how to discourage deer?

Help!! Deer ate my Rowan tree! amongst other stuff... how can I stop them nibbling everything short of putting up a 6ft fence, which I cant afford, cos my garden is big.

 

Oh dear Elf! (No pun intended). They are a problem. aren't they. I've just come back from a garden I look after neaby and have had to cut down a fairly large Hebe today that had been killed by having all the bark nibbled off the stems. It could have been rabbits, but I know that the deer are getting bolder and bolder.

Antoher garden I maintain, definitely has a deer problem as they have stripped the pear and apples trees of fruit overnight for the last couple of years. We're going to put up an electric fence this year and see if that deters them.

I'm afraid there's not much else you can do apart from put individual tree guards round each tree, and they have to be high as the deer can reach up a long way.

Chris

 

Sorry Elf - short reply as I've answered this so many times.
You can't discourage deer. The only answer is to fence them out.
I had to fence them out of an acre of ground after trying everything else.
The only good news is that the fence doesn't have to be heavy duty - they don't push against fences the way bullocks do.
6 foot posts with chicken wire strung between them will do the job. Make sure the chicken wire goes right to the ground and is pegged down as the blighters stick their heads under it and lift it up.
Tie something visible to the wire at regular intervals as the blighters appear to be blind and stick their heads through the wire.
Sorry, I'm sure that's not what you wanted to hear but after having the bandits marauding in my garden for years and trying every method it was the only thing that worked.

 

Alice has probably come up with a definitive answer as she seems to have stopped the problem.
I thought that a low voltage electric fence might be a solution. You don't need heavy posts or lots of wire, but deer may be smart enough to jump it.
Here's a link to the British Deer Society, the page gives some ideas as to what works and what doesn't. Not much seems to work apart from physical barriers!
http://www.bds.org.uk/deer_deterrents.html

 

o deer o deer, ok thanks guys, well, I will have to fence at least my veg/fruit garden I suppose, and put guards on trees...

 

We are in the same predicament as you elf. :( We have a constant problem with deer, but interestingly they stopped approx 1 month ago.
It is probably just coincidence, but 1 month ago we started applying 6X fertiliser to everything. I'm hoping that they have all just been culled, but if they haven't, then perhaps 6X is the answer.

 

If only ! Eddie. Lion Dung didn't do it for me - so 6X - maybe not!
But 6X does have good uses - good general fertilizer and soil conditioner.
For clay soil - if you can afford it - whack it on there.

 

I'm tryning to gardfen organically in the main, 6X doesn't sound that.. I have a very good liquid bio-fertiliser which I've been using successfully, along with my own compost.

 

I can confirm that it doesn't deter them!!

They, or it were back a couple of nights ago and oddly nipped the tops from one potato plant, then did the usual wrecking of the tulips and roses. What has really annoyed me this time, is that I had a wonderful clematis that I cherish, and the flowers and shoots have been eaten.

It looks as though I am reluctantly going to have to fence the garden. :(