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Soap to deter deer?

SueAtooSueAtoo Posts: 380
in Problem solving
A friend of mine had trouble with deer eating her small shrubs but heard somewhere about trying soap to deter them. She cut up some cheap soap into shreds, put some in pop socks and hung them in the shrubs. She says "no more deer". Odd but might be worth trying.
East Dorset, new (to me) rather neglected garden.

Posts

  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    Would this also work with badgers?
  • war garden 572war garden 572 Posts: 664
    depend on type of soap.
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    Badgers are more diggers than nibblers, I find. They will tear stuff out of the ground but they don't eat the plants much, they are exploring the soil.
  • SueAtooSueAtoo Posts: 380
    Soap was cheapest Tesco. Sounded crazy to me.
    East Dorset, new (to me) rather neglected garden.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited September 2022
    I've tried creosote, pre-ban, didn't work.

    Lion pee, couldn't find any.  Dog pee and my pee didn't work.  There's plenty of cat pee about, doen't stop them.

    Radio left on.  Battery  lasted 4 days.

    Human hair.  Definitely worked.  My neighbour's runner beans were decimated, mine 5m away were left.  But unsightly in a decorative contex.

    Beech hedge.  Quite dense but they push through.

    Fence, 2m high,  the best.  I have a "trial", now in its 10th year, cheap plastic netting and canes.  It works.  Only problem, I forget to close it off.   Oh yes, a 2nd problem, if they do get in they destroy the plastc fence in trying to get out.

    I'll try soap.  The old carbolic soap used to smell a bit like creosote.  Nothing like belt and braces.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
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