What the ???

Oh so sad, deer?

It will be fine next year. What sort of fat animals do you have around who could eat all that at once?

-Babka

Oh no! Is this the first time for deer damage? Deer Out is a good repellent. It smells minty and is repugnant to them.

Deer....must have brought the whole extended family....also got some of another Guac and So Sweet, but not as bad.....and I am in Suburban New Jersey. They had to look hard to find my house!!

Donna....had some leaves munched several times but never like this

That's just not right! That Guacamole was beautiful. You have soooo many delectable looking hostas - I would be so worried. Such a gut-wrenching sight, I am sorry this happened, Mbug. :(

I too am sorry to see this carnage of your lovely plant... but gotta say- there's something about the fragrants that is especially appealing to those critters!

I feel your pain mbug, I'm at war with the rabbits in my yard.

Uttoh, total bummer. Voles found my garden this year. Another total bummer.

Guac was scalped! I can imagine the shock you had when you first saw that.

Now that the deer sure did find your house- now that your tasty Hosta offerings are on their radar, they may be back looking for more salad bar... time to get the deer repel stuff like Milorganite or the sprays.

Provide zero welcome for the deer munchies. Good Luck.

Windy...you are right....the fragrants seem to be prime munching material.

Thanks for the comments...I know it will come back just fine.....when I saw it I thought they must have been packing a chain saw ...had to laugh.

You have to admit it looked pretty tasty

A fawn bolted out from somewhere near my ivy field last weekend. I chased it yelling and screaming, grabbed a stick and beat the bushes it ran into, then chased it again until I lost it in the woods. It helps to make them afraid of you. My hunter neighbor said full grown deer are dangerous if cornered but there's not many places to corner an animal that can jump an eight foot fence from a standstill around here.

Spray! spray! spray! It's the only way that we can stop them. I live in a suburban area with lots of houses and they walk around munching everything.

We had a large Neo Mastiff who was quite protective of the yard and they would just look at her and smile as they munched. We could get within 10 feet of them and they wouldn't move--the males weren't scared of the dog at all!

One mom even left a new born fawn overnight last year--scared the heck out of me when I went to weed and saw a little guy suddenly move!

Venison stew anyone?

Another possible solution! Strips of clothes drier sheets tied under the hosta leaves. A member on the daylily forum had deer damage to dozens of daylilies. She tied drier sheet strips on the flower scapes, no more deer damage.

miles, your mastiff must have been mellow. Shasta......

Guacamole seems to be a deer favorite here too.
That said, I think it will still be okay.
The deer ate my guacamole while I was on vacation. I put up a temporary fence for a while to try and break their habit and it's already growing back quite nicely.

Allison...I share your pain!

Dang that stinks! Maybe it tastes like guacamole?

That right there is full on deer candy....they can't resist the stuff.

I have about an acre of daylilies, lilies, and hostas - the product that works best for me is Bobbex. I see deer damage only when I did not spray the plant well.

I just went to a tour of a friend's garden who has a large collection of peonies. Interestingly the way she protects them from deer is to string fishing line between four poles around the garden at various heights. It does not obstruct the admirer's view but apparently deer do not like it.

My mastiff disliked other animals but the deer knew she was always on a leash so they didn't care if she barked or lunged at them. We also have lots of daylilies and have to spray the new buds constantly. Fabric wouldn't help us at all. We have to spray every hosta and every daylily bud or else they are gone. We also have to rotate the sprays since they get used to them and they don't work after a month or so. As our area becomes more and more built up, the deer have less room and also because they have multiplied we have so many now it's important to drive very carefully since we never know when they are going to dart out in front of our cars.