Ornamental and Garden Plants: 
Controlling Deer Damage

As deer begin to be plentiful, homeowners initially enjoy seeing them and may actually encourage deer to come into their yard by feeding them. Rural townships may ban hunting or place restrictions on firearm use for safety reasons. Homeowner attitudes change, however, when landscape plants suffer heavy browsing damage and gardens become difficult to grow. In addition to browsing, damage may occur in the fall when bucks begin rubbing antlers on small trees or young nursery stock.

A deer-proof fence does not fit well with most home landscapes and can be expensive if large areas are to be protected. For small vegetable gardens, a deer-proof fence may be constructed using standard wire fence attached up 12-foot tall posts.

Electric fences are less expensive and can be just as effective, however, they do require regular maintenance. For best results they should be constructed before serious damage occurs and must be kept electrified at all times. Researchers have had success using a three-wire electric fence baited with aluminum foil strips attached at 5-10 foot intervals. The ends of the strips are smeared with peanut butter for Abait.@ When the deer lick the bait, they get a Atickle@ that warns them of the fence. Deer may learn to jump electric fences if they are incorrectly installed or maintenance is lacking.

Longer term success has been reported by people who install the so-called Ainvisible dog fence@ around the entire perimeter of their property. Once the dog is trained to stay inside this area, it may be left outside at night to scare off deer.

 Table 1 summarizes recent research results on the relative effectiveness of area and contact repellents. Bear in mind that repellents will not completely eliminate damage Many repellents do not weather well and will need to be reapplied after every rain.

When deer numbers are high or food availability is low, damage may occur on plants that they would normally not touch. Deer may exhibit localized taste preferences so what they eat may vary somewhat from site to site.

Research has documented that deer may eat as many as 100 different species of plants in a given locale. However, they do tend to avoid certain plants and this knowledge can be helpful in choosing plants for sites where deer area major problem.

The following lists categorizes landscape plants based on their desirability as a food for deer. Judicious plant selection in combination with a variety of control methods should provide homeowners with reasonable success. Remember to begin control measures before significant damage occurs. Garden plants that suffer rare or occasional damage when mature may suffer frequent damage at transplanting time (e.g., peppers, corn, okra, squash). The same may be true with garden plants that are planted early in spring and again in fall.