Garden

[mousiegirl]

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@Twins Mom wrote:
I went out this morning to discover my lovely large-leafed begonias eaten to stub, my sweet potato vine gone, geranium on front porch missing blooms.... isn’t my porch somewhat off limits? I am fighting a losing battle with the deer. The tips on all my roses have been nibbled. Disheartening. I enjoy flowers but might just have to give up.

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@Twins Mom   Bunnies eat the tips of roses, I find deer eat all of the leaves and half of each rose planted.

Rats also prune plants.

[Icegoddess]

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@GAQShopr53 wrote:

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@Icegoddess wrote:

I don't have a deer problem, but I'm in a Hosta group on Facebook and someone today posted a pic of a couple of deer that she had scared off.  When someone mentioned they would be back, she said she had put milorganite down.  So, something else to add to your list of things to try.  

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@Icegoddess  I am curious as to what the milorganite will do...is it the smell of the fertilizer that the deer don't like? I had some fish fertilizer and forgot the bag outside one night. The next day something had eaten a hole in the bag...probably thinking it (the smell) was something to eat. 

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@GAQShopr53, I couldn't say.  I was just relaying what someone who dealt with deer used to deter them.  And I have seen it mentioned before in that group.  Apparently, deer have quite a taste for hosta.  My problem is with chipmunks, but they don't eat them, just dig up freshly planted plants and plants in pots and dig holes under more established ones.  

[JustJazzmom]

Bunnies also nibble Asiatic lilies & leave the stems! They nibble Hakone grass, nibble tricyrtis & just the smaller rose leaves they can reach. I noticed last year before I put up rabbit fencing that any roses with blackspot they left alone. 

Rabbits will eat red leaf lettuce & ignore the romaine, eat pepper plants (just the leaves) & not eat the peppers. They will ignore tomatoes.

[GAQShopr53]

Thank you @Icegoddess ...I love Hosta's but stick with the mini versions in pots. I wanted to plant in the ground but after reading some of the horror stories about the deer I may just skip!

[ValuSkr]

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@Twins Mom wrote:
Regarding malorganite, it does deter deer in our area. They were eating all black eyed Susans and we got to see a few flowers after applying.
Deer eat our daylilies- just flowers not greenery.

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I'm actually happy to hear that deer eat black-eyed susans.  They have taken over my neighbor's gardens behind his condo.  He formerly tended to them occasionally, but has given up in recent years.  The susans re-seed prolifically, so I'm always on the look-out in my own gardens.

[kitty60]

Not really sure what the milorganite does but my friend who is a master gardener suggested I use to deter them from eating my day lillies.  They were always planted in front of my house.  Since it didn't seem to stop them this year I planted several day lillies inside my fenced in back yard only to find the buds nipped off just like in the front.  I now see from some other posts it is probably rabbits!  Obviously I've been blaming the deer when it might be the rabbits.  

[mousiegirl]

@Twins Mom   One year a side gate was broken,. didn't know this at the time.  I awoke one morning to find the same as you, and a huge sunflower head gone.  I couldn't figure out what could reach that high, as bunnies and rodents can't.  We finally discovered the gate, the deer had gotten in and had a feast, brought cousins and offspring, loved seeing them after I got over the shock that they were in my gardens, even a nursing mom, but after seeing the damage, I got over it and tied the gate with rope.

Rodents ate down to a nub, a giant geranium, so I put a wire cage over it and it is now growing again, and this was a replacement for the other one that was eaten to death.

A few years ago, I had to leave the electric gate open for a delivery, and two years in a row the deer ate all of my roses, hydrangeas, and shrubs, heavy pruning I call it, so now that gate stays closed, and my plants are thriving now.

So, I wire cages over the tops of plants you want to save.

[Twins Mom]

@ Mousiegirl
It’s amazing the amount of destruction these critters can cause. I got a beautiful bouquet of roses and picked them quickly. None since then as deer discovered....buds, branches, they eat it all. Then blackspot hit and they are a mess. So tempted to get rid of my roses. Maybe wire around them would help but trying to pick off bad leaves, etc with wire would be a huge chore. I just enjoy that bit of color in the summer.

[mousiegirl]

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@Twins Mom wrote:
@ Mousiegirl
It’s amazing the amount of destruction these critters can cause. I got a beautiful bouquet of roses and picked them quickly. None since then as deer discovered....buds, branches, they eat it all. Then blackspot hit and they are a mess. So tempted to get rid of my roses. Maybe wire around them would help but trying to pick off bad leaves, etc with wire would be a huge chore. I just enjoy that bit of color in the summer.

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@Twins Mom   Yes, it is shocking the damage, but the roses etc, do grow back, but it takes time.  Every time a rose rips my skin and causes bleeding, I ask myself why I bought so many, the answer, of course, is because they are so beautiful.

I know most critters do not like lavender or salvia, also society garlic which I had planted around roses, green leaves and either white or lavender flowers, and reseeds, but not rampantly.  

Maybe you can try a deer repellent as someone suggested.