At 7AM the other morning, I heard Sam (my four year old) racing through the house and up the stairs shouting – “Mom, Mom, there’s a baby deer in the backyard.” Still lazing about in bed, I sat up and walked downstairs to feign excitement at looking at those creatures that eat my garden. Two mothers, and two fawns were in the back, and the fawns were nursing. Well, yes, they are cute, I thought to myself, particularly since they were standing in the middle of the backyard, and not near any of my gardens.
This summer I decided to try a homemade deer repellent – one that I had cut out of the paper a while back. It’s satisfying to mix up a big batch, and know that it is not costing me a fortune. And I think it works. My cone flowers (supposedly deer resistant) all got chewed up one night – but I think it was due to a lot of ongoing rain and my lack of consistent spraying. I have hydrangea blooms (a deer favorite) for the first time in years. So in case you’re in the same boat, and looking for something new and cost effective to fight the deer and rodents, try this:
1.5 gallons of water
2/3 cup to 3/4 cup of Tabasco or hot pepper sauce
1 T of corn oil
2 T of Dawn dish detergent
1 heaping T of dry mustard
Mix ingredients together and spray the tops, undersides and stems of plants once a month, more if it rains heavily. Hope it works!
7-15-2009 11:10:07
Anne, do you know if this mixture would also work for dogs or cats? We have some dogs that freely roam around our neighborhood and a cat who thinks it lives on our property. After getting scratched on the leg this week by a stray neighborhood dog, I’d be happy to get an inexpensive recipe for repelling uncontrolled dogs. (Since the dog broke some skin, I had to report it to our animal control officer.)
7-16-2009 21:05:01
Cindy:
It would be at least an interesting experiment to spray it around the perimeter of your property – it is fairly strong smelling (tabasco), so it may turn roaming animals away.
I would say it’s worth a try! That’s an annoying issue to deal with.
Anne