A month or so ago I talked about using the mesh bag on my apples to protect them from insects, birds, and of course, the deer. While I believe it helped dissuade the birds, I can’t say it was effective any other way. Today I want to give you the results of a few of my experiments for pest deterrents this summer.

Mesh Bag Failure

I was super excited about using the mesh bags to protect the apples from the critters, but it didn’t work out as planned. While the birds didn’t peck them to pieces, the yellow jackets and ants still found their way to the fruit. And the deer just pulled them right off the trees and chewed the entire bag. Every morning I found another bag full of a soggy mess of apple. To throw up an extra barrier between the deer and the tree, I wrapped fencing around it. This helped, of course, but I really hoped the bags would have been enough.

Use Mesh Bags to Keep Pests Away

Nose Zapper Pest Deterrents

My second deer dissuasion experiment was an electric system. I am not going to declare this a failure, though. At least not yet. I purchased the system earlier in the summer, but didn’t see a need for it at that time. Basically, it is an 18 inch stake that has three metal prongs on the top, which are energized with AA batteries. There is a small scent that is placed in the middle of the prongs. The concept is the deer come in to investigate and are shocked when their nose touches the metal prongs. Theoretically, this trains them to avoid the area.

I put them around the strawberries I planted towards the end of the summer because the deer immediately started eating them. But I really think it was too late in the season. The thing to do is to start it out early in the year to hopefully deter the deer from checking in the gardens on a regular basis. I will try them again next year but will start much earlier.

Plans for Next Year

Speaking of next year, I’m already making plans on what I need to do to protect the plants. My one apple tree, which is actually a combination of Fireside and Red Haralson, grew as well as it’s ever grown this year because of the additional water it received. I need to fence it more securely from the beginning, though. This holds true for my other two apples, a Goodland and a Cortland variety. They both produced a fair number of apples, but I did not protect them soon enough and the deer ate them all. I also need to make a point to water both of these more because they would do much better.

Non-Chemical Deer Control – Montana State University

I bought Saskatoon bushes this year, but they are planted behind the high deer fenced garden. The plan is to have the entire side in fruit bearing shrubs and vines. This is also where I’m going to plant some Valiant grapes this fall.

The other fruit bearing shrubs that we have are chokecherries. And while they’ve been in the ground for years, for some reason the deer hit them hard this season. It’s come to the point where we need to fence them or they may not survive.  The next year the plan is to fence them separately, as well. Actually, I will install a fence, which just might be 4 foot high panels that I can move easily, where I built my stone keyhole garden and planted the strawberries. This way it’s better protection them, plus the elderberry that I have that was severely eaten by the deer.