How can I keep deer from eating my tulips?

Question

We have a huge herd of deer that live in our wooded neighborhood and every spring I have to work hard to keep them from eating my tulips. I LOVE to have the deer visit but I dont want them to eat my plants. Anyone know of a safe home remedy I can use to prevent this? I have tried human hair and it does help but it is a pain to do because the hair blows away, etc..... any other ideas?

LOL........ you guys are funny. I DO hunt actually and love venison but unfortunantly there are A LOT of deer here and I am in city limits so I cant hunt or shoot a gun in city limits. PLus I kind of like the deer. Also I have tried buying deer feed. That just attracts more deer. Then they eat the feed AND the tulips.

Answer 1

Check this website out! It has a lot of good ideas. It's from the University of California, Davis's website

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74117.html is the deer page

general page is http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/

Answer 2

Google a product called "Deer Stakes". We have a similar problem but the deer stakes have an attractant that lures the deer into taking a sniff. When it does the deer stake delivers a high voltage shock that stings the deer. The deer will use a different game trail after that. I'm in a hurry right now but if you are more interested and can't get the info, email me and I'll get the info for you.

Answer 3

Hi Kelli,

I gave up. I tried mothballs, coyote urine, commercial deer repellent, motion sensor lights, motion sensor with sound of barking dogs, pepper, human hair sweepings from the barber - everything anyone recommended. Nothing made one iota of difference.

I finally gave up on my tulips and most other flowers. The deer eat everything but they do not like Marigolds so now I have lots of Marigolds.

Norm

Answer 4

Spray your Tulips with a bad odouring thing , that is the only way , there are other ways , like stop planting tulips or kill any near by deers , or maybe just to talk to the owner :)

Answer 5

spy the deer next time she/he comes and be alert to see the place where enters , right there in that spot , have a lot of weed , or same dry up tulips that u cut everyday , so that when the deer eat it , she/he wont feel like going further to eat your fresh planted tulips

Answer 6

Tear up old sheets or white shirts into small flags. Fence in the area with string and hang the flags on a string. The white flag waving in the wind will signal the white tail deer of danger, thats how they communicate with each other.

Answer 7

Plant daffodils around the tulips. Daffodils are not tolerated by animals so if you put your tulip bulb in the middle and plant daffodils around it they will generally leave it alone.

Although, that being said......by experience, deer herds are different and what one herd won't touch, will be 'deer candy' for another herd.

I have used this natural repellent with good success, but you must be diligent and make sure you spray the NEW growth, as the plant grows. The smell is HORRIBLE for two days, then goes away.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.biconet.com/critter/GIFs/Plantskydd.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.biconet.com/critter/plantskydd.html&h=609&w=1250&sz=314&hl=en&start=7&tbnid=--QdBEV2Gma68M:&tbnh=73&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dplantskydd%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DX

Answer 8

Put out feed like outs and corn for the deer as an alternative.

Answer 9

Try using Zest soap. I have heard that this will deter deers from an area. Worth a try.

Answer 10

Eat them first. Tell the game warden you were making a PREemtive strike.lol