We’re heading towards a new planting season, always an exciting time to finally implement all those garden plans you’ve worked on all winter long. Don’t overlook the issue of preventing deer from eating your garden plants. Deer need foliage to survive and, of course, do not appreciate the boundaries between your yard and wild areas.
As a naturalist, my aim is to support all wildlife that occur in an area, including deer. With the diminished population of deer’s natural predator, the bobcat (due to use of second-generation anticoagulant baits), the herd on our islands is kept in check by culling. With this management approach, we are not overrun by deer such that they devastate natural areas by overgrazing.
You can manage the deer that visit your garden, so they can obtain the nutrition they need, without exerting undue pressure on the shrubs and perennials that you have planted.
As we move out of winter into spring, the deer are very hungry after having consumed most of what was available for them to eat. They are looking for the tender new leaves and buds, and early flowering forbs that are emerging. At this time of year, it might be prudent to arm yourself, and your plants, with deer repellant.
What deer repellant? How and why does it work?
Let’s tackle why they work first. Deer have an extremely sensitive sense of smell, far greater than dogs. They can smell a human from a quarter mile away and scent sources of edible plants from a distance. The repellants therefore mask the plant scents that may attract them. Secondly, it is the terrible taste that remains on the plant leaves which they then associate with the scent that keeps them from nibbling away.
Most effective deer repellents are based on putrescent eggs, and that should give you a clue as to scent. An example of an effective deer repellent that utilizes this approach is Liquid Fence, which is sprayed on plant leaves. Consider spraying late in the day so the scent has time to dissipate before you enter the garden the next day.
There are other repellents on the market which are also very effective and have a different approach. Deer Out has a mint scent and works well. In general, deer avoid mint, so it is also effective in masking edible plants but doesn’t have the objectionable odor of the putrescent repellants.
Why not just use the mint smelling one and avoid the rotten egg odor? Deer habituate to repellents, so eventually, they will eat plants even when sprayed. Rotating the repellents every few months is effective in preventing that occurrence.
In future articles I’ll discuss strategic selection of plants as another deer management tool.
Karen Madoff is a Kiawah Island resident, with a background in both Master Gardener and Certified Naturalist programs, recently certified as a Master Rain Gardener, member of South Carolina Native Plant Society, Magnolia Garden Club, Kiawah Conservancy and Charleston Beekeepers Association; I've had extensive volunteer experience in the Toledo Metropark system when I was an Ohio resident.
