Garden Articles - Deer Control 101

If you have mature plants that are being devoured by deer, it's time to take action! Deer Repellents can be very effective and easy to use. Deer will almost always stay away from plants that offend two or more senses. Therefore, if a plant tastes and smells offensive deer will avoid the general area it's planted in. Deer resistant gardener use's this knowledge to their advantage. Garden.com recommends using two deer deterrents together (one that offends the sense of smell and one that offends the sense of taste) they will render your tasty plant repulsive to deer. The best combination we have found is: Deer Guard  or Hot
Pepper Wax  used in conjunction with Coyote Urine. Using two products will activate the sense of smell and taste and encourage the deer to move on to more attractive foliage (hopefully not your neighbors'). You can learn more about or purchase these products at Garden.com's Deer Repellent Department. Deer hate hot and spicy foods After one little nibble of a plant coated with hot pepper wax they will definitely say, "No thank you!" when it comes time for seconds. Hot pepper wax combines hot cayenne pepper extract in a food-grade wax. Unlike some solutions, the wax will not wash off of your plants for several weeks. Applying hot pepper wax to the surfaces of your plants & hanging dispensers filled with Coyote Urine is possibly the most effective method of protecting your plants from deer browsing. Most deer deterrents work on the premise of "offending" one of the deer's five senses: sight, taste, smell, hearing or touch. Predator urine works on the sense of smell, while hot pepper wax works on the sense of taste. Using these two products together you are not just offending one sense, but two.