Garden experiment

A

Anne

Senior Member
The last two years, deer ate the tops of the pepper plants and some little peppers - we had a game cam, so caught them in the act. So; this year, after seeing some tops of plants eaten, decided to try something different. I took an old videotape apart, and strung the tape around the 4 garden posts; snug, but not tight. It is in motion almost constantly, even when you think there is no breeze whatsoever, flashes in the sunlight, and if you stand near it, there is a thrumming sound....hoping that will scare away deer that come at night. If the sound doesn't scare them, then maybe running into it will...

So far, so good. Haven't seen any damage, and now I think I'll string more tape around the bottom of the posts...hoping to deter the rabbits that are eating the carrot tops. Sure hope it works...the tape was to be thrown anyway, and I've got more where that came from.

I've heard fish line works, too. Has anyone tried somethiing like this, and did it work???
 

Have read they will get used to the motion and noise and once they determine all is safe . . . let the feasting begin again. Might also depend on what's on the video...
 

Anne..I had a problem last year with deer eating the tops of my heirloom celosia plants and some mimosa trees as they were starting to flower. I tied white plastic grocery sacks near everything they were munching on, and it stopped immediately. The rustling and flapping in the breeze is what keeps them away. They don't like the smell of strong soap either, so for good measure, I took some bars of Irish Spring and cut them in thirds and put each piece in a nylon sock (the ones that look like stockings) and tied them near the plants. Between the sacks and soap..no more problems. I think the sacks alone would have done the job though.
 
Thanks everyone, for the replies...I've heard too, that the deer will ignore the wire, etc., once they get used to it, so we will see. I did hear of Irish Spring, but not the grocery bags, so those are things I'll keep in mind if this doesn't work for long.
We did make pepper spray that should keep the rabbits from the carrots, but then tonight it rained; so much for that...:) Can't complain, we needed the rain, tho!!!
 
A good pepper spray is to take hot peppers, like very hot jalapenos or habaneros and process them into a paste, add them into a gallon of water and let it sit for several days. Adding a squirt of liquid dishwashing soap will help it stick to whatever you spray it on.
 
Update: So far, so good with the videotape around the garden; however, other than cucumbers, nothing much is going on out there..... It's rained for days, and we went out today when it let up, and found those delightful hornworms chomping the tomatoes. :mad: Of the three tomatoes that were starting to ripen, the stinkbugs had already been busy with them, so they had to be thrown. Don't know if it's the weather or what, but no one in the area seems to have much luck with tomatoes this year.

We did have quite a few green beans, and I'm planting a new crop this week; also the carrot tops have regrown nicely, so they should be ok. Well, Summer's not over yet, so hopefully we'll still get something out of the effort. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top