Yesterday I started removing sod to enlarge a few flower beds to accommodate the plants I started in the greenhouse, as well as perennials that need divided. When I took my wheelbarrow load of dirt and grass to the back corner to the compost pile, I noticed my husband stacked the cages he normally keeps around our young trees stored in the corner. My first thought was he was being optimistic, but I figured he thought it was safe. Unfortunately, I think the deer were just waiting for such an opportunity.

This morning when he came back inside from grabbing the newspaper he announced, “Those darling deer kindly pruned the nicest crabapple,” or something along those lines.

You’d think the deer would rather eat the amazing amount of lush, green vegetation all around us instead of twigs. Deer are a problem no matter what time of year. They come through our neighborhood without fear and eat along the way. And, unfortunately, they think young trees should be a regular item on the menu.

During my years of landscaping I constantly battled deer. For most of my installations, I opted for native varieties or plants that were on the deer resistant list. However, one thing I noticed is the deer will eat just about anything when its young and new. I think there’s something about the nutritious new growth and planting medium that makes nursery grown plants, trees and shrubs almost irresistible.

Protecting New Plantings from Deer

There are several options to protect new plantings or favorite plants from deer. We cage ours since its hard for me to keep everything on a spraying regiment while our sons are still so young (and Grant is good at fashioning deer proof barriers). It takes time that I dont have, yet. There’s a protective metal bubble around each one that we keep on most of the year (actually now it might be all year). If we don’t, they’re never going to grow. It doesn’t look great, but the thought is after a few years we won’t need them.

Liquid Fence

As far as repellents go, my two favorites are Liquid Fence and Plant Skydd. The Liquid Fence is primarily putrefied eggs and garlic. Its a nasty smelling concoction, but does a fair job of keeping the deer away; plus it doesnt wash off after every rain. You do need to refresh it every couple of weeks, and you definitely dont want to spray it on anything situated underneath an open window.

Plant Skydd

Plant Skydd is a brand from Sweden that was originally developed to deter deer, moose and rabbits from commercial plantings. It does a good job and doesnt wash off easily. There is a pre-mixed version, but Ive only used the powdered concentrate that you mix with water. Its a messy process that doesnt smell very good, but in my opinion, Plant Skydd works the best. It has a special vegetable oil binding agent that keeps the blood meal base where you need it, and the company claims itll last for 3-4 months during the summer. I typically resprayed very couple of months just to be safe.

Battling deer is a long and frustrating process. When most of us think about the look of our landscape we dont envision cages around everything or the persistent smell of rotting eggs. Unfortunately, the only other option is to have veritable totem poles for trees and shrubs, and while Im all for cutting edge landscape designs I really am not into the minimalistic look.