Mix a egg, hot sauce, go to the dollar store and get a bottle of garlic. Put it in a blender get a paint brush and paint a few branches and sprinkle the mixture around the plant.

While you are at the dollar store pick up some red pepper the ground dust not the pieces. Sprinkle around the area and the plant.

Repeat after every rain. You have to train them that they do not like that plant. But if they are in your yard they will eat something else.

I sprinkle the red pepper around the entire yard. I am getting less and less damage every year.

I buy the pricey Liquid Fence,in concentrate,after buying a spray bottle of it, initially. Disgusting beyond description, and the deer do seem to learn to leave stuff alone, but new deer pass through and starving deer might eat anything.
Fortunately, we have both coyotes and hunters.
The first time I used it the smell made me gag, but it is effective against Rabbits, also.

Options that I have tried and, thus far, have pretty much changed their path are:

1.Hard surface approaches: Erect (a)cheap plastic black or gray deer fencing (by the roll, Home Depot)with 4-6' cheap fence posts -prepackaged in a bag- (also HD)to cover their grazing height or (b) use chicken wire if you have it or (c)go to a fabric store and buy a few yards of dark green or black tulle netting and use jute garden twine to attached it to the trees. If their noses are unhappy, they usually won't chew.

2. I Must Garden (a small company) makes the best smelling and effective Deer Repellent that I have used. It smells like mint and leaves NO residue on the leaves. Not at big box stores, mostly small farm stores and online. I've bought it both ways and now buy the concentrate and mix my own spray bottle.

3. Must be faithful to the spraying of shrubs and plants. Every new 1-2" of growth, if unprotected, will be nibbled. I spray every 3 weeks during the growing season and when weather permits, every few months in the winter.

After 3 steady years of this faithfulness, my shrubs and trees are healthier, some are many feet taller, and look more shapely. The deer path HAS to be changed and your yard must be nearly repulsive to them or, in my case, I was going to have to forget gardening. A large amount of my time and money became deer dung. Four years ago, I could see 8-12 deer at a time in my backyard. Mothers would show the kids the path. Saw one fawn this year - across the street. Her mother never showed her my yard. Be faithful to spraying, it works. Best of luck.

Kindly,
Jane
( I have NO affiliation with this company. The stuff just works)

Here is a link that might be useful: imustgarden.com

karin, when I first posted what to do about deer damage I had never had the amount of deer that I have in my new house. I tried everything. One thing I learned all remedies effect deer different in different areas. They will get use to whatever you spray after awhile and still eat your garden to the ground.

I use several things that I did not list since the OP only seemed to be having trouble with one plant. I had an entire 2 acres of gardens that they were eating to the ground and I have a 8' fence that they jump with ease. Hostas and daylilies are just to tempting. They wanted them way too much.

Liquid Fence was like salad dress on the hostas to them. Deer Off would keep them off for a couple of weeks and that was spraying every night for about 3 weeks. Then they decided they could hold their nose and eat the hostas anyway.

You never know what your deer think is nasty in your state.

Yes you are quite right - dissuading deer is different in every region and in every yard. That is probably why there are so many different approaches. But once you find a method that works for you that is like gold!

In our yard, for instance, I don't even have to spray the hostas. The deer don't eat them. On the other hand they will eat onions which is not common. So yes, you never know!

In our area Shake-Away Deer Repellent Packs work very well. The packs contain Coyote Urine that is in granule form inside a weather resistant pouch. It is a great all weather, all natural solution to deer snacking on trees.
Very easy to set up as well!

Here is a link that might be useful: Deer Repellent Packs

I just saw this thread, so I'll throw in my 2 cents. I find Deer Solution very effective. It makes your plants smell like cinnamon which deer dislike.

Last year, I got ill last July and stopped spraying. My hostas were eaten to the ground. This year, not one nibble so far.

Oh my, Karin! That photo really made me smile. Look at them! It's hard to imagine having a deer population to worry about. In our area, I only once saw a deer with her two young, at the side of the road a mile away from here. This rare sight was so mesmerizing I had to pull over and watch them. What beautiful creatures they are. My pests are few and far between - a couple of hungry rabbits every now and then but no major damage, just an early pruning here and there!

And others of you have armadillos to deal with. Fascinating.

pam you are lucky. Nothing is more heart breaking than going out in the morning with your cup of tea/coffee in the morning and see nothing but stems in a garden that once had 100 hostas. I dropped the cup and my mouth dropped open.

I get herds that run through and most times walk through my yard.

Thanks Pam - that photo makes me smile too. I have to say that overall I would rather have deer in our yard than not. I know that sounds crazy and I have lost my fair share of prized plants. But I take pride in our little backyard habitat and the deer clearly come here to relax and they feel safe here, particularly in the winter. There are a few plants that I work hard to protect - tulips, sweet peas and some roses. And others that I keep under netting - tulips for cutting, lettuce, pumpkins (in the fall). As for everything else we have a detente. The deer can browse and for the most part I have more than enough to go around. I enjoy watching them and my husband sometimes enjoys throwing snowballs at them. :) Overall, I like having a yard that is attractive to animals. To me that is part of the satisfaction of gardening.

That is a cute photo! We are not terribly overrun with deer in this area, and they do a little browsing in my yard, but usually nothing terrible. I don't mind when they browse the perennials and shear the tops, which saves me the trouble of shearing them back with the hedge clippers, which I do to a lot of perennials.

However, when they start completely defoliating my morning glories and all the jewelweed, I get annoyed! I have a 24 foot trellis with assorted Ipomoea, and they LOVE it! I would have no vines left if I didn't do anything. Sprays do work, but I'd rather use barriers.

So I laid old fencing down along the back and sides of the trellis, which they don't like to walk over. I also use fencing cut on the tops so it has skewers sticking out. These does seem to keep the deer from accessing the trellis, I just have to watch out that I don't skewer myself!

Hi, Terrene, what kind of fencing did you lay down? I was wondering about something like snowfence. Although I don't know where I could find it anymore. Thanks

The deer must be reading this forum because after I posted that I don't spray my hostas, for the first time ever I too was greeted by the sad sight of a bundle of naked stems where a beautiful hosta had been. I've never seen that before and it was quite shocking!

We have deer always, but not particularly hungry deer - not much in the way of snow cover ever and plenty of natural feed for them too.

They are more opportunistic browsers in my garden but will always go to the roses. Next trip they may try something odd, like ornamental allium. One year only, they ate the azaleas.

If I will spray every 6 weeks or so (not affected by rain but you do have to watch that new growth taking place on roses and protect that), Bobbex Deer Repellent takes care of preventing any damage. And there's the IF, if it gets put into the sprayer and used :)

I picked up some Bobbex at the garden supply yesterday, literally had it out and on my deck and spraying was going to be my next chore, when I walked around the house and realized I'd had 'company' the night before. They beat me to the roses by a few hours (and it was my fault, I was lax), pruned 3 down to the nubbins for me.

I did see on a gardening program once where deer are a more constant problem, alternating more than one repellent may be more effective, use one with a good reputation one spray period, switch to something else effective the next and don't rely on the same product each time. I haven't had to to try it, just need someone to inspire me to be more consistent with the one I've got :)