Written by Shannon Landscaping - November 1, 2022

Who hasn’t felt the frustration of deer nibbling on

their plants at one time or another? Not only can

their feeding activity compromise the looks and

health of your landscape, but deer can cause con-

siderable damage by rubbing their antlers against

tree bark as well.

Our strategy for preventing deer damage is to stick

with plant species that deer don’t usually feed on.

Some of these include barberry, paper birch, com-

mon boxwood, Russian olive, American holly, droop-

ing leucothoe and Colorado blue spruce. However,

no species is completely immune from damage,

since deer will feed on just about any plant if they’re

hungry enough. That ‘s why alternative strategies

such as deer repellents, netting and fencing may be

more practical.

Deer repellents

There are two types of deer repellents and area re-

pellents. Contact repellents cause plants to taste

bad through direct application to the plant. Area re-

pellents discourage deer by creating a foul odor in a

problem area. Both hot sauce and chicken

egg/water mixtures have been proven effective as

contact repellents. Predator urine works well as an

area repellent too.

Netting and Fencing

Netting provides an effective barrier against deer

when wrapped around smaller plants. This flexible

material can also be combined with support stakes

to form protective fences around larger plantings.

For maximum protection, or if deer are a really big

problem in your landscape, you may want to go all

out with a conventional deer-proof fence. These are

constructed of woven wire and should be at least 8’

high. Electric fences are another possibility in ex-

treme situations. Your landscape doesn’t have to

serve as a buffet for hungry deer. Consider some of

the preventative options listed above and take your

valuable trees and shrubs off their menu.

Stop by our garden center to pick up deer repellent

today before it is too late.

Keeping deer off your property