Custom Search

Monday 6 October 2008

Deer Proofing Your Roses. Deer damage and how to stop it.

Roses Deer love eating them, Deer damage to roses and how to stop it.
There is nothing more annoying than waking up on a lovely morning to find someone's been nibbling and stripping the leaves of your Gertrude Jekyll's or munching new shoots on your Icebergs. Roses are a favourite of deer, so more than likely and certainly, in village gardens in the UK the culprit will almost certainly be them.
Roses Deer love eating them, Deer damage to roses and how to stop it.
. To deer it seems, roses are the chocolate of their diet and they have become increasingly brazen in their attempts to attain their favourite snack and will eat your roses down to the bare skeletal framework of branches
Roses Deer love eating them, Deer damage to roses and how to stop it.
Here in North Hampshire there are three types of deer Roe, Fallow, and the little Muntjac all of which are found in abounding numbers and will usually pay you a visit under cover of darkness.
Roses Deer love eating them, Deer damage to roses and how to stop it-life between the flowers Britains best gardening websites.
I have heard of gardeners trying all sorts of extensive measures to keep the deer out. High fencing is an effective option. However, deer are cunning and they will soon realize if there is a hole or a gate left open. Electric fencing is another remedy but it is not always practical. There are also numerous liquid repellants on the market which need to be regularly reapplied and in my humble opinion are not that effective.
Roses Deer love eating them, Deer damage to roses and how to stop it.-life between the flowers English Garden blog
So let me tell you what works for me. To start with I use my CD on a stick trick. Simply attach an unwanted CD to a piece of string and hang it from a stick (see photo ) then place the stick on the border or by the roses you want to protect, making sure the CD can swing and turn freely. This certainly does the trick in the short term, a few weeks or so, and should work from day one and costs virtually nothing. It doesn't matter what is on the CD, you won't see the deer doing air guitar or an exercise workout, but it seems the rainbow shimmering reflection is what they don't like. The drawbacks are that they will get used to them after a while and they look a little bit unsightly.
Roses, How to stop Deer eating them-life between the flowers-UK's best gardening websites
They will get used to the CD trick as I say after a while so the other more permanent fixture that I've found to be the most effective of all the remedies on the market is the Jet Spray Repeller of which there are several different makes available. I use them all the time. It works by emitting an infrared beam just like a halogen lamp which when broken sprays a short burst of water from an attached hosepipe.
Roses Deer love eating them, Deer damage to roses and how to stop it-life between the flowers-Best British gardening websites.How can I stop deer eating roses-life between the flowers garden advice website


Most people have a hosepipe and an outside tap these days and it's simple to connect it up. Placed near the roses you want to protect, deer soon find out that it's not much fun being around this gadget when they get squirted and stop visiting your plants.





I have included some of the Jet spray repellers that are available from Amazon below                           












General discussion and your views are welcome please say hello. I regret however because of my busy schedule, I am unable to answer any questions.  Thanks for visiting my blog today.

Life between the flowers Garden Choices

8 comments:

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

I once had to escort a large goat out of a rose garden.

It had eaten every single bloom.

If we had been in a better mood about it, we might have been amused by the way the stems were sticking out like spikes from the bushes - with no flowers on the end of them.

As I towed it home (it lived at a pub down the road) it kept craning its neck round, trying to add the buttons of my jacket to its breakfast.

Lucy Corrander
LOOSE AND LEAFY

P.S. I came across you through Blotanical.

simon davis said...

Hi Lucy,thankyou so much for your story it made me smile, I hope your jackets intact. Loved your blog, glad we found each other via Blotanical such a great site isn't it.

Anonymous said...

I've never heard of the CD trick, but the water sprayer, chemical deer repellant, and even coyote urine are all frequently attempted here in the States. I've recently moved into a new home in a suburban neighborhood where deer visit nightly. I just can't muster the enthusiasm to fight the good fight, so I'm keeping my roses and other deer candy in the back yard and planning a garden of salvias and ornamental grasses for the front.

simon davis said...

Thanks for your comment Pam. Sounds like a sensible idea, salvias and grasses sound great!!

Best wishes, Simon.

Unknown said...

Do you happen to know whether Deer will avoid Lime Trees? I have noticed that they have damaged all my young trees with the exception of the Limes.

simon davis said...

Well certainly they seem to avoid the large mature trees, but I think they will attack all young saplings. That's a very interesting comment and thank you for it, I will post further if any more information comes to light. Regards Simon.

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

3rd December

There's a conversation going on at the blog 'Clay and Limestone' about how to keep deer out.

I've left a comment mentioning this post on your blog.

Hope that's ok.

This is the link

http://clayandlimestone.blogspot.com/2008/11/cease-and-desist.html

Lucy
LOOSE AND LEAFY

simon davis said...

Thanks Lucy, I'm going to pop on over to clay and limestone for a look. Best wishes, Simon