A friend e-mailed this note and I thought others would like to hear something that works.

“Before moving to Idaho, I lived in a subdivision in North Florida called “Deer Run,” which I often called “Deer Run Amok” after they had mowed through my plants.  One of the things you suggested in your blog worked well, for me, the hot pepper.  I bought an industrial size container of cayenne pepper and sprinkled it on the plants they liked best — roses, for example.  You do have to reapply it after rain, but it works with no ill effects.

I also got a lot of other notes with blogs & url’s to approve or reject. I approved three that I thought pertained and might work. When I reviewed their comments I noticed one showed the comment but ther was no way to view the website so in all fairness http://bigbuckhunter.net

Sandy

Deer seem to be one of the worst garden pests. They will eat tender shoots & girdle trees, they eat Hosta as if it was a salad eating all the leaves on some varieties and leaving others alone.

All remedies seem unreliable after a time or too costly to use on a regular basis or commercially. Some nurseries are allowed to shoot them.

Some remedies include:

Fencing: 7- 8 ft tall or 6’ solid (they won’t tend to jump the fence if they can’t see through it)
Deodorant soap: Leave in the wrapper and hang 4 ft above the ground 3 ft apart.
Hair: two handfuls of hair in a mesh bag 2-3 ft off the ground 3 ft apart (replace every 4 days)
Male urine: Marking the corners of a garden on a regular basis, works like a dog marking their territory, female urine doesn’t have the same effect.
Plastic bags: The movement of the bags in the wind can discourage them.
Garlic, hot sauce, egg sprays & commercially produced repellants: Solutions are made and sprayed on prized plants. They can leave unsightly & smelly results & need to be reapplied after it rains.

One solution I read said if you have a large enough area plant a row of corn for them far away from your gardens. But could that attract them year after year and wouldn’t you have to plant more as the population grows, now that you’ve been feeding them?

I think the first thing I would try is hot pepper flakes & plant garlic around the favored plants. You can buy garlic at the grocery store, take off one bulb make a hole (pencil will work) and stick it in the ground point up. I would put about 3 around the plant. I plant garlic around all roses to keep the aphids away, remember not to weed it out and harvest the garlic late winter early spring. I would also protect prized trees for the winter you can wrap burlap or chicken wire around the base.

Ok not good, so here are some links to deer tolerant plants. Remember if they are hungry enough they still could do damage.

http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/factsheets/deerdef/mohonk_list.pdf
http://monroe.extension.psu.edu/Horticulture/deer/index.html

Good luck and let me know how you make out.
Sandy