Deer eating our privet-tips to repair and control?
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Posts: 279
Hi all
I have a lovely but annoying deer problem that's new to me as my previous homes have had small gardens backing onto houses. Now I'm backing onto fields and woods. We removed the previous owners deer fence in the lower garden thinking it would be nice to have a deer visiting-silly us, 2 years on we put it back up (flowers/veg destroyed!) but I thought I'd be kind and let the deer roam/eat our new wildflower meadow at the end. Happy to share that as it's for nature after all. And we have a wooded area he can roam in too.
This was working well until this winter he decided to start to eat the new (2 years old) privet hedge I put in that borders the meadow on both sides. He's only eating one section of the hedge-very close to the wood-but it's lost about 80% of its leaves. The rest is evergreen and growing slowly so perhaps he's been nibbling it all for longer than I realised.
I don't want to lose or replace the hedge. I'd appreciate tips on 2 questions:
1. I've Spring-mulched the hedge and am hoping a foliar feed will help it regrow, would you agree/am I missing anything?
2. We have an electric fence to stop the neighbours horses eating the hedge the other side (they pulled it out when we first put it in), now we're considering adding an electric Fence strip this side too to keep the deer away whilst it recovers. Particularly as its a young hedge, it may cope when it's older! Has anyone tried this for deer?
One last point, if anyone's worried about the electric fence bit, can I reassure you its low voltage/animal grade and I've touched it myself to check, it's a small sharp shock and getting it once or twice is usually effective as a deterrent - the horse owners have their own too (sadly not by my hedge, their double fencing seems to only extend to their own convenience).
Thanks all in advance, I'm new to the forum but impressed so far.
Posts
If you google "deer repellents" you'll find all kinds of ideas - some from the US - about non-electric ways to stop them eating stuff. I don't think many of them work for long, so it looks to me as though you only have a few options available if you're determined to keep the privet.
It might be worth making a cage-type structure to cover the new part of the hedge, using small-ish gauge wire netting which the deer's nose couldn't get through. The leaves might then grow enough to establish a solid-looking hedge within the "cage",
You could try the kind of motion-activated cat repellent gadget which people say can also work to deter other animals, or - at virtually no cost whatsoever - you could ask a local hairdresser to let you have some human hair offcuts and hang this in a netting bag close to the privet.
Thanks for the tips. I'm at the hairdressers this weekend, I might give that a go!
I have horses and electric fences and a hornbeam hedge. The electric fence doesn't stop the deer, they jump it and eat the hornbeam hedge.
O no! Thanks Buzy-Lizzie
I'm interested in hearing about any deer-related garden problems for a documentary I'm researching - message me for further details and to speak further!
Hi Gardendoc, thanks for the PM, I've replied directly.
BL - as you already know - deer fencing is ten to twelve feet high for a good reason....
It's the only thing that keeps them out of areas of planting - whether it's a domestic garden or on hills and estates where owners are trying to establish new trees.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...