Re: english ivy & deer

I don't have to throw my English ivy over the fence. The deer usually prune my ivy down to the ground during the winter months. I wish it was bad for them, but I try to make it untasty with various applications.

No, but unless they are very hungry, they won't. So, unless you want it there for a while, don't throw it over the fence.

Chris Owens

You should probably check with your neighbor before you toss it over the fence. He just might toss it back.

The message from Chris Owens contains these words:

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Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy; A kid'll eat ivy too Wouldn't you?

Deer relish eating ivy once they get a taste for it; it's nutritious. IIRC, goatkeepers feed ivy to ailing goats.

In our last garden I had a ruined railway goods van which was nicely covered in ivy, until the local deer tasted it and ate off every single ivy leaf below 5ft :-(. It was winter but no snow and plenty of good grass and other browsing herbage.

Janet.

No, but unless they are very hungry, they won't. So, unless you want it there for a while, don't throw it over the fence.

Chris Owens

Cow pasture behind us about 200 acres of nothing.