Question
We live in the country so we have lots of deer.  They are just eating our roses to nothing... I can not continue to buy the expensive spray.  Is there something I can make up at home that I can spray.  Someone told me to use an beat up raw egg with water and spray on the plants, other have suggested garlic mixed with water..
Any advice??
Thank you
Jennifer

Answer

An organic roses   There are many things you can do to keep deer away, here are a few

First off you do not need to spray the roses only the area around them.

1. Garlic spray,   you can either buy garlic barrier which is a garlic concentrate or you can make your own garlic spray.... get 10 garlic gloves, place into a large cooking pot of water. Crush the garlic into a small pieces as you can first. Bring the water to boil, turn off the heat and allow to sit over night in the garage. then next morning pour through a strainer. You can then either dilute this mix at 1 cup per gallon or just use it straight in your sprayer. start by spraying around the edge of your property, then spray about 20 feet away then spray about 6 feet away. Spray in a circle around the plants so deer has to cross to get to them. You will have to spray once or twice a week maybe even daily depending on the deer traffic you have.
remember the deer are just hungry so you might want to feed em at one end of your property.

2. Blood meal will keep them away. Just do not place under plants, place along fence along outside. will last about a week

3. Caffeine will keep them away. you can spray around the plants as well as the bottom half of the roses and not the flowers. Spraying them with either garlic or caffeine will change their scent.  You can spray the caffeine along the edge of the property. To make the coffee scent last longer, just get fresh roast coffee beans and place along fence. You can also place around the roses but not too close because then you wont be able to smell anything but the coffee.

4. If you don't mind roses smelling like garlic, you can plant garlic at their base.

5. A raw egg will stink when it decomposes sooooo you can place a raw egg into a panty hose, unbroken and then hang it up near the edge of the property and as well as near by the roses. Too close and you wont be able to smell the roses!

6. There are many different types of natural soaps that you can use that have a strong odor. I personally like Dr Bronners Soaps. Try the lavender but do not spray the roses but only the area around them about 6 feet away. Then you can switch to the peppermint, then the almond, then the tea tree oil. The idea is to change it so they don't get used to it. You can spray the leaves but be careful when ever spraying soap on hot days, it will burn, so I prefer to spray around them.

7. I have lots more so if these do not work, let me know and we can see what else will work. What works for one situation may not work for a different situation even thos it's the same animal.

andy lopez
Invisible Gardener