-repellent sprays on the market. But most are fairly expensive. I make my own and then periodically add in some of the commercial sprays so the deer don’t get accustomed to any one product.
Here’s my basic recipe:
6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 tablespoon dish soap such as Dawn
Several dashes of hot sauce or cayenne pepper
Several shakes of garlic powder, or I just add whole peeled cloves to the plastic jug
6 dashes of mint or rosemary oil, if I have it in the house
Put everything in the blender and blast it all together. Then add it to an empty 1-gallon plastic water jug and fill to the top with water. Then you’re good to go.
I add this mix to a 2-gallon spray container and apply liberally as a fine mist to any plant I think may be in danger.
I also use a liquid antidessicant called Wiltproof — it’s designed to help evergreens keep from drying out in winter, but it also helps to get the spray to stick to the leaves and not be washed off with rain. Just follow the directions on the bottle for the proper ratio of Wiltproof.
What about you? Any other homemade brews out there?
This entry was posted
on Friday, March 16th, 2007 at 11:09 am by Bill Cary.
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Bill Cary grew up in Louisville, Ky. His gardening was limited to growing parsley and impatiens on the windowsill of Manhattan walkups until the mid-1990s when he bought a rundown old chicken farm on 8 acres in the Hudson Valley. Now he spends his weekends chasing deer, hacking away at invasive shrubs and vines and wondering why he doesn`t have more meadow and less lawn.
Hi,
Great article about the deer problem, but that is not the worst of the deer threat. Someone should publish the statistics of damage caused by deer collisions with automobiles.
The numbers will be astronomical. If we could keep the deer off the roads our automobile insurance would go down significantly.
They are the number one menace on the roads.
Hans
My Dad used to use tobacco water. He’d make it by just soaking some cigarettes in water and letting it age for a week or two before spraying it on the plants.
My recipe that worked for years was very similar. However, before I make the mixture, I put the eggs in a jar with a tight fitting lid with a half amount of water. I then shake it well and let it sit for a few days, preferably in a sunny spot. This really lets it ‘ferment’. I use a strainer (so as not to clog the sprayer) to put it into a sprayer and then add the other ingredients, the detergent last. And I buy huge bottles of hot sauce rather than cayenne (also for prevention of clogging.)The smell works immediately and humans only smell it for a short time. Still, if you can, the best method is fencing. Good luck, and always, happy, healthy garden joy.
Hans, you’re so right about traffic accidents. The number of car crashes involving deer in NY has climbed to between 50,000 and 60,000 a year, according to the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation. Nationwide, about 100 of these involve fatalities. And the average insurance claim for collision damage is climbing toward $3,000.
Most accidents happen from October through December (mating season).
Leo, tobacco water! never heard that one.
Harriett, good tips. Thanks for passing them along.