We live in deer country. I get that. But over the years we’ve come to some sort of understanding: They are allowed to be here in the fall, winter, and early spring, but they’re supposed to steer clear of us during the summer. Obviously, the next generation failed to read the memo since they annihilated several of our fruit trees this week.

Earlier spring, Sam and I cut down the Lodi apple tree nearly to the ground because it was ravaged by fire blight and winter kill. There was only a couple of feet left on the trunk that looked like it might be saved, but we decided to leave it just to see if it would revive. The little tree was doing a bang-up job of bouncing back with our warm early season and ample rainfall. But the other night, the deer came through and ate the tender leaves. I hope it can recover. The intruders also stripped the healthy crabapple, and ate the only 2 apples I had on my little Goodland tree, along with stripping off leaves and pruning branches. This is downright discouraging, particularly since growing fruit trees is just plain hard in this region.

Nature v. Nurture

It’s only mid-July and we have to think about enclosures. My husband ran electric wire around the perimeter of the property in an attempt to increase the fence height to keep them out, but he thinks they’re jumping over the 8-ft long vehicle gate so he’s going to run wire across that section, too. It will make it more difficult to drive the truck back there when we need it, but I think the deer hopping over that section outweighs the inconvenience. He’s also putting the cages back up. Normally he doesn’t have to do this until the fall, yet with the apparent pressure, he believes it’s important to protect the young trees.

For me, this means I have to protect the American plums from decimation. I don’t believe we have enough cage left so I will use chicken wire to create a barrier between the ripening fruit and the deer. On the higher sections, I’m going to use either deer netting or the lighter floating row cover. The white doesn’t look as good, but my thought is it will deter the birds, as well. I already gave them a fair amount of our Nanking cherries because we couldn’t seem to pick them as fast as the birds were eating them. John picked enough to make a batch of jelly, but that’s about it.

Pest Control

I don’t think the deer will bother the chokecherries. The birds are a bigger hazard there. But I do wonder if I will need to do something about the elderberries. The flowers were abundant and beautiful this spring, and I hope for the same result in the berries. Elderberries make delicious pies, as well as boasting valuable medicinal qualities, so I need to protect these bountiful shrubs from losing the harvest.

I’m not sure why the deer are coming into the yard so early. It usually doesn’t happen until the landscape is practically barren, which is not the case this year. I guess our watered and babied plants just taste better. Well, I think I better send out a memo to let them know that the buffet is not open, and they should simply keep moving down the road.