A few years ago (pre electric fence), I covered the strawberries in the fall to keep the rabbits from eating the foliage. Over the winter, the deer completely shredded the netting to get at the strawberries! That was one of the drivers for putting the fence up. Pepper spray keeps the rabbits at bay, but it is difficult to keep up a regular schedule of application in the winter when the plants are often snow-covered, only to emerge unprotected when the snow melts. Often the rabbits are there faster than I am. Even a short (18 inch) fence would prevent that damage, though.
Joel At 01:33 PM 2/29/08 -0500, you wrote: >Yes, our two Border Collies have kept all deer away from our garden for more >than 7 years. In fact, the deer don't even come within hundreds of feet of >our garden because they can smell DOG all over our yard. > >Last winter, though, the squirrels climbed over the 5-ft high chicken-wire >fence surrounding our garden, and munched on the garlic we had planted in >Nov '06. So in Nov '07, we outsmarted them by covering the raised garlic bed >with black mesh netting. We plan to cover our strawberry beds with the >netting too, as part of our on-going participation in the ancient >"Mammal-Rodent Conflict." > >- Jan > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Margaret McCasland" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "Sustainable Tompkins County listserv" ><[email protected]> >Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 11:59 AM >Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] deer repellents: waste stream thread > > > >I know fox urine is sold commercially as a deterrent. I also know > > that hungry deer get bold and will ignore LOTS of things (like shiny > > pie plates, Irish Spring soap bars, etc), jump high fences, eat what > > they are not supposed to like, etc. > > > > From some research I did in the past, I was told that the only > > consistently good repellent is having dogs in your yard. > > > >_______________________________________________ >RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: >[email protected] >http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins >free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org _______________________________________________ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
