Deer

Jeff - I'll keep the fabric in mind, too. Thanks for posting that!
 
Chris - I suspect we're getting close to having another kill-off announced in the national forest that's not terribly far from here, since the population is getting so heavy again. When that happens, I'll be sure to let you know!
 
neoguy said:
 
I have not used it personally, I don't have a deer problem where I am, yet. But, I've heard good things about the stuff.
 
I picked some up yesterday. When it looks like the rain will stop for at least a day I'll spray it and let you guys know how it works. 
 
And yes, I am exactly where you thought. The houses here are smashed together almost as tight as sardines in a can. However, there are green spaces in the surrounding communities and a few small ones here, so we do get deer a bit, especially when the populations are high. It still surprises me, though, when I see them here on my block. I heard that another suburb in this area approved bowhunting just this past week. Kind of wish ours would, too, but I don't honestly know how that would work out, given how closely everything is here. I can see it now: Geeme waits patiently in her driveway, downwind and partially shielded by the raised back of her outdoor lounge chair. Her bow is at the ready, but she is still and alert. Suddenly, she hears the rustle of leaves as a deer begins snacking on one of her plants. Swiftly she releases the string, and an arrow plants deeply into….. the side of her neighbor's house as the deer managed to move out of the path of the arrow in the nick of time. The *THWAP" of the arrow has at least scared the deer off for the time being…… Now Gee just has to figure out how to explain the hole left in her neighbor's siding….  :lol:
 
Alternate ending... Perfect shot, right behind the front shoulder! The deer spins around, stumbles to the ground, but then gets back up and takes off full speed bounding over several neighbors fences until the deer finally makes it to the safety of the woods.
 
Gee sighs."It's going to be a long track on the blood trail. I hope none of the neighbors call out the SWAT Team when they see this camo-ed out warrior treaking through their backyards. I hope I find it before the coyotes do."
 
mecdave said:
Alternate ending... Perfect shot, right behind the front shoulder! The deer spins around, stumbles to the ground, but then gets back up and takes off full speed bounding over several neighbors fences until the deer finally makes it to the safety of the woods.
 
Gee sighs."It's going to be a long track on the blood trail. I hope none of the neighbors call out the SWAT Team when they see this camo-ed out warrior treaking through their backyards. I hope I find it before the coyotes do."
   The Eagle Has Landed...Problem solved. :dance:
 
Please let us know how the Plant Skid works, I have plenty of friends living in Brecksville and Parma who would love to know.
 
Ah yes…. Brecksville and Parma have a much heavier population even than we do here. I'll definitely let you guys know what the results are.
 
The bottle says it treats about 100 plants, and I have about 40. I am semi-tempted not to offer the rest of it to my neighbor who put up the motion-sensor-activated light, just to see if they keep going after their garden and avoid mine. Semi-tempted, but no, I'll be nice. The other good thing is you only have to treat the perimeter, not every single plant, so I can arrange the pots so that the herbs are in the middle and not spray them at all. 
 
A combo of rain and just not thinking of it when it hasn't rained has stopped me from spraying Plantskydd before now. However, a couple more plants got "topped" last night and since we have a brief respite from the rain (we're supposed to have more tomorrow…) I went ahead and sprayed some tonight. Note I said "some". The stuff reeks badly; it is bloodmeal, after all. Plus it's not rain-proof until it's been dry for 24 hours. You're supposed to spray it on plants when they're dry, and mine are definitely not dry at this time. I have wood dowel rods in each pot so I sprayed the dowel rods rather than the plants. They're a tad taller (sometimes quite a bit) than the tops of the plants, so at least they're roughly at deer nose height. (You are supposed to spray it high for deer and other large animals, and low for rabbits and such.) 
 
I am seriously hoping that just spraying the dowel rods is sufficient. The stuff really reeks (did I say that already?  ;) ) It's supposed to be safe in veggie gardens, but I wouldn't put it directly onto anything that I plan to actually ingest. I'd put it on the chile plant leaves, but avoid any developing pods. I wouldn't spray leaf veggies, such as lettuce or spinach, either. It is supposed to be healthy for the plants, acting as a foliar feeder. However, it's also supposed to remain on dormant plants for up to 6 months. The bottle doesn't say anything about the duration on non-dormant plants. Still, I will avoid the things I've already stated. Being made with bloodmeal, it's got a "lovely" reddish-brown color that, yep, looks a lot like drying blood. It's supposed to become clear after a few days, though. I am seriously hoping the smell is not nearly as strong in a couple days, too. Ugh. Did I mention the stuff really reeks??? LOL
 
I'll let you guys know how things work out. One more thing…. wear gloves when opening the bottle and when spraying, and rinse both the sprayer and the gloves thoroughly when done, or at least bag the gloves and trash them, if disposable. You'll want to bag the seal that comes on the bottle, too. That little, nickel-sized seal really reeks, too, since it's got the liquid on it. When I say "bag it", I mean like in a ziploc. 
 
Did I mention this stuff really reeks???? 
 
Yeah but does it reek? :doh:  :D
 
T-posts and deer netting. You don't even need many posts since the netting is so light.
 
So yeah….. the tomatoe plants were seriously grazed when I found them this morning, down to at least half of what they were for three of them, down to about 1/4 of what they were for the fourth. The Congo Trinidads, however, remained unscathed. I haven't yet put deer netting on them, but will, just in case the Plant Skydd isn't enough. I'll also respray that reeking stuff this evening, just to give them an extra nosh of it. 
 
The only thing is that I don't really care about the tomatoe plants - my son accidentally grabbed a variety I did not want, and when we went back with the intent to exchange, they were out of the variety I did want. So I've been pretty uncaring about the tomatoes - the rodents with hooves can chow down on them all they want. They'd just best to $!&^$ not touch my chile plants!
 
Deer!!!! Why can't I ever have that problem. I would trade any aphids, mites, thrips, squirrels or rabbits for just a couple of deer. Big bucks welcome.   :D
 
Ha! Like I said - when they FINALLY decide it's time to reduce the population in a more "meaningful" way, I'll be sure to post it here - COME ON OVER!!!! 
 
Seriously, I've been here since mid-1997 and I have never had a rodent-with-hooves problem before. The houses are so close together it's hard to believe they'd even bother. But, alas! Poor Yorik! I knew him…. Wait.
 
 
 
Wrong story. Must be bedtime for Gee.  :P
 
(Did I mention this PlantSkydd stuff reeks???? Good thing is it does settle down after a couple days.)
 
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