If you look in the New England gardening forum, we have been discussing it there lately.

Here's the only one I know about in Trees:

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5494021/don-t-forgot-to-put-your-tree-protectors-on#n=32

I haven't found anything but fencing that stops rabbits.

Couple more:

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/1893102/buck-damage#n=16

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/1886627/lets-talk-deer-control#n=24

Billmn thanks si much for these! very helpful

the deer are advancing yard by yard into my tree, shrub and hosta filled garden.

first year they ate the yews

then a year after found the June hosta salad bar

subsequently theyve returned to the yews and other short needled

evergreens. ive windered if these serve as a dentifice or breath freshener for them

the rabbits have been the advance guard for years, eating all the young shoots off fothergilla and rose of sharon., taking 20 echs down to nubs etc

just venting…..thanks

This was likely discussed in the above linked posts, but I’ve found Bobbex to work the best of all the repellents in my gardens. My property backs to a small river, so we have very intense deer pressure, with herds of two dozen plus deer moving through our property each night. I reapply after heavy rain.

@BillMN-z4a - Great to know your success with Milorganite. I also have neighbors who feed the deer all winter, and they've created paths behind my house now. It's so frustrating! I'll try the milo - and I like your idea of painting the containers too. Thanks.

YW. Stealthy is a good idea. ;-)

Knock on wood, but im having very good success with Repellex for keeping rabbits off. No damage at all in the large hosta bed where i used it, but a nearby bed without has had hostas cut to the ground.

“rich” discussion!

ive got some good ideas what about perennials,people?

Speaking with limited experience using MLGNT, it's a low-level nitrogen, slow-release fertilizer (that's how it's sold). Early spring, I did sprinkle some loose, on the ground, along and in some of my flower and shrub beds. It's non burning. But again, with the pails and socks, the deer are absent.

Sounds like it's time to add some Repellex for them willey wabbits. ;-)

as Elmer Fudd said *******xxx!!!!!!! those wabbits!!!!!!

@BillMN-z-2-3-4 How long is the milorganite good for in the socks? Doesn't it dissolve in rain/snow? I just hung some near two small redbuds that can't handle anymore nibbling.

Hi laceyvail,

Again, this is my first attempt with the product and I never asked Dale how long they left theirs out before refreshing, but from reading pages of information, if you spread it out on the lawn (for fertilizer?) it can last 8-12 weeks.

I wondered about longevity as repellant myself, we've had snow, rain and hose water on the socks I put out in January. Every time I check them, they're still in a granular form and I can still smell them if I get them close enough or smell the hand that I handled them with. It's been a dry season though, and it doesn't seem like they have 'dissolved' at all. Maybe if they stay wet for longer periods?

The nylon socks must be UV and possibly N resistant too because they haven't deteriorated.

The stuff in the buckets stays dry and still seems potent although I've added new pails and socks since the initial time back in January. Some very recently.

This spring, I spread some with a hand spreader, along the grassy UROW, that adjoins the property with the deer feeders. The grass looked like it needed a little N. ;-)

Probably just have to wait until I start seeing deer damage again, then refresh the oldest containers.

Milorganite is in the form of Organic matter which adds OM in the soil from what I've read.

the rabbits have been the advance guard for years, eating all the young shoots off fothergilla and rose of sharon., taking 20 echs down to nubs etc

I hear ya @Marie Tulin Boston burbs z 6a...way frustrating :(.

I have minimal deer but rabbits are for sure an on going "threat".

For awhile I could humanely trap and then relocate but they seem to have figured that scheme.

Lately I have been sprinkling granulized coyote urine near plants that I know are attractive to rabbits eg rudbeckia, thalictrum, clematis.....

It is a much more expensive option than spray but I think it might be working.

Plantdkydd works for rabbits in my yard

Hi Bill, it is only this year that I have been able to get Milorganite--new owners of a local hardware store order it for me. I used it on my lawn, and the smell was quite strong until the next day it when it rained. I assume the product "melted" into the lawn, so I thought it would "melt" in the sock too.

I 2nd the vote for Bobbex. I live surrounded by forest and have herds of deer. Bobbex has worked for years. I looked for your thread but could not find it.

Thanks everone. i used up a big container of granular liquid fence around the most vulnerable plants and main points of access to the gardens. . this could get expensive!

slug bait is next.

i know the rotation by heart: Plantskydd, Bobbex , and Tony Soprano.

I have ordered Repellex and intend to give it a try, especially in summer agains the rabbits who like to nibble some of the smaller plants. But I called the company and they said the product, while very effective when deciduous shrubs/ trees are leafed out, doesn't work after the leaves fall. That is, no protection for the small twigs deer will eat, so physical barrier still needed in winter for small woodies.

7-4-23:

laceyvail 6A, WV

I did notice some softening of the milorganite in the socks. But those nylons dry out so fast that even if they get wet, once it dries, you can crumble it back into granules with your hand. So far we have not had enough rain to get anything soaking wet for any length of time.

Even though my neighbor across the street swears he saw a deer go across my front yard, a while back. This is the first year with no blooms or cauliflowers missing on my Anabelle's. eta: the rabbits never bother these for some reason.

I did refresh a few pails and socks and spread the old stuff in strategic places last week. The oldest pails/socks were still pretty potent and those were originally put out there last winter.

I don't know how long the actual spread of nitrogen is with milorganite so I was careful to spread where I won't get wild growth on the trees.

Well, despite my success with staving off deer, I have failed with the bunnies and all my echinacea have been eaten. I caught one of the little b@stards in the act this morning, so I know they are the culprits. I ran out and purchased granular Plantskydd, and used the entire $40 container. I hope it works, it looks as if the rabbits have also been helping themselves to coreopsis and blue star juniper, ugh.

I have to admit a failure too.

It was on the far NW corner of my front yard. I have a lily ring and the smaller yellow ones were blooming many, fully encircling the bunch that grows there. This morning, I looked and most of the blooms were gone. I suppose, a deer coming from the West with the NW wind just don't catch enough of the fragrance to deter him/her. idk. It also rained yesterday so maybe that was a factor.

Nothing else was touched, maybe the deer finally got the whiff and left. He/she left some buds.

This is how I do it with flower beds that need rabbit protection.

Most in this bed comes from seed each season and gets mowed down early if I don't.

I'll take the fence down once the pansies get going, they're the worst for getting 'bunnied'.

I don't have many beds that need this so it's not that big of a deal to me.

Thanks, Bill! My beds that are suffering from bunny damage are island-style beds, so I’d have to fence the entire perimeter of each bed. I’m not opposed to doing that, but it’ll certainly make things look a little less pretty.

I generally don’t have rabbit damage, as there are lots of hawks and owls and the occassional coyote to take care of surplus bunnies.

But man, there are a lot of them this year! And to think I was throwing past-ripe strawberries from my fenced vegetable garden into one of my backyard flower beds, specifically for all the sweet little bun-buns I was seeing hopping around eating clover in there. I thought the bunnies and I had an understanding! I feel betrayed. 😆

High rabbit population runs in cycles of 5-7 years or there abouts. Once populations get high, the likely hood of rabbits getting the disease called tularemia go up and will sometimes kill off entire populations in certain areas. Of course, there's always enough that survive to bring back the population to high levels in a few years.

Tularemia in rabbits.

We were at a low point here for a few years now but they are making a comeback! :-/

02-10-2024:

Just for an update starting on my second year using milorganite for deer deterrent.

Last Fall I replaced the 'socks' & pails with new milorganite (cost $25 after tax for 32lb bag and $7 for new 10 pack of socks). The socks are long enough I cut them in two, tie the open one at the bottom and get 20 repellant bags total per ten socks.

I spread the old milorganite around the yard, mostly where it needed some help growing grass and around most of my trees and beds.

This winter I've notice zero deer tracks in the snow in my yard and the UROW at the south end of my yard where the neighbors were drawing deer with feeders, just across the property line (it maybe my neighbors have stopped feeding deer, I think because the deer stopped coming to their feeders once I started using milorganite). ;-)

Just wanted to add to this discussion being last year was my first using milorganite.

It has been amazing to see how this has worked so well completely repelling the deer.

I've had good luck this winter with milorganite protecting several woodies. But the Repellex completely failed for Liriope (rabbits) once hard weather set in. And never seemed to be effective for woody plants in leaf.

But please check out the recent post and responses about this product. Post is titled "This deer deterrent would work, but it may not exist."

I was hoping you would have had an excellent experience with Repellex...drat! I was going to start a post for anyone that had used it. Did you use the granular or the tablets?

I would need hundreds of the wireless bait posts and could not possibly put deer fencing. The forest, terrain and size of my property would make that option prohibitive. Bobbex again seems my only option. It works but the cost and effort is considerable.

I used to have a two-wire electric fence around my veggie garden (30'x25') out in the country.

After a while those willey deer would jump the fence to get inside, unscathed.

Next, I put a 4 ft woven wire using taller posts and put 2 barbed wires a foot or so apart above the woven wire (> 7'). That worked perfectly for deer.

So I put a 2ft. high, 1" chicken wire around the bottom of the woven wire to keep the rabbits & racoons out. Never had a problem after that.

Now that I'm in town, I don't want that kind of a fence in the yard (neighbors might think it's 'Tacky').

Peren.all, I used Repellex granules for the first time last year. My issue is rabbits, not deer. I scattered it in my biggest hosta bed in early spring before any new shoots were up, and watered in well. It worked a treat for me, no rabbit damage in that bed. Of course this is one year only, but I plan to put it around any hostas and lillies this year. Just thought I’d put my experience out there.

indianagardengirl thank you for your experience. I am so glad it worked well for you. So you only applied once early season and it was effective all year? It is a pity that there is no agreement on what critters will eat in a certain area and what deterrents will work .You give me hope.

Yes, just once in early spring was effective for the whole year. It is systemic, and I suspect that getting it down early makes for better uptake? Not a scientist so I am not certain. An unprotected small bed about 50’ away had every hosta munched to the ground repeatedly. Anyway, I ordered more for this year and will put it down around all hosta beds soon.

LoveMyCorgi - You said you used Plantskydd last year. What the heck is in it that it is so expensive? [g] How did you do with it, did it help with the bunnies?

Prairiemoon

i know the main ingredient is “porcine blood” so it acts as a fertilizer too. when you are in the midst of spraying the liquid it smells pretty bad but it dissipates withn a day.

The granular has no smell and i find it very effective. on short plants/prrennials However one needs to use spray on shrubs and trees. so the deer dont munch tall things within reach

9-16-2024: update.

Using milorganite only.

Very little if any browsing in my yard this summer. No signs of deer (droppings, tracks, etc.).

The socks worked well during cold part of winter and the dry summer last season but with regular rains this summer, the mil. got pretty wet then would harden into a ball. I don't know if that hurt anything as a repellant, it didn't seem to.

BUT the newer 'nylon' socks they sold me must not have been a real nylon or at least not the kind that had any UV resistance because the socks sort of 'rotted' out in the sun all summer. They still worked but I couldn't empty them to reuse for a refill for next winter.

So, socks are out of the equation this time around.

I'm up to 12 pails only, one quart mil. per pail distributed evenly around the yard, just guessing ~25 ft. distance between pail locations.

.

And that's the important part. An even distribution of the source product must be placed evenly around the entire yard. The deer must be getting a 'whiff' no matter where they stand or move to once entering the yard. If you don't do this, it can be hit or miss whether or not it deters them.

I'll find a way to hide the pails better as time goes on. This time of year, visitor numbers are low. ;-)

Below 3 of the 5 pails in this area are visible. They are ubiquitous!

The oak has not been nibbled once since planted.

I know Alaskan Cypress are not real deer favorites. I only have a pail there to evenly distribute the source product in all parts of the yard (there are 3 more pails along the north end near the house. The tree will be large enough to hide the pail next season (if still needed). :o)

I did broadcast the old product in various parts of the yard and row and being it hasn't rained in a month; it should still be working especially with the heavy morning dews we get.

This is most likely my last report on this subject as it's working well for me as advertised and the only thing that I'd maybe change is to add a couple more pails to decrease the distances between the pails but only if it becomes necessary.

p.s. my neighbor the cat farmer, cats, have seriously kept the number of rabbits down to where I occasionally see a smaller rabbit eating the grass around the trees, maybe clover too.

I had to do a few things to keep the cats from turning my yard into a little box but a small amount of work to have permanent bunny 'scarecrows' around. :-)

eta: I found 2 more pails so it's 14 total. ;-)

indianagardengirl I am hoping to hear that Repellex continued to work for you! Any update good or bad would be appreciated, Fingers crossed.

Repellex worked very well for me again this year. No damage to hostas or lillies, and just one application in early spring.