[CH] Re: deer repellent plants
Babs Woods (babs@jfwhome.funhouse.com)
Sat, 17 Jul 1999 13:52:49 -0400
Risa,
We have a garden which we fenced in a few years ago because, as we
discovered, our problem was a woodchuck (along with other smaller rodents).
When rabies swept through the area (I live near Jim McGrath), woodchucks
and the like were hit hard and our woodchuck was among them. This and
the warmer winters has meant a wildlife population shift and now our worst
problem seems to be Bambi this year. Last year seems to have been Bear
Year here, as there were warnings to local people not to feed the birds,
lest we attract the bear that had been spotted in the surrounding towns.
The birds were not happy about this. In looking up how to defend the
garden against deer, we reviewed fence height issues. Apparently, deer
can leap our 3ft and 4ft fencing, I've watched one do it, and it looks like
we need at least a 6ft tall fence to keep them out. Check gardening books
and see what they tell you, this is from one of ours, which points out that
"there is no worse offender than Bambi".
We are experimenting with repellents. We have one organic one whose
name I can't recall that's supposed to be good at repelling squirrels as
well as deer and includes a very bitter substance and some capsaicins. (I
went and checked: Outdoor Bitter Magic.) I laid out some bird seed to
attract the chipmunks who are driving me mad near one of my windows and
sprayed this stuff on it. I don't know what they think of it, but the
squirrel I watched eating every last seed absolutely loved it. [Sigh.] I
now know it doesn't repel squirrels. I'm considering a howitzer.
-babs
--
"Excuse me while I dance a little jig of despair."