Yes, I know this is my second post on deer repellent today. I can’t help it. They nibbled the buds off my David Austin roses. I’m really angry. And it isn’t a good idea to make me mad.
So I’m mixing up a witch’s brew that will keep them away for weeks, if not the whole summer. This stuff is going to be brutal. It serves them right. It isn’t like they don’t have a whole forest of honeysuckle bushes to keep them fat and sassy.
I’m going to make a confession here. I don’t use an exact formula. I use whatever I have hanging around the house that I know deer (and rabbits) hate.
To wit:
Hot sauce
Garlic (and/or anything else in the onion family)
Liquid dish detergent
Sour milk
Eggs, preferable rotten
Tonight’s Formula:
I have a quart of milk that’s been in my fridge since Christmas. I’ve been saving it for an emergency like this.
I bought two bottles of hot sauce because I knew this day was coming.
I have a jar of minced garlic and a half dozen eggs. Unfortunately they’re not rotten.
I’m mixing up the whole batch and for good measure, adding dish detergent and the remnants of a bottle of commercial deer repellent.
Then I’m going to let the whole mess fester until tomorrow morning when I administer my potion to my yard and the rest of the neighborhood.
Happy Earth Day, Deer! This is what you get for eating my David Austin roses. I hope you enjoyed them. It’s going to be honeysuckle bushes for you for the rest of the summer.
Related articles
- Oh My Deer! (romancingthebee.com)
- Deer Repellent That Works (yardlovertimes.com)
Ha, loving your deer-repelling formulas (and writing style); all my relatives on Vancouver Island battle deer and Elk also, throughout the gardening season and their many different methods of repelling (short of making venison) have always failed. Now I know why Costco is selling those enormous 2-packs of Tobasco sauce.
Thanks for liking my lame jokes! Here’s hoping that four month old milk does the trick!! 🙂
Go Deborah! I can just imagine you mixing up a stink… I’d be so upset if my roses were eaten!
The deed has been done!! And it is very stinky… 🙂
I come to you via Clover and Thyme. My eyes immediately dropped down to your post on deer as I share what I call a love/hate relationship with them. We have a resident herd. It is not unusual to have sixteen doe in the yard at once time. When the bucks are in heat, well, I won’t go there. I love to watch them and the fawns are so cute, but . . . they play havoc with everything but the daffodils and ferns. Good luck with your concoction. The only thing we have had any luck with is commercial deer repellent, such as Liquid Fence. Vile, vile stuff, but it works, for awhile.
I love you blog and will return.
Liquid Fence is pretty good. That’s what I use in my Witch’s Brew. 🙂
I’m glad you like the blog!!
Oh wow! My turn to share your pain Deborah – at least the worst pests to attack my David Austin roses are greenfly. I take my hat off to your imaginative deer repellent and hope it has the desired effect.
Thanks!
Yes, I was devastated! They were just about to bloom… 😦
Reblogged this on Romancing the Bee and commented:
911 !!
You might have noticed on my last post a photo of a bunny and a robin. Bunnio has adopted us, and we look somewhat benignly on it. Except when it gets in among my lettuce. I’m getting the hot sauce out of the cupboard right this second….
It’s really for Bunnio’s own good…. 🙂
I am wondering if this concoction is safe for bees as we are trying our hand at bee keeping this year.
It’s nothing but food and soap. No problem.