11 Jul 2010

When all else fails install an electric fence. The deer ate my wifes flowers...planted the day before. Her garden looks like a war ravaged battlefield...just the stalks of the plants but not much else.

A transformation has occurred. In Elizabeth's mind it appears that the deer are now destructive creatures who must be dealt with and happen to be a good source of food rather than pretty big eyed harmless cute living yard ornaments. Fights on! Electric fence installed, scarecrow dismantled and I'm getting ready for the hunting season this fall!

I installed a DC electric fence run off of a deep cycle 12 volt battery kept charged by a 5 watt solar panel. I used the American Fence and Supply Company online guide which provides detailed instructions for electric fence installation. Once all the components are purchased an electric fence can be installed in a couple of hours or faster depending on the posts a person decides to use. Added benefits of electric fences are that they are relatively safe, portable and much much less expensive than barrier fences. The total cost of my fence was:

• Battery $79
• Fence Wire - $17 (quarter mile of 16 gauge steel wire)
• Lightening diverter - $3
• Ground rod - $10
• Various insulators - $15
• Fence energizer (fencer)- $99
• Solar panel - free ( I already had one)
• 10 step in plastic posts - $25
• Big plastic storage bin to protect battery and controller - free

Between the local drought we are having and the deer my vegetable and fruit production has been ruined for this year. But now after a few days, the plants are starting to leaf out and there may be hope yet for a fall harvest...or even the luxury of having to worry about bugs eating plants rather than no plants for the bugs to eat.

13 Jun 2010

Another Deer Control Tip: A couple of days ago I went to a barber to get a haircut. I knew the barber gardened so I started a conversation about gardening...one thing led to another and we started talking about how to keep deer out of the garden. The barber uses human hair. He places the hair on the deer trails where the deer com from the forest into his yard. He also spreads hair all around the perimiter of his garden. What is the result? (for me this worked ok for about two weeks...but the desire for plants and water helped the deer overcome their fear of human scent).

Well Charlie says that he has seen where deer have come right up to the perimeter and stopped. He says damage to his garden is minimal.

Tomato Worms: One nice thing about growing tomatoes at breast height in an aquaponics system is that the tomato worms are easier to see. Another nice thing is that my bream really enjoy eating tomato horn worms!

*************

Last night a deer came within 25 feet of my bedroom window to eat acorns and nibble on my wife's roses?

Last year I was concerned about Japanese beetles...this year they won't have much to eat! The deer pulled up my beets, ate my corn down to the ground, left brussel "stalks", eggplants and ate my wife's roses again. Those darned deer even ate my four-o'clocks which are supposed to be poisonous.

Last year I was around most of the time but now that I work full timeI need to come up with some creative ways to keep the deer at bay.

Animals are deterred from entering your garden by scent, sight and sound in addition to physical or pain barriers. Physical barriers are fences and pain barriers are electric fences. Electric fences are not an option for my close in garden so I have to use a fence, scent , sight or sound.

Since conventional fences cost money I am using a scarecrow. The scarecrow wears my old dirty shirts, shorts and hats...that checks the scent box. The scarecrow also has the sillohete of a human meeting the sight requirement. I'll hang some old CDs from the bottom of the scarecrow and that should help with sound and add movement which will be seen by the deer.

By the way, the scarecrow was so effective that it kept scaring my wife everytime she looked out of the kitchen window. She even made me turn the scarecrow so "he" wasn't looking at the house.

Here is what else I am doing:

list of deer deterents I want to try up close to the house along with "fred" our scarecrow.

• grating Ivory soap or Irish Spring
• human urine/hair
• one egg to one quart of water sprayed on plants
• chives

Here at Redbay Farm, I have two garden areas. One is close to my house and the other is my backyard food production complex (BFPC) which is in the back of my lot close to my forest. Interestingly, the deer haven't messed with the BFPC. I guess it may have something to do with the noise of the air pump in my greenhouse which runs 24/7 and the fact that I spend a lot of time at the BFPC.

In the future I will be putting up an electric fence around my 2500 square foot BFPC but the electric fence has been ruled out by the lady of the house from being around the gardens near our house. The electric fence will be energized using a 12 volt battery kept charged with a solar panel.