   Coping With Deer - June 30, 2004 Jeff Schalau, County Director, Agent, Agriculture & Natural Resources Arizona Cooperative Extension, Yavapai County Deer can be very destructive to gardens and landscapes: especially during dry periods when they are more attracted to irrigated areas. Deer are typically browsers of woody plants. They eat buds and twigs in winter, tender shoots in spring, and browse leaves in summer. Bucks can also damage bark and break trees in the fall when they are removing velvet from their antlers. Remember that deer are opportunists. Their preference for your landscape will depend on availability of other foods within their range. Deer will browse on tender new growth of conifers such as Douglas-fir, true fir, yew, juniper, and some pines. As the foliage hardens off during summer, conifers become less palatable. Conifers with large, stiff needles (such as Austrian pine) are more likely to be left alone. Fruit trees are among deer’s favorite foods. Deer also prefer certain shrubs: roses and euonymous are favorites. While they do not prefer them, deer will occasionally eat grass, young shoots of vegetables, flowers and bulbs. Larger, tall shrubs tend to withstand deer browsing better than low growing ones because they have more leaves making them able to withstand some defoliation and taller plants are out of reach. I have seen apple trees that have little foliage below seven feet, but are fine above that point. Here, deer were standing up on their hind legs and browsing everything within reach. For a list of deer resistant plants, see the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension publication: Deer and Rabbit Resistant Plants (available on-line at: ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/az1237.pdf). Fencing is the only long-term solution. The fence should be at least 8 feet tall and constructed out of woven wire, high tension wire, or some other strong, durable material. Deer can and will jump anything shorter. Small areas can be protected with shorter fences (4 to 6 feet) as deer do not like to jump into small enclosed spaces. Individual cages can be built out of woven wire to protect individual plants. Electric fences can also be employed. At least two wires will be needed: one at 18 inches and another at 36 inches above ground. While they could jump over the wires, they prefer to crawl under and will touch the lower wire in doing so. Some people also use a third wire placed at 24 inches above ground. If you want to attract them to nuzzle the wire, put a little peanut butter inside some aluminum foil on it. Once shocked, they are more likely to avoid the fenced area. Remember to attach warning signs to alert people to the electric fence. Some people do not care for fences (or cannot use them due to local ordinances). In these situations, repellents (contact or area) may be worth trying. Contact repellents are applied directly to the plant and repel by taste. Area repellents repel deer by odor alone. Drawbacks to repellents are: they can only be applied to non-edible crops, the effect is temporary, new growth not treated with contact repellents is not protected, deer may habituate (become used to) to the repellent, and, if deer want something bad enough, they will often find a way to it. While many people swear that nylon stockings filled with human hair and bars of soap repel deer, these methods are typically not as reliable as products labeled as deer repellents. Finally, the best solution for deer damage is properly built fencing. The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension has publications and information on gardening and pest management. If you have other gardening questions, call the Master Gardener line in the Cottonwood office at 646-9113 ext. 14 or E-mail us at mgardener@verdeonline.com and be sure to include your address and phone number. Find past Backyard Gardener columns or submit column ideas at the Backyard Gardener web site: http://cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/. |