I have no problem admitting my gardening failures. Many of them are less of an issue of poor planning and more of an ignorance issue, so I figure the best thing to do is just go public, so to speak. That way, if you are a master gardener you can have a good laugh. If, however, you are also a struggling beginner like me, maybe you can learn something. “Let's learn together” should be my motto, because I am certainly learning as I go.
With my current challenge I don't feel that I am so much to blame. Not as much as the deer, anyway.
This spring/early summer a neighbor stopped by and gave me some sweet potato slips. They have been a little slow from the start. In fact, three of the six slips died early on. The other three are planted in various locations of a mulch pile as a sort-of experiment.
All three plants were surviving, one much better than the others, when I noticed a few days ago that the majority of the leaves had been eaten off the vine.
My first guess is that deer are the culprits. If there's one thing we have plenty of, it is deer. So, I set out today with my two beautiful helpers to try and remedy this issue.
Invisible Deer Fency Thingy
Okay, so this possibly isn't the best name for my project, but you'll get the idea.
Materials
5 T-Posts
1 T-post hammer
1 Roll of fishing line
Estimated Project Time: 10 minutes
(Less if you are working alone. Even less if you aren't taking pictures.)
We started by setting the posts as four corners to surround the area we want to be free of hungry deer. Then we added a fifth post because of the height of the mulch pile just to make sure we covered that side well. My daughters tried to set the posts but came up vertically challenged for this project.
Next, we strung the fishing line around the posts at different distances from the ground.
The idea is that the fishing line can't be seen by the deer. They walk up to it and feel it, and not knowing what or exactly where it is, they will go no further. I was originally skeptical of this method, however I used it on my early spring garden and it worked like a charm.
Wish me luck!!!
What about You? Do you have any tried and true deer repelling methods?
(A special thanks to @ryivhnn for the upgoat footer!)
I have never heard of that method. We had a problem with our goats getting into our orchard. We setup a hotwire and that still didn't discourage them. We ended up running three strands and that finally did it.
Those goats... Electric net fence works well for us.
I have notice my sweet potato leaves getting eaten also. However, I believe mine is from the ground squirrels or rabbits. Might wanna think rabbits. Haha
It could be. I've had something messing up the mulch in other places. Who knows? It's a never ending battle.
I just found my rudbeckia plants all munched to the ground. :(
Oh, that stinks!
Your post is just another great reason to be a Steemster :-)
I live in Panama now but came from Victoria British Columbia.
It's raining deer there and super hard to get to your produce before they do.
I'll pass this tip along to others living there.
Thanks so much. Now following for more :-)
I'm glad this post could be of value. I'd be interested to know how it works for others. BTW are there any kind of deer in Panama? I'm sure the jaguars would keep the numbers down if there are!
The deer here are small, but there are a few left. their biggest problem is they taste good to humans. used to be herds but very few left. mostly at reserves that I know of. Big cats kill livestock and have met the same fate.
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