The Berkshires; it’s a beautiful place to live with its sweeping views from a top Florida Mountain and Mount Greylock, to a thriving cultural scene with Mass MoCa, Jacob’s Pillow, and Tanglewood: who doesn’t love it here? The deer certainly do too and their restaurant of choice, your yard. The harsh winter drove deer to eat a variety of shrubs I have never seen them eat before and without the preventive measures of deer fencing or netting around them, who would’ve known? How can you stop this?
There are many methods and the top one is deer fencing which is used in the later part of the year from November to early April to stop deer from eating your Auntie Fran’s prized Weeping Hemlock to nothing but a toothpick since it’s the only tasty specimen of green in the vicinity. But from April on your other plants could be victim to their grazing. Hostas, Echinacea, vegetables, Arborvitae, Holly, Hemlock, Euonymus to name just a few.
There are foliar sprays such as Bobbex and Liquid Fence which need to be applied weekly and on a somewhat sunny day with no rain in the forecast. The smell alone from these products will have you not wanting to be near your garden and they help for a little while. Another method is a granular application called Miliogranite. It is somewhat a controversial item because its material is made from human sewage and has to be handled with gloves. The smell is recognizable like a porta potty but not as harsh as say a porta potty at a summer music festival. I have found it to work especially at newly landscaped areas.
Then we come to my favorite deer deterrent and it’s so simple and cheap. I discovered this method last year from a colleague of mine and I am amazed that it works. Irish Spring soap. No they are not paying for a spot in this blog and I was just as astonished as you probably are right now. We cut up into slivers and placed around the plants we knew would get eaten by deer. Results? They didn’t eat it!!! It also prevents other creatures from making your plants into their buffet salad like chipmunks, squirrels, gophers, and rabbits.
Regardless of what you use to deter deer from your yard, the best course of action is to plant perennials and shrubs that they don’t like to graze on. There are many resources on the internet on what plant material deer don’t like and many nurseries will have a symbol of deer with a slash through it to indicate it is a deer resistant plant or shrub.