Gardening

Last edited Tue Sep 9, 2014, 12:05 PM - Edit history (1)

The deer were eating all the new growth on the young apple trees I planted this spring. Since I didn't have time to fence the trees, I covered each tree at night with a large white trash bag. Well that stopped them. White is a color of danger in nature to wildlife but a clear trash bag would have stopped them too. I think the giant white trash bags as tall as them must be pretty intimidating to deer. It may help to tie strips of white plastic bags to plants around your yard too. The flashes of white may scare or startle them away, especially if the wind blows them. I also had tomato plants in a raised bed that they attacked also. I arranged some lawn chairs as a barrier and that put an end to that. I think they didn't want to approach a lawn chair as big as they were to get to the plants. I've also used shovels, etc. to set up little "road blocks" in and around plants. So I say think creatively when dealing with deer.

Next spring I plan to get some clear or white tulle to put around the apple trees, blueberry bushes and other things to protect them -- that way I won't have to remove protective covers every morning.