Deer Damage

Whitetail deer are becoming more common around home landscapes as their natural habitat continues to shrink in favor of housing plans and commercial developments.

To the chagrin of many homeowners, deer are quite comfortable wandering around their yards browsing on foundation plantings, flowers and vegetable plants. Other homeowners enjoy the presence of deer in their yards, encouraging them with salt blocks and cracked corn. Solutions to deer issues are difficult and varied.

DEER CULLING OR BIRTH CONTROL
Proponents of controlling deer populations have concerns about damage to garden plants, as well as the risks involved with hitting deer with their vehicles. Another argument is that overabundant deer populations can lead to winter starvation, due to a lack of food. Many municipalities now have deer culling programs.

DEER RUBS
Bucks mark their territory by rubbing tree trunks with their foreheads and antlers to apply a scent from glands in their foreheads, causing extensive damage to tree trunks. Video of deer damage and protective measures

CONCLUSIONS
Wherever one stands on the deer issue, gardeners these days must be VERY conscious of potential deer damage if they hope to have much success with their gardening activities.  There are basically three strategies:

1. EXCLUSION – Through the use of fencing or mesh, keeping the deer away from plants. Effective deer fencing needs to be 6 to 10 feet high, depending on the exact location. There are also some plastic meshes available to drape over top of desirable plantings. Some of the newer meshes and fences are difficult to see, adding to their desirability as a viable alternative.
2. DEER REPELLANTS – There are several commercial products and “home brews” that can be sprayed on plants to discourage deer browsing. The main disadvantage is that sprays need to be reapplied on a regular basis, and even more frequently during wet weather.
3. PLANT CHOICES – Deer have “food favorites” just like us. Lists are usually broken down into categories of desirability. However, it’s important to remember that deer will eat ANY PLANT during a severe winter when other browse is scarce.

The plants deer like and don’t like

HIGH BROWSE RISK (aka “Deer salad”)
Arborvitae, Daylilies, Euonymus, Hosta, Tulips, Yews

LOW BROWSE RISK:

> Trees – Ash, Beech, Birch, Colorado Blue Spruce, Dogwood, Elm, Gingko, Hawthorn, Honeylocust, Larch, Linden, London Plane, Magnolia, Maple, Oak, Redbud, Spruce, Sweetgum, Tulip Tree, Willow, Zelkova

> Shrubs – Barberry, Bayberry, Boxwood, Cotoneaster, Drooping Leucothoe, Forsythia, Hydrangea, Japanese plum yew, Junipers, Lilac, Mahonia, Mugho Pine, Pieris Japonica, Potentilla, Privet, Pyracantha, Russian Olive, Spirea, Viburnum, Weigela

> Other plants – Ageratum, Ajuga, Aster, Astilbe, Tuberous Begonia, Bleeding Heart, Purple Coneflower, Crocus, Daffodils, Dahlia, Blue Fescue, Foxglove, Gazania, Geranium, Iris, Lavender, Lamb’s Ear, Calla Lily, Miscanthus, Pachysandra, Peony, Creeping Phlox, Poppy, Rudbeckia, Salvia, Sedum, Snapdragons, Strawflower, Verbena, Veronica

NOTE: Rabbits and other wildlife will browse on some plants that deer leave alone.  When protecting a plant from rabbits in the winter, be sure to allow for their “added reach” due to snow depth acting as “elevator shoes” or “stilts” for the rabbits. Mice often chew the trunks of plants, another reason to hold mulches back from the trunks of plants.

MORE:

Tree FAQ – Answers to your tree questions

Tree fertilization – How and when to fertilize

Tree valuation – How much are trees worth?