Good photos. What state is this?

Central Pennsylvania

I would cover the catus and with container and make small vent.

Bradleyo, you ever have a problem with deer eating your deer?

Coltrane, I wish the deer ate themselves, but no they have seemed to have let my reindeer alone. The plants on the other hand is a different story.

Greg- the cacti I have are either totally hardy or possibly hardy. The possible hardy ones were cheap and/or I have backups from cuttings, so I'm just experimenting.

Nice pics. Everything is still looking good. Hope it all pulls through. I bought a pink lace cactus off ebay. Its a very nice size for a great price. I think they are cold tolerant, but im not 100% positive. They will spend this winter indoors, and they might be planted in the ground this spring.

Good Luck!

I hate it when the deer eat each other,it makes me think there is something wrong.If I saw one eating my plants I would sick a rabbit on him,they eat deer don't they?
Man,I am getting hungry.

Your plants look great,I hope they stay dry enough over winter,they sure look happy!Interesting how the snow has melted away from them,are they planted on mound? I can't really tell from your pics.

Your garden is coming along beautifully-

jimhardy, you ever hear of a venus deer trap? I hear their cold hardy in your zone.

I had one.
I tried to clean the snow out of it's mouth and you can guess what happened next.
I was married for 2 years but I learned a lot about cold hardiness.

bradleyo, what is the USDA-zone where you live? What is the minimum was in your area during last 5 years?

serj- technically I am in zone 6a, but probably the coldest 6a in the country. This is only my second year here. Got to -8F last year. All time record low is -26F.

bradleyo, thank's a lot for this useful information.

I'm also in zone 6. Just sharing a pic of my winter protection structure for a 3 foot trachy with a nice thick 1 foot trunk. Use a theromostat set at 40 degrees as well as a strand of rope lighting on the ground and around the trunk in addition to icicle lights in the crown.
[IMG]http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee268/islandbreeze_2007/palms011.jpg[/IMG]

Let's try this again...

Nice use of what looks like bamboo islandbreeze. How old is that spruce?

Thanks Coltrane. Yes its a bamboo blind I no longer use. The spruce is about 10 yrs old and 7 feet tall. And the deer eat EVERYTHING in my yard, but nothing seems to eat them!! They eat my spruces, bamboo, mugo pines, yucca, japanese yew, even that bush right in front of the palm structure with the chicken wire around it. We had about 800 deer within a 5 mile radius of my house, and the police thinned out the herd (no hunting allowed and coyotes are too small to take down deer), but I still am battling them.

THat is something about the deer. In upstate NY and PA it is hard for the hunters to find enough deer. Opening a hunting season sure thins the population in NY and PA.

How many years has the palm survived.

I have the same problem with deer here. An infestation here in Pa is considered 15 per square mile. Where I live it's 50 per square mile! And we have the same hunting restrictions. Knock on wood, they really haven't touched anything in my yard except at the end of the growing season. They've somewhat disappeared since November, but I noticed some tracks in my yard last night.

The deer are a serious problem where I live. Not only do they destroy gardens, they are a very serious safety problem for drivers.

I can be sitting outside in my backyard and they will literally amble no more than ten feet away from me, acting exactly as if they owned the place. I usually have to drive them off with stones.

dln949

That particular palm is going into its first winter in the ground. I had another 3 foot windmill in the ground that survived 4 winters, even tho I moved it every year. Two springs ago it rotted and died. So this one is a second attempt. I amended the soil with 80 lbs of coarse builder's sand, so hopefully I won't get root rot.

Yes, here in Michigan deer are a major problem, whether there is hunting allowed or not. We have deer like Florida has alligators, I think the last estimate was 1 million. I actually had one that ran into my truck a couple years ago.

I also have to garden around the deer. I endeavor to put in a lot of plants and trees that are not attractive to deer--hollies, boxwood, Japanese plum yews, ferns, etc.. Yesterday, I saw three females sampling the fronds in my bamboo grove. They don't touch the stuff yet but hoping they will eventually develop a liking to it. (Would help with its annual control.) By the way, palms are also definitely NOT to their liking! Another reason I am gradually increasing their presence on my property.

That is what's crazy about the deer around here. The eat Japanese yews and a fern was the first to go this winter. I also had a potted saw palmetto that within its first night in my yard either a deer or rabbit destroyed several fronds. They eat my hostas and elephant ears too. They are ruthless to my yard.

Well, the hosta is really deer food--they just love it but I really am shocked that they are touching ferns or any palm, and aren't elephant ears poisonous?! I did notice something sampled my Japanese yew--maybe they thought it was regular yew (Taxus) because there were overgrown ones around the foundation that were removed last summer. I have heard of deer turning to Yucca if really desperate so palms and other non-deer friendly plants may be targeted if they are that severely food stressed. They deer I see look fairly plump and healthy so the palms are safe from them for the time being.

njoasis-if you haven't already planted them, I would advise against evergreen hollies and boxwood. At least here, the deer love them. Here are some links to the guides I used when planning around the deer here. I didn't buy a plant that wasn't listed on one of these lists. The camoflage gardening link is a really neat concept. And the Rutgers list is pretty thorough, although no list has everything that you're looking for. So far I have a had a lot of success keeping the deer at bay.

http://www.npsot.org/plant_lists/deer_resistant.html

http://njaes.rutgers.edu/deerresistance/

http://pender.ces.ncsu.edu/files/library/71/Deer%20Resistant%20Plants.pdf

http://www.hillcountryhome.com/docs/deer-resistant.pdf

I have a half dozen varieties of holly (hedges and specimen plants)--they've been here for a few years now and the deer don't touch them! Big leaved Rhododendron are okay too. Same with the boxwood--have dwarf English and common box. Here's what they have eaten as an everygreen during the course of a winter (Acuba japonica, Camellias, yews, Fatsias, Photina "red tip" (which many Southerns claim they avoid), and evergreen Azaleas especially. I'm beginning to think that deer have regional taste preferences--like people. My biggest issue with the deer is not eating foliage--it's the rutting damage on my smooth barked trees (Magnolias especially--both deciduous and evergreen). It wasn't so bad this November though. (Think the Irish Spring soap trick must have worked.) Getting back to palms though, I would think their rough (if not prickly barbed) trunks would deter them. Those vicious needles on Rhaphidophyllum (Needle palms) surely must discourage the most amorous, territorial buck. Happy New Year!!

i have the perfect solution for the deer problem you need things
1 hunting lisense
2 good machine gun

Deer look so fragile, but they can eat just about any plant! Maybe some motion sprinklers would work (probably wouldnt work too well this time of the year with all this cold, but during the warmer months it might be just enough to scare them away).

You would really think a nice sharp yucca would deter them, but I guess not. At least eventually your palms will be too tall for them to reach!

Statenislandpalm7a, thats would probably work. Ive considered putting life sized replicas of bears and lions in my yard.

* Posted by statenislandpalm7a 7a (My Page) on
Fri, Jan 1, 10 at 14:58

i have the perfect solution for the deer problem you need things
1 hunting lisense
2 good machine gun

......and neighbors that don't mind a few holes in their house or friends
LOL

njoasis- that is so funny, here all of rhodies look like small trees because the whole bottom is eaten from browse line and down, and hollies and boxwood have no chance. I've also seen camellias are questionable, but so far so good on mine. I have the double whammy going for me though, because I have a sasanqua, which is a zone 7 plant that so far is beating the odds. We have a lot more winter to go up here though.

I thought Rhododendrons were poisonous??? That is one of the very few plants the deer OR rabbits won't touch. I've never had a problem with boxwood either, although mine are bigger plants...