A few years back I ran into some container plants in the woods, I was surprised to see that they had no protection from deer and they seemed healthy. There were a ton of whitetails around. I myself put three plants into the ground as a experiment, went to check this morning and found foot prints in the turned soil around my plants but all three were untouched. Do deer "eat" the herb ????
ive been told they will eat them in veg, one of my out door plants got topped a while back by a deer but depending on the amount of turned over soil u may be dealing with something other than deer.
i had something other in mind, im not sure what ur natural ambient small rodents are around there, but i have a huge problem with armidillos around here digging for food and they can make quiet a mess of things if u have put something they like the smell of around the plants....
Spread out Mothballs...just make sure they do not get in to any water body around. If you are using Blood meal in your growing substrate...they are sensing a carcass and are trying to dig it up. If they are just digging in the area around...let them dig, you'll be glad you did because they eat a lot of what would be eating your plants instead!
These were definitely "hoof" prints. We have a herd of whitetail (maybe 10/12) that browse our clearing every morning and evening. It looks as if the deer just moved through the bed and paid no attention to the plants. That's the reason for my question, thought maybe they are just not interested in the herb...I since have put a cage around the plants but it is more of "not to get them stepped on" as opposed to "eaten".. Like I said, it's more of an experiment. I have some potted plants in the trees but I thought I would try the soil and see what happens with these 3. It's real heavy clay but I mixed in a soil mix, so far those 3 are doing well....
You can place a really sweaty T-Shirt on the ground near your plants...if those Deer are being hunted they will avoid the human smell.
Mothballs didn't do squat for me. The biggest problem I had while growing outdoors were deer. They cut my young vegging crop in half one year. The only thing I found that really works well is called Milogranite. It is pasturized sewage sludge in a granulated form. When it gets wet, it smells terrible. It also lasts 2-3 weeks between applications.
that sounds pretty gross, I'm planning a grow about 20ft. from a deer feeder that is fed year round and I'm planning to use a well constructed fishing line fence to "freak them out" to stay away from my area and stay in theirs...
defcon: I tried the "fishin line" trick, NO EFFECT !. It was a 5' X 5' area I had turned, I enclosed 3 sides with brush (downed small trees) to form a barrier and used fishing line to close off the fourth side. The "hoof" prints in the soil showed they came from that direction. I had heard the same thing about "fishin line", it didn't work !
Good luck. Deer can be a bitch. 20 feet from a feeder and you're asking for trouble. I grew outdoors for almost ten years and I lost one plant to a storm (it was in full bloom and the wind and rain ripped it apart and it sat in water) and I lost god knows how many to deer until I discovered Milogranite. I had a letter published in High Times back in 2000 about it under the name "Captain Hook".
I too lost plants when they are in full bloom because is rain/wind. I am out of my element here. Have raised plants for 32 years but it has been in the land of eternal sunshine. I now face seasons, so everything is new to me. It;s an experiment, will let you know how things work out.....Deer, whats that....Snow, whats that..... Mountain Lion, Wolf, Bear, I don't know ??? Will be fun though !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I transplanted a plant outside one time and it was still pretty young, maybe a half a foot tall, and a deer I think just came and the whole damn thing, wasnt even an inch of stem left... I was pretty dissapointed, I thought I was good to go this time
I went to check my plot today and came across a deer as well. It was actually quite surreal. Anyway, I heard that pissing near the plants helps deter deer and other animals from coming too close..
