Deeroscaping II

Continuing with basics landscape design in deer areas, lets look at some other precautions we can take.

3.  Determine the main entryway of deer and make it as discouraging as possible. Just as we talked about making the edges unfriendly, position plants that are poisonous to deer or at least plants on the rarely damaged list by the entryway. If you have to use plants that are occasionally damaged, then keep the plants sprayed with repellent. Deer are creatures of habit. Find their path that they have been using when entering your landscape and make sure it is not appealing to the deer.

4.  Hide susceptible plants from the deer. Deer won’t go were they can’t see past or see over. Plant border hedges or large plants to hide smaller susceptible plants under larger deer resistant trees and shrubs.

5.  Keep border grasses cut down and keep edibles picked up. If there is tall grass, the deer are encouraged to make beds. If fruit, nuts, or unharvested vegetables are left on the ground, the deer will find it hard to resist entering the landscape.

For complete information and an upcoming E-book check http://deer-departed.com/deeroscaping.html

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Deeroscaping - Part 1

Continuing with Deeroscaping, the practice of landscape design with deer resistance in mind, lets look at some of the deer deterrent design steps.

1. Choose deer resistant alternatives as much as possible. Categorize the plants you need by form, function,color, and size. There are several charts of rarely damaged plants to use to substitute plants of similar size, flower color, growth habit, etc.Check http://www.deer-departed.com/deer-resistant-plants.html  for several charts of resistant plants.
2.Plant deer resistant plants around the outside edges of the landscape.This may be enough to discourage deer from coming in further to find your more susceptible plants on the interior.  If you just have to have plants that aren’t on the rarely-damaged lists, then you will have to plan for spraying the plants with repellent.  Keeping the beds narrow enough that you can spray from both sides will be helpful.  If you will have to spray repellent, you can find recipes to make your own at http://deer-departed.com/deer-repellent-recipes.html 

Next time we will take about more deer deterrent design tips.

Deeroscaping-Deer Resistant Landscaping

OK,

you have read the list of deer damage signs and you have decided that you have deer problems.  As we go forward talking about all the different deer management techniques and products available, let’s think about the big picture.  What would you plant in your yard if deer were not an issue?  Do you like roses, or need a hedge?  Keep what you need in mind.  We can still have that overall design, we just may need to make some substitutions of plants and may have to do a few other things.  This is deeroscaping, Designing with deer in mind. 

More on deeroscaping next time or go to http://www.deer-departed.com/deeroscaping.html

More Deer Damage Signs

If you still aren’t sure about what is damaging your plants after the last blog, consider these other signs.

Vegetable Sampling - Deer like to sample vegetables.  They will take bits out of vegetables like green tomatoes, pumpkins, and squash. 

Deer Tracks - Deer leave deer tracks that distinctive hoof prints. The deer tracks are shaped like broken hearts and are about 2-3 inches long. Running deer leave tracks much farther apart than deer walking or grazing.  Be aware however that there are other animals that leave similar tracks.  Elk, cattle, llamas, and goats all have similar tracks, but obviously if you don’t have any of those other animals in your neighborhood, the suspects are narrowed down considerably.

Time of Day - Deer are most active just after dusk and just before dawn.  If your damage is being done in the daytime, look around your area for daytime feeders like goats or sheep.
Deer Scat - Scat, also called deer droppings, is a calling card that you will also find around damage. In the winter months when deer are mostly eating twigs and leaves, the droppings will be small elongated pellets.  In the spring and summer months when deer are feeding on lush green shoots, leaves, grass, fruit, etc, the pellets clump together and are left as a mass. 

Deer Damage? Are you sure?

Before we start talking about deer control, let’s make sure that the damage you are seeing is deer damage.  There are a few things to look for when determining whether or not your damage is from deer. Lets start with two tell-tale-signs.

Torn Foliage and Twigs vs. Clean Cut - Deer have no front  incisor teeth so they strip bark by raking their incisors upward, making two-inch gouges. When they eat foliage, they tear it off, leaving ragged edges and surfaces on twigs, stems, and leaves.   Rabbits,rodents, and woodchucks, leave a clean-cut edge.  A rodent will leave a clean usually angled cut.  

Damage Height - Rodents eat lower parts of trees, up to the height they can reach standing on their hind legs, which is much lower than deer damage. Deer will also eat plants up the level they can reach on their hind feet, so the height at which plants are damaged should eleminate most other suspects.

These are two signs and we will cover a few more next blog.
If you can’t wait, there is a complete list with pictures on http://www.Deer-Departed.com/deer-damage

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Welcome to Deer Control Solutions

Welcome!!!  If you are a gardener, someone that values their landscape plantings, a commercial grower, or just someone that wants to control deer in their environment, this blog is for you.  If you want to learn more about deer repellents, deer resistant plants, deer damage, deer fencing, and everything deer, join us in deer control strategies.  Any comments with advise for deer control of any kind will be appreciated.

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