Deer ended my daylily blooms

5 years ago

I couldn't believe my eyes this morning when I looked out the window to see what was blooming. It got all but one daylily bloom plus chewed a piece of Balloon Flower and took the newly forming bud right off my hydrangea. All those unopened Tahiti Sweetie buds gone along with the others still blooming. . Must have walked right up the sidewalk and decided to dine. Didn't touch anything else so far. Planning to put out some vinegar around the edges of the garden this evening till I can find some product tomorrow.

We've had another health episode with our cat Marley and had to take her to the vet earlier in the week. She now seems better so we hope we are back on track once again.

Julia

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Comments (12)

Nancy 6b
5 years ago
I am so sorry, Julia, a bad day for you. I hope Marley continues to improve. Stinkin' deer! Hope it gets a belly ache...
shive
5 years ago
So sorry the deer got your blooms and buds! I know what that feels like. I've been lucky this year with the deer. I lost some seedling buds to either rabbits or a groundhog. Do you have any daylily buds left at all? I hope Marley's health continues to improve and stabilizes.

Debra
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Maryl (Okla. Zone 7a)
5 years ago
So sorry to hear about Marley's relapse. Hope the improvement continues. Having issues with my 18 year old cat myself, so I know how it is..............I actually thought about the deer people today when I went out and saw that a daylily had been attacked by rabbits. It's never happened to any of my daylilies to date in all these many years. I had a very small new raised bed made and vowed to put my favorite daylily in it. The scapes were eaten, not the foliage. It's very discouraging for anyone who experiences critter problems. I feel your pain. I guess I need to get out all the anti rabbit protection for this one daylily until it is out of bloom............Maryl
Julia WV (7a)
Original Author
5 years ago
Debra: Not one bud is left. Amazing not any of the foliage was touched. Unless I get rebloom, no more daylily blooms this year.

Thanks all for the comments.

Have a great Sunday.

Julia
shive
5 years ago
I hope you will get some rebloom!

Debra
lilykate7a
5 years ago
Now this is something I can relate to and scream about!! Deer ate all my backyard buds this year and nibbled on some of my deer sprayed new ones. Then rabbits ate all the foliage on some new ones. So irritating!!
organic_kitten
5 years ago
Two catastrophes at once! Too much! I hope Marley is on the road to health and that the deer die in their tracks for their greedy hatefulness in stealing all your buds!

kay
Julia WV (7a)
Original Author
5 years ago
Has anyone used Bobbex Deer spray? I only found that product yesterday and sprayed this morning. Since I watered yesterday evening the garden I noticed this morning small deer hoof prints along the edge of the garden in the dirt. The battle is on and I plan to win this one. Trail cam going up today. If I had a swear jar, it would be filled by now.

Julia
mike_z6
5 years ago
After using every conceivable method to prevent the deer from putting me in depression. I resorted to "Exclusion". Its the only way to stop the loses. After the deer get a taste of your daylily's and they train their young to follow in their footsteps, there is no stopping them.

You must break their habit of visiting your garden.

Try to figure a way of blocking their entrance and exit from your garden. Observe their paths. During the winter when there is snow on the ground. The deer prints make it look like Grand Central Station. There are tracks everywhere! But they almost always follow the same entrances and exits.

I finally resorted to fencing in the whole garden. Its not as bad as you think, if you use good materials and do a good job at construction.

I wish you the best!
shive
5 years ago
Products like Bobbex do wear off after frequent waterings or heavy rains. Another thing you might try is putting Irish Spring soap shavings in your gardens or putting stakes around with Vicks Vapor rub on them. Deer hate the smell of those two things.

Debra
signet_gw(6b)
5 years ago
Damn that is so sad . I am so sorry to hear this . I guess I am lucky as we do not appear to have any deer near us . Maybe due to farmer's fields ? All this rain won't help if it washes the product off your plants. Not what any of us want to hear about a fellow aficionado's new garden . Are you in the country or in a town or city ? I wonder if hanging pie plates on tall sticks or rods of some sort might scare them
Julia WV (7a)
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks all for the suggestions. We just moved here 3 months ago so waiting to see what our first winter in WV will be like. I heard from neighbors that the growing season is long here unlike what we had in NY. We shall see.

Well I just sprayed Bobbex last night again because we had storms 2 days ago and of course, we just got a heavy downpour today. I don't have the option to fence since the property is 3 acres. I bought some soap today so we shall see if that deters the critters. Sticks with vicks might work. Bobbex gets expensive and yes, it stinks. Something was near the garden around 1:00am today because when I pulled the SD card from the trail camera this morning it had been taking pics but I couldn't see from the pics what was causing the cameras motion sensor to start taking pics. Nothng appeared to have been touched.

Julia