Temporary fencing for protection against deer....

Well, the s.o. and I walked the grounds today.... everything looks fairly good, except something destroyed half the tulip bed yesterday night.

She decided my next project is to build a deer protection fence to protect a line of shrubs from the critters.

About 20 - 25 feet long, 4 feet wide 4 feet high type of cage (rectangle) Needs to be about 6" off the ground to allow space for cutting small areas of grass, clippers or string trimmer... doesn't matter which. Temporary- will only be there for 2 - 3 years to allow plants to establish themselves. Discreet - something the neighbors will not notice ( ha - if THATS possible). Inexpensive -

A fence which is not a fence to protect a line of shrubs from persistent deer. The homeowners association goes into a frenzied panic with even a garden plot... they'll go totally beserk with any type of permanent structure.

I'm thinking those green posts with chicken wire. Perhaps even the green plastic fencing with the more solid mesh.

Any other fencing material that might be considered. Its gotta be a physical barrier... all the other stuff has been tried.

Thanks !!

Peter

Reply to
Peter
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plastic fencing

barrier...

I protect young plants, then remove the protection after a few years. Most of the plantings are destroyed, but the ones that remain are fairly deer resistant. At one time I had 16 azaleas, now only three are left. I am about to remove chicken wire that protects established winter jasmine as it is growing out of its cage. If it gets eaten so be it. I'll replace it with rue.

Reply to
Phisherman

You will not keep out deer with a four foot high fence, or a six foot high fence and if they are really hungry or determined an eight foot won't work very well either unless they are crippled or three legged deer. Two 4 ft fences will work however IF you put them in 4 feet apart. Sort of a double fence, one inside the other running parallel. I used the double fence when living in Montana and never had deer get into my vegetable garden. They can't make the double bounce to get into the fenced area. They can jump high or wide but won't do both. Deer are also notorious for going under fences. I don't know where you live but that 6 inch gap at the bottom would allow some deer without antlers to belly under as well. Better make it 4 inches. Only leaving a fence up till things are established probably won't work. Deer will eat established plants just as well as the young plants and it won't take them long to figure out the fence is no longer there. I left the inside gate standing open one night and that's all it took for them to discover my error and hop the outside gate and into my garden and my gates were only 24 inches wide.

You might look into the motion activated sprinklers as a deer deterrent. I keep reading they work pretty well. Hanging soap, chemical and organic sprays or urine of any species don't really work all that well if at all. A neighbor actually order lion dung from a zoo. It turned out to be a reasonably good source of fertilizer and gave the town something to guffaw at for months.

Or you could fence your property and keep a couple of yapping, barking dogs to do sentry duty. The neighbors would LOVE that!

Val

Reply to
Val

A 4 foot fence won't work. You'll actually hear deer laughing at it at night. 6 feet didn't work for me, either, until I set up a cold frame, tomato cages and bean poles. I think all the structures made them nervous about not having a clear place to land. So far, it's worked for two years. I also placed chunks of Irish Spring bar soap in socks hung on the fence. A friend recommended it after having success with it around some young trees which the deer had previously mauled.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

By the way, keeping deer away from tulips is about as easy as keeping teenagers away from pizza. I gave up. They won't touch daffodils, though, based on my experience.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

wrote

Rabbits love tulips, especially the stems, I've watched them slurp down those hollow stems like they're pissghetti.

Reply to
brooklyn1

I have all the beds around my house protected from deer with 5' turkey wire. At first the galvanize is shiny so it's noticeable but after a few months it turns dull grey and blends right in to the landscape. From inside my house it's just low enough that I don't see it through my windows unless I get up close.

Here you can see how neatly the deer edge my blue rug juniper, one less chore for me:

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won't leap into an enclosed space, they ain't stupid, they know they need plenty of space to get up to speed before they can jump very high... deer are much better at leaping long distances than they are at reaching great heights... deer are built for covering distance quickly, not for leaping heights. Folks who claim they've seen deer leap over eight foot tall barriers are confusing deer with horses. My vegetable garden fence is six feet, no deer has been in there in six years I have that fence... they nibble whatever pokes out through the fence but they haven't gotten inside.

Reply to
brooklyn1

Two of them jumped into mine, and the top of the fence is exactly 6 feet high.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

How do you know there were only two... do you stand guard 24/7? And you didn't take pictures for court... you could've sued.

Reply to
brooklyn1

Reply to
Charlie

I pulled into the driveway at 2:00 AM and saw them inside the fence. They stood there and looked at me with that "Youse got a problem?" look they have around here. Then, they leapt back over the fence. These were some big mofo deer, too.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

You'd think that someone who likes to post pictures of their shiny expensive tractors and such, and brag up their well manicured "estate" would have a little pride when it comes to their house.

Or at least not post pictures. Remember how the "poster known as sheldon" posted pictures of this same white trash setup?

Sheesh, if the deer are eating away at your foundation plantings, you'd think that you'd do something different, eh?

Charlie

?The truest characters of ignorance are vanity, and pride and arrogance.? --- Samuel Butler

Reply to
Charlie

One consistent observation I see roadside in the wee hours when I go to work in this rural area, white-tailed deer may be standing immediately next to a standard 4' high barbed wire pasture fence. They simply jump over the fence without any forward movement prior to that. Fawns easily go under or though such fences.

Reply to
Dioclese

plastic fencing

barrier...

Thanks all, for the suggestions and recommendations....

Okay, I need to simplify just a little... as noted in the original posting the fence will be in the shape of a rectangle 25 foot long x 4 foot across. Shallow enough so that any bounding deer will probably bound right over it, unless they are skilled high divers.... or another deer holds them by the ankles and dips them into the enclosure...... 25 foot long as I'm enclosing a row of shrubs instead of caging them individually.

If it were me I wouldn't want anyone to hold me by the ankles and dip me, but heck maybe deer are different).

So 4 foot from one edge of fence to the other side..

Val presented a good point.... they can probably get under a 6" fence... it'll be lowered to 4" above ground... gotta have some space to get a trimmer in there.

This is for euonymous 'manhattan'. There is already another hedge about

8' tall growing elsewhere on the property... Browseline is only about 5 foot during winter. The bushes handle the stress fairly well and regrow every year. I'm hoping to duplicate the hedge in another area.

The fence is temporary, to protect younger plants until they get established. Thus a 4' height.... (it's a trade off for temporary purposes)

turkey wire or chicken wire sounds good. I'm hesitant to stand on a ladder driving 7' green posts into the ground using a sledge...... are there 3' green metal fence posts that extensions can be bolted onto ???

Thought about using lumber and stapling the wire mesh, but 2 x 2's are kinda expensive at Home Depot... is this what is commonly used in gardens or is there a "garden' variety lumber used for temporary fencing. ???

Hope this clarifies things a little....

Peter

Reply to
Peter

Use the metal stakes made for the purpose. Not cheap, but you'll probably find uses for them over the years. Use electrical wire ties to hold the mesh in place.

The deer will get over the 4' fence without even touching it. Not sure why you have an aversion to using 6' fence, which is more likely to work. Do you like wasting money?

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

The height of the fence is based upon local availability of material.

The stores I've checked so far seem to have 6' post... 24 inches in the ground and 48" above... with rolls of 48" chicken wire.. thus 48" high.

If you did a 6' fence... what length metal posts and how to drive them into the ground without swinging a sledge while standing on a ladder. (no pickup truck either).

I haven't seen any combo base post and extensions.... ie. 3' foot, drive 24" inches into the ground and then use a 5' extension for the top portion. 6' post with a 2' extension ?? Does something like this exist?? Using off the shelf materials rather than cutting and drilling.

72" height chicken wire??

Peter

Reply to
Peter

Where are you located?

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

Columbia, Maryland.... halfway between D.C. and Baltimore...

Reply to
Peter

Tractor Supply Co in Mt Airy lists 48" or 60" x 100' rolls of 2" x 4" wire, along with 6 1/2' posts.

I'm in the process of doing some of the same as you. I'm in Highland, MD and the deer are totally out of control on my street.

Steel & Wire Products in Baltimore has a much more extensive offering of fencing & posts than TSC offers. I ordered 7' posts and 5' wire from them. You need to be a reseller or large commercial account to buy from S & W

Good luck on your fencing.

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A post driver:

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