Get several large cans of Tony Chachere's Seasoning (without salt). Sprinkle liberally on plants. Usually, just heavily sprinkling on the first several plants in the area the deer enter your yard will take care of the problem. Very important to get the seasoning without the salt. Otherwise, you create a salt lick.

Also, works for dogs and garbage cans. Pretty much works for any critters trying to eat plants or garbage. Even the chipmunks will leave when I sprinkle over the ground where I plant bulbs.

Oh Karyn, I know exactly how you feel. It happened to me the first spring. I thought they would not walk through the gateless entrance to the backyard. They sure waited till everything I had planted...was big enough for them. ALL was gone the next day. So I KNOW. I am so sorry :-( The neighbor just had another mom give birth to a bambi in her yard.

But the last sentence was funny lol

My son used to go out and pee along the fence line.
I used to cut my hair short just so I can hang it everywhere lol.
Ivory soap is suppose to work also....for a short time.

But when those suckers are hungry...they come to eat...regardless what you put up.

I hope they are not coming back.

Amelia I shall try this in the front yard!

Lucy

I've tried the pepper blends and I think they think I'm just seasoning their meal! lol The only thing I've found that works is the concoction I make up but it needs to ferment for a few days. I didn't realize that the deer were already out feasting on the landscape.

Karyn could you post how to make that gritter off mix? I would like to try it then for the front yard and along the fence line...Just in case lol

Lucy

Oh Karyn!!!!! How awful!!! I can't imagine having to deal with that! Will the plants come back from the roots after being dinner for Bambi and family??? I have fought gophers and moles for the 19 years we have lived here. I do a lot of container gardening because of that. I have been brave and have been planting in the ground, but I hold my breath until the destruction starts. We have tried every remedy with no luck. I hope your plants make a recovery and your critter concoction keeps the deer away!
Joyce

Most everything but the persimmon tree should fill back out this season as long as the damn spray is ready soon. Just about every woodland critter feasts in my yard. The spray works great but needs to be reapplied every 10 days and after rain. I wish I could remember who gave me the recipe. It wasn't something I came up with but it's great at keeping pretty much everything away including people. lol You'll stop smelling it after an hour or two but animals can sense it for quite a while.

Take a wide mouth 2 liter container or something about that size. Put in 6 or so crushed garlic cloves, a raw egg, 1/4-1/3 cup veg oil and fill with water. Secure the top, shake well and set it in the sun to rot. It takes 3 days minimum. The hotter it is outside the better and the longer it rots the better. Shake then strain the amount you need into a spray bottle and save the rest. You can just keep adding to the same bottle all season. Spray your plants, completely saturating them. It stinks to high heaven but the odor will dissipate in a while, to you anyway. I had a couple raw Scotch Bonnet peppers left from something I made the other night so I chopped those up and added them to the mix. The plain hot pepper doesn't work for me but I figured it wouldn't hurt to mix it in. Just don't touch your eyes after chopping them. I wear gloves after chopping hot peppers. I've made the mistake way too many times. OUCH!!!!

I did do something for the time being though I don't know if it will work. I took long stakes and sharpened one end to a sharp point. I shoved them in the ground at an angle with the points facing out. Hopefully the deer won't see them and will get poked when they lean in to feed.

Oh Karyn, I hate that your plants were dinner. I have taken a different method of dealing with deer that works here. I go to the Tractor Supply and buy whole feed corn and I make a weekly stop at the local flea market to a vendor I have known for a few years and he gives me apples with some rotten places on them. I pour out some corn and cut up some apples and I scatter them in late evening. I put them in the same place everyday. I get to watch the deer alot and they know exactly where to go to get the treats. At dusk or through the night the deer come eat the treats and move on. They will nibble on the burning bushes occasionally but they need trimming anyway. haha I think they have moved on deeper into the mountains lately as I have not seen them in a couple of weeks. A friend of mine uses some kind of wolf urine or some kind of urine but they still come to his yard. I told him the corn was cheaper and so far it has worked for me. I hope your plant re-coop soon.

Tammy

Karyn, my Fuyu has fruit for the first time too. Did the deer eat the leaves and the fruit? How tall is your tree? I'm not sure deer could reach the top of my tree. I plan to protect it from racoons and squirrels somehow -- maybe with a cylinder of sheet metal around the trunk. Protecting fruit trees from critters and insects is usually a losing battle here. I lost nearly all my hundreds of apples to squirrels and racoons last season. I was able to save 5 apples which I had wrapped in chicken wire! They even tried to gnaw thru that.

I have family in TN and they have a problem with deer. I called last night and was told they use something called deer out. check out the link below. thnx Russ

Here is a link that might be useful: Deer Out

Tammy I'm afraid if I put out treats I'll end up with a herd in my yard. lol

Dave they ate the young soft branches that were full of fruit. My tree is small, maybe 5'. It's grafted and I think this is it's 3rd year. I was so excited when I saw the fruit and so depressed when I saw that they ate it. There's only a handful of buds left on the highest branches. The spears that I put out last night seem to have worked but I'm afraid of leaving them in the yard. One of the kids might get hurt.

Russ I've tried commercial preparations, not sure if it was that one but didn't have good results. I've also tried coyote urine and had my son pee in the yard. I only had my toddler do it. I don't think DH or my teenage son could get away with it. lol It didn't work anyway and I didn't want my little one thinking it was ok to just go out and relieve himself in the garden. We have an electrified fence at the farm and tie metal pie plates spread with peanut butter to the hot wire and watch the deer get zapped. They can't resist the peanut butter. I know it's kind of sadistic but it is pretty funny to watch and they don't suffer any serious harm.

Karyn

So sorry those buggers cleaned you out. 6 barking dogs @ my house keep my gardens clear of deer. NOt the little varmints, tho!

But just the description of your rotten mixture set off my gag reflex! LOLOL!!! I'm kinda sensitive that way!

Hope all your babies make a speedy recovery!

I'd hate to put out corn. My neighbor was thrilled to have deer in her yard when she first moved in. They fed them & videotaped them every night. More & more came & then they started having babies & brought them along for the feast. She was really shocked to find out deer will fight over the goodies. You can only put out so much food before it starts getting expensive & you have to put it out EVERY night once they expect it. They have ruined all her shrubs. There are literally herds of them around here.

Linda

Linda that's what I'm afraid would happen here and we already have so many to start with. Not only that but the bucks are mean! I was in a friend's backyard collecting plants and didn't realize there was a big buck standing about 30' away. He was just staring me down. Thank goodness my dog was with me and she started barking at him and scared him away. I bet he would have charged me if it hadn't been for Bailey.

Karyn,

Get some craft wire and wind it around the stakes you put out. Make it so the deer cannot get their noses in between. They hate to stretch their necks too much so will give up. They have a good memory for specific plants and locations so once they find a yummy track through your yard, they will return and chew every last shoot on the same plant each day.

I'm only leaving the stakes up until the stinky mix is ready. I don't want any of the kids to get hurt and I can't stand the way they look although if the spray isn't ready soon I won't have anything to worry about. lol.

"interesting" recipe! my entire garden is in huge pots on an elevated deck, so I don't really have much trouble with little creatures. 'cept we had a woodchuck waddle up the stairs and eat all the sweet potatoes one year... and this spring I was wondering why I was getting so many exotic weeds in my pots, and then I remembered having seen squirrels digging nuts into the soil :P so at some point I might have to mix some up...

"We have an electrified fence at the farm and tie metal pie plates spread with peanut butter to the hot wire and watch the deer get zapped. They can't resist the peanut butter. I know it's kind of sadistic but it is pretty funny to watch and they don't suffer any serious harm."

that seriously made me laugh out loud. PLEASE film it and put it on youtube, LOL

Ria

Al has a solution for you...Lead Lol :)

When I was growing up we had goats to keep the weeks cropped down on the edges of the pastures. Every once in a while they would 'discover' the flower beds. My grandmother and mother kept a 22 cal remington pump loaded with rat shot by the door. You wouldn't believe how fast those ladies cold shoot that thing and they were dead on accurate. One does of rat shot and those goats wouldn't be back for at least several weeks (but did always seem to drift back after a while). Your 'war' brought back some fond memories of a couple of stong, sothern women.
Will

Thanks Karyn for the recipe. HUGS. So how many dear are stalked up? rofl

Have they been leaving your yard alone?

We got such a huge deer problem in the city, that the first offense for feeding deer is 250.00 Dollars. Then double and so on. Not that some folks up here care. They do not see the harm they do to everyone AND the deer.

Lucy