adminCommercial products, scare tactics, homemade concoctions, retaining walls, and special plants: there are just a few of the many creative, and sometimes effective, ways that frustrated gardeners have tried in order to keep hungry deer away from their flowers and vegetables. With so many suggestions and options, this article will cover the deer repellents that really work.
Trial and error, personal experience, and scientific studies have all clearly demonstrated that the deer repellents that really work contain one key ingredient, and that is putrescent egg. The sulfur like smell of rotten egg will repel even the hungriest deer, quickly sending them looking for a new, fresher place for their next meal. The rotten egg in the repellent can be raw or egg solid. Some scientific studies have suggested that the repellents that use egg solid are more effective for repelling deer than the mixtures made with raw egg.
An added advantage to using an egg solid in a homemade deer repellent recipe is that it is less likely for a gardener, children, or pets, to come into contact with raw egg, which can contain salmonella. A small amount of vegetable or canola oil can be added to any deer repellent mixture with raw egg or egg solid, to help the repellent cling to the plant leaves. Once applied, a putrefied egg solid mixture will be the most effective way to deter deer from one’s garden. Deer will instinctively avoid any plant with the unpleasant odor, even long after it can’t be smelled by humans. The egg mixture should be applied to plants again after a rain or sprinkler system has washed it off, or, in the absence of water, once it had worn off.
For fast growing plants, it is a good idea to keep a close eye on new growth and apply the deer repellent to new leaves as they come out. The new grown is extra tasty to deer, and if hungry enough, a deer may be willing to pick around leaves with the deer repellent sprayed on them. As time passes, it will become less important to be vigilant, because the deer will quickly learn to avoid any areas that smell, or have smelled, like a rotten egg. It won’t take long for them to adapt to new feeding habits, and remember the habits for even years at a stretch. Repellent should be applied throughout the year on trees and other winter greenery. In fact, the winter months are the time of year that deer are the most likely to overcome their natural fear or humans to invade a garden near a residential area, because the wild forests and uninhabited places where they normally feed will have a scarcer food supply during the cold months.
Before seeking out drastic measures like stone walls or fences, or even poison or expensive solutions like hedge walls, homeowners should try that deer repellents that really work, and those are the least expensive, easiest to use–anything made with an egg or egg solid ingredient.
